Wards of Faerie

May 7, 2012
Celebrating the 35th anniversary of The Sword of Shannara, which launched a 20-volume bestselling saga, Brooks sets this dual-heroine quest immediately following the events of the High Druid of Shannara trilogy. After Elf-turned-Druid Aphenglow Elessedil discovers an ancient diary recording the theft of the magical Elfstones, Brooks places his familiar Four Lands at a crucial crossroads. The science-dominated Federation led by malignant Prime Minister Drust Chazhul plots to eliminate the Druids, caretakers of the world’s magic, and raze their city of Paranor. The Druids’ Ard Rhys, Aphen’s relative Khyber Elessedil, awakens from her magical Druid Sleep to gather a familiar multiracial fantasy-quest team and seek the missing Elfstones, while Aphen remains to face Chazhul’s assaults and her own romantic crisis. This opening salvo in Brooks’s Legacy of Shannara trilogy is Tolkien-derivative, but suitably rousing and occasionally touchingly sentimental. Author tour. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit.

Starred review from October 29, 2012
A standout performance from narrator Rosalyn Landor brings to life this new installment in Brooks’s popular fantasy series. Set immediately after the High Druid of Shannara trilogy, Elf-turned-Druid Aphenglow Elessedil discovers an ancient diary that documents the theft of the magical Elfstones. Meanwhile, evil Prime Minister Drust Chazhul works to destroy the Druids, who are responsible for preserving the world’s magic. Landor ably infuses the text with emotion and magic and creates unique and convincing voices for all the characters, both male and female. And as the story alternates between expository and actions scenes, Landor doesn’t miss a beat, matching her tone and volume to the story’s needs. A Del Ray hardcover.

July 15, 2012
Prolific epic-fantasy novelist Brooks (The Measure of the Magic, 2011, etc.) unveils the first in his latest Shannara trilogy. The story takes place 100 years after the events of Brooks' 2005 Shannara novel, Straken, and follows an Elven Druid, Aphenglow Elessedil, on her quest to recover the remaining legendary Elfstones. After discovering a reference to the magical stones in an ancient diary, she becomes determined to find them, in large part so that they don't fall into the wrong hands. She travels to the Druid fortress Paranor, where she enlists the help of her Elven relation, the powerful Ard Rhys Khyber Elessedil. The Ard Rhys consults the shade of the Druid Allanon, who advises her to gather a group to aid in the quest, including twins Railing and Redden Ohmsford, who wield the magic of the wishsong. Meanwhile, Drust Chazhul, the treacherous new prime minister of the technology-favoring Federation, uses a fleet of airships in a plan to destroy the magic-using Druids once and for all. After having spent the past several years publishing prequels to the original Shannara trilogy, Brooks here tackles a continuation of the vast series chronology. Fans will not be disappointed, for while this first installment primarily serves to introduce the main plot and players, it doesn't skimp on the action scenes, which crackle as always, including a climactic confrontation between airships and magic. And although Brooks has written some 20 books in the Shannara saga to date--the first, The Sword of Shannara, was published 35 years ago--he shows little sign of slowing his pace; the second book in this trilogy is planned for publication in 2013. An auspicious beginning to Brooks' latest Shannara tale.

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Starred review from July 1, 2012

Researching magic in the books and scrolls housed below the palace, young Elven Druid Aphenglow Elessedil discovers a diary that recounts a forbidden romance between an Elven girl and a Darkling boy and hints at the fate of the long-vanished Elfstones. As troubled times return to the Four Lands and a tyrannical human-centered Federation seeks to dominate the other Races, Aphenglow sets herself a dangerous task--to follow the clues left in the diary and uncover magic that might save her people and her world. Set in a time after magic has given way to science, the latest addition to the best-selling Shannara series marks Brooks's return to that setting after a seven-year hiatus. VERDICT In time for the 35th anniversary of The Sword of Shannara (first published in 1977), Brooks opens up a new avenue for more tales of magic and epic adventure. His many fans will want this.

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