ABSTRACT
A new Tolkien-like figure has appeared in the world of literary fantasy. This is Stephen R. Donaldson, a young man who has created not another Middle Earth, but a world so fantastic that it must stand out as one of the most remarkable creative works of the day. His work draws this comment from one who does not every day find the fantastic worlds of science fiction engrossing or even credible. But Donaldson has accomplished a tour de force that bears more than a single reading and demands those who enter his remote and often terrifying landscapes not merely that they suspend disbelief but also that they empathize closely with his hero in the long series of both shattering experiences and uplifting events that came along.
