Wards of Faerie

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.

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.