It’s a nice new direction for Terry Brooks, and an improvement on his North American covers, even though I like the new ones well enough, but it won’t blow anyone out of the water. And, man, that big red circle is an eyesore.
Posts Tagged: Shannara
Wards of Faerie
by Terry Brooks
Hardcover
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: August 21, 2012
ISBN-10: 0345523474
Buy: Book/eBook
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a moderator at the Official Terry Brooks Forums, a role which I take seriously and indicates my level of fandom for Brooks, but which has not coloured the following review.
In my review of Bearers of the Black Staff, the first volume of Brooks’ The Legends of Shannara duology, his most recent published work, I wrote:
[T]he real meat of Bearers of the Black Staff is in the familiar elements that begin to rear their heads. The Trolls, a race that’s played a maligned roll in many of Brooks other novels, are the stars of the show here, and much of their history is revealed to the reader, for the first time in the series. Their origin story, involving characters from The Genesis of Shannara is heavy-handed and would have been better left hinted at, but this is something Brooks fans should be used to by now. Astute readers will also begin piecing together hints of the Knights of the Word and their eventual transformation into the Druids that manipulate the world in later Shannara novels.
Ultimately, though, these familiar elements are also the novel’s (and Brooks’) weakest link. Terry Brooks has a vocabulary that he’s built up through his career. Not a vocabulary in the sense that you’d find it in a dictionary (though his prose isn’t exactly a bastion of variety, it’s serviceable and easy to read), but rather in elements, archetypes and plot devices that he uses to construct his stories. There’s next to nothing in Bearers of the Black Staff that we haven’t seen before in any of Brooks’ previous novel.
This dissatisfaction extended into the sequel, The Measure of Magic, and grew, leaving me with a bitter taste in my mouth as a longtime Shannara fan. I didn’t review The Measure of Magic, for fear of just repeating the exact same points I made in the first, with only a small measure of irony. Fast forward a year and I approached the release of Wards of Faerie with no little amount of trepidation. Since Brooks concluded The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara 10 years ago, with the exception of Armageddon’s Children, I felt disappointment with each of his novels, from mild to severe. Where was the Brooks I fell in love with as a boy, first discovering Fantasy? Was he gone? Or was I simply grown up, better read and unable to appreciate the type of fiction that Brooks writes? Read More »
Nice enough, fits in well with the Wards of Faerie cover and is a step above Brooks’ last several covers. No complaints here, though I’m not blown away, by any means.
Be warned that the synopsis contains severe spoilers for The Wards of Faerie, the first book in the trilogy, which hasn’t been released yet. I’ll hide it after the jump, so not to tempt readers who don’t want to see it. Read More »
The legendary hero Allanon takes center stage in the first of three gripping new stand-alone eBook short stories set in the world of the fantasy fiction phenomenon that is Shannara—by beloved New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks.
The history is thus: The once-Druid Brona, seduced by his pursuit of dark magic, was forever transformed into the Warlock Lord—whose evil would be the downfall of the Four Lands and the death of the Races. Against him, the Elven King Jerle Shannara wielded the fabled sword that bore his surname and triumphed. Or so it was believed. But though the Dark Lord was driven out . . . he was not destroyed.
The Druid Allanon knows only too well the prophecy passed down to him by his late master: that eventually the Warlock Lord will return. Now, after hundreds of years, that day seems imminent. And the time is at hand for the Sword of Shannara to once more be brought forth from its sanctuary to serve its ancient purpose. All that remains is for a blood descendent of the Elven house of Shannara to carry the blade into battle.
With ever more portents of doom on the horizon, Allanon must seek out the last remaining Shannara heir, who alone will bear the burden of defending the Four Lands’ destiny. But with agents of darkness closing in from behind, unexpected enemies lying in wait ahead, and treachery encroaching on every side, there can be no certainty of success. Nor any assurance that this desperate quest will not be the Druid’s last.
Shawn Speakman, webmaster for and good friends with Brooks, reveals a bit of what to expect from the short tale:
It features an Allanon that is only hinted at in The Sword of Shannara—sure, a man strong in character, but one filled with doubts about the coming storm that is about to sweep south from the Northland. Fans get an inside point of view look at the last Druid and learn more about the events leading up to the greatest power struggle in the Four Lands.
There’s probably not a lot here that will be of interest to those not already Shannara fans, but it’s nice to see Brooks returning to one of his most beloved characters. Allanon’s always been a mysterious figure, so I’ll enjoy reading a story from his perspective, peeling back the layers of his character through his own thoughts as he searches for the young scion of Jerle Shannara. Good stuff for a Brooks fanboy like me.
‘Allanon’s Quest’ is available now from your favourite eBook vendor, and is the first in a series of short stories dubbed Paladins of Shannara; each volume will tackle one of Brooks’ most famous and loved characters. The next short story will feature fan favourite Garet Jax, last seen in the graphic novel, The Dark Wraith of Shannara. More information is available on Brooks’ website.
Art by Todd Lockwood
One of the most exciting things about the upcoming release of Wards of Faerie, a new Shannara trilogy by stalwart Fantasy writer Terry Brooks, is that, for the first time since The Wishsong of Shannara, in the ’80s, the novel will feature artwork to go alongside Brooks’ story. It’s doubly exciting because they chose one of my favourite artists, Todd Lockwood, to do the art. I’ve always felt that Lockwood and Shannara would be a good mix. Having read Wards of Faerie, I think he nailed the feel and look of Brooks’ characters and world.
The above image is kinda small, but Lockwood also made some detail shots available, to give us a closer look at some of the characters.
Great work. I can’t wait to see the rest when Wards of Faerie comes out this summer. I know Brooks gets a hard time nowadays, and he’s been writing some hit-or-miss novels for the past several years, but Wards of Faerie is one of his better novels and I hope other fans are as excited as I am to see where he takes the trilogy.
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