September 1, 1986
As a followup to his bestselling Thomas Covenant trilogies, Donaldson presents another lengthy, dense fantasy adventure in the first of the two-book sequence Mordant's Need. This first volume introduces the land of Mordant, beset from without by armies and monsters and from within by plots, dissension and madness. The search for a champion goes awry as the Congery of Imagers first lures poor little rich girl Terisa Morgan from our world, and then snatches a mysterious warrior whose futuristic weapons destroy part of the castle he is supposed to defend. Terisa rises to the challenge, quickly becoming a key figure, a wild card among the many cliques and powers vying to save or seize king and kingdom. Donaldson scores with the magic discipline of imagery, in which mirrors serve as windows on alternate worlds. His characterization, however, is either derivative or programmatic (in a world without ordinary mirrors, no one can be taken at face value). Readers are likely to be hooked by the interlocking intrigues and progressive revelations among a large cast in a vast old castle riddled with secret passageshooked, but probably disappointed, for this overlong volume is all buildup for the second. 200,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo.