J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was an important influence on Donaldson's perceptions of what fantasy literature is all about, as were Frank Baum's Oz books, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (1967), C. S. Lewis's Narnia series (1950), and Frank Herbert's Dune (1965). Each of these authors exemplifies aspects of the genre that play important parts in the construction of Donaldson's own fantastic realms. In the Baum books a child, Dorothy, is transported to another world where she unwittingly becomes a hero. Like the abhorred figure of the leper, Thomas Covenant, a child too is powerless against the forces of the adult world. In Oz Dorothy must discover her inner strength and use her wits to overcome the wicked witch of the West, a figure somewhat similar in nature to that of Drool Rockworm, Covenant's first adversary in Lord Foul's Bane. In both cases, the protagonists believe themselves...