This was an old favorite from childhood I decided to revisit on audiobook. I’m happy to report that it holds up well. It’s not anything that’s going to change how you see the world, but it’s super entertaining. That last sentence pretty much describes Terry Brooks at his best. Looking for something profound? You’re not going to find it here. Want to have “small but determined force holds back much greater force at a strategic chokepoint” injected directly into your veins? Look no farther.
Here we find the Four Lands beset by perils (again. The men of the Federation have conquered Callahorn and the Dwarves; the Elves have mysteriously vanished; the land seems to be sickening, which the Federation blames on past misuse of magic but most people attribute to things called the “Shadowen.” So the shade of Allanon summons the descendants of the Ohmsfords (and, by extension, the House of Shannara) to give them each a capital-Q Quest. But with Allanon long dead, there isn’t anyone to take the lead on cleaning up this mess.
Enter Par Ohmsford, Coll Ohmsford, Wren Ohmsford, and Walker Boh (formerly Walker Ohmsford). The ghost of Allanon summons them all and gives three of the four a capital-Q Quest. Par, with the magic of the Wishsong at his command, is supposed to find the lost Sword of Shannara. Wren, with no magic but a bag of painted rocks that look suspiciously like the Elfstones (given by her late mother with no explanation but heavy emphasis on the importance of keeping them safe), is told to find the vanished Elves. And Walker, with general-purpose magic and a hearty mistrust of all things Druidic, is told to bring back Paranor and the Druids.
The first book, The Scions of Shannara centers on Par’s quest for the Sword (with his non-magic-y, non-Quest-having brother Coll tagging along). The second book, The Druid of Shannara, is about Walker’s quest for Paranor and the Druids featuring a side quest dealing with a villain that wants to turn the world to stone. The third book, Elf Queen of Shannara, is Wren’s quest for the Elves. And then in the climax, The Talismans of Shannara, the different threads all come together; having achieved their separate Quests, the Ohmsfords have to figure out what the heck they’re supposed to do with everything they’ve accomplished to defeat the Shadowen (something Allanon was noticeably vague on).
It might seem like there are some spoilers in what I said there, but I would argue otherwise. This is, on one level, a fairly basic story; it’s hardly a surprise when Wren’s “Rocks that are Definitely Not Elfstones but Sure Look Like they Might be Disguised Elfstones and are Important for Reasons that are Not Specified” turn out to be the actual Elfstones. But within that, there are a number of things that happen that are very surprising. The whole quadrilogy is a master class on using gradual reveals to build tension.
If you’re looking for some escapism, this is a surprisingly good one.