SEPTEMBER 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator Simon Vance returns to this longtime series with the final book in the current trilogy. He reprises many familiar characters, particularly as the Druids attend an important peace conference. The second storyline focuses on Leofur, who enlists a shape-shifter to help her free a friend who has been kidnapped by an evil witch. When Leofur and the shape-shifter become tethered together, Vance’s delivery of their private telepathic communications is imbued with an intimate tone. He portrays the witch in her various moods and interactions as edgy and unpredictable. In both subplots, Vance builds on the suspense as the confrontation between good and evil intensifies. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
03/21/2016
Lazy writing and unremarkable characters and situations will leave readers disappointed in Brooks’s third Defenders of Shannara epic fantasy (after The Darkling Child) and 28th overall Shannara novel. At a high-level summit to be held in the city of Arishaig, leaders of the Druids and the Federation are to hold wide-ranging discussions with the ambitious goal of ending conflict among all races and governments. Paxon Leah is responsible for ensuring the safety of the event. Before the talks can advance, the meeting chamber is invaded by a ferocious creature that slaughters only the Federation attendees. Paxon and his party flee for their lives and must then try to prove they had nothing to do with the massacre. Meanwhile, Paxon’s sister, Chrysallin, has been abducted, and Leofur Rai, Paxon’s love interest and the titular sorcerer’s daughter, embarks on a dangerous quest to rescue her. The relative lack of backstory, perhaps intended to make the novel accessible to first-timers, instead makes the significance of the characters and situations obscure. (May)
From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR TERRY BROOKS
“The Sword of Shannara is an unforgettable and wildly entertaining epic, animated by Terry Brooks’s cosmically generative imagination and storytelling joy.”—Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Swamplandia!
“If Tolkien is the grandfather of modern fantasy, Terry Brooks is its favorite uncle.”—Peter V. Brett, New York Times bestselling author of The Desert Spear
“I can’t even begin to count how many of Terry Brooks’s books I’ve read (and reread) over the years. From Shannara to Landover, his work was a huge part of my childhood.”—Patrick Rothfuss, New York Timesbestselling author of The Name of the Wind
“Terry Brooks is a master of the craft and a trailblazer who established fantasy as a viable genre. He is required reading.”—Brent Weeks, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Angel Trilogy
“The Shannara books were among the first to really capture my imagination. My daydreams and therefore my stories will always owe a debt to Terry Brooks.”—Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Beyonders and Fablehaven series
Library Journal
04/01/2016
Leofur Rai has spent her life distancing herself from her father, the tyrannical sorcerer Arcannen Rai. Now, she lives in Paranor, the Druid's Keep, with her life partner, the Druid's Blade Paxon Leah. Leofur leads a safe, albeit unfulfilling, existence as companion and guardian of Paxon's younger sister, Chrysallin, who wields an ancient and powerful magic. When Chrysallin is captured on the same day Leofur receives news that Paxon's latest mission with the Druids has gone horribly wrong, she must make a difficult decision: abandon Chrysallin to save Paxon, or enlist the help of the mysterious Emeric Cort, the best tracker in the universe, to rescue Chrys. This is the third novel in the latest stand-alone series in the Shannara world, but new readers won't be confused; the narration often returns to past events to clarify the present. The explosive first few chapters promise an action-packed, quasipolitical fantasy thriller, something fans have come to expect. Instead, readers are stuck in a novel that is frustratingly predictable and curiously thin on magic and action. VERDICT The alchemy and mystery permeating earlier "Shannara" books are no longer there, but the MTV series based on Brooks's fantasies may stir some interest.—Tyler Hixson, Library Journal
SEPTEMBER 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator Simon Vance returns to this longtime series with the final book in the current trilogy. He reprises many familiar characters, particularly as the Druids attend an important peace conference. The second storyline focuses on Leofur, who enlists a shape-shifter to help her free a friend who has been kidnapped by an evil witch. When Leofur and the shape-shifter become tethered together, Vance’s delivery of their private telepathic communications is imbued with an intimate tone. He portrays the witch in her various moods and interactions as edgy and unpredictable. In both subplots, Vance builds on the suspense as the confrontation between good and evil intensifies. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
