The High Druid's Blade

November 11, 2013
Hundreds of years after the war against demonkind in the Dark Legacy of Shannara series, Paxon Leah and his sister, Chrysallin, are the last living descendants of the magical Ohmsford family, and they apparently possess no magic themselves. This lack doesn’t stop the sorcerer Arcannen from kidnapping Chrys. When Paxon, wielding the ancient Sword of Leah, accidentally manifests powerful magic while rescuing her, he attracts the attention of the High Druid, the aged Aphenglow Elessedil, who offers him a place as a knight-errant serving the Druids. After vast world-spanning epics filled with quests and armies, Brooks tries his hand at a more personal story, first with Paxon’s training and then his rushing off when the ambitious Arcannen takes Chrys a second time. The intriguing premise veers into old and familiar patterns, though, such as Arcannen’s desire to conquer or destroy the Druid order, and includes a thin mystery about the disappearance of Druid artifacts. Brooks fans will find this an especially diluted series opener after the powerful Dark Legacy trilogy.

December 15, 2013
Brooks (Witch Wraith, 2013, etc.) returns with a stand-alone Shannara novel starring Paxon Leah. The book is replete with sorcerers, druids, magical weapons and other familiar signifiers of the fantasy genre, but true wonder is in disappointingly short supply. The presence of mechanically powered airships and gunlike weapons distinguish the story somewhat from its obvious forebears, but at heart, Brooks' story sits squarely--perhaps too squarely--in the tradition of Tolkien and his cohort. The narrative concerns the travails of one Paxon Leah, scion of a once-significant magical family, as he attempts to rescue his sister from an evil wizard bent on retrieving the Leahs' magical sword. Paxon is aided in his efforts by the Druids, an order of magic users tasked with policing the use of arcane arts, who are locked in political struggle with the technology-favoring Federation; Arcannen, the sinister mage who kidnapped Paxon's sister, plays both sides with the Leahs acting as his unwitting pawns. That's about all there is to it: The bland characters are broadly drawn, afforded a basic characteristic or two (Paxon is noble and resolute, Arcannen is wicked and devious, etc.), the prose is risibly clunky, exposition is baldly delivered, often repeatedly, as if Brooks had forgotten he had already explained various plot points, and the depictions of magic and other fantastic elements of Paxon's world are generic and feel secondhand. Brooks delivers some mild pleasures: The story does move briskly, and there are enjoyable bits of business involving battles with werewolves and scenes of supernatural combat, and the familiar stations of Paxon's "hero's journey" are comforting in their familiarity. Square, sturdy, straight-down-the-middle fantasy entertainment, enjoyable for the Shannara faithful.

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January 1, 2014

Paxon Leah comes from a long line of kings and warriors, but his family now lives quietly, the only relic of their past a black sword that hangs above the fire. When an evil sorcerer named Arcannen kidnaps Paxon's headstrong young sister, Chrys, Paxon runs to the rescue, taking only the family sword. To his surprise, the sword is enchanted, which allows Paxon to hold off Arcannen's forces long enough for the two to escape. Thinking his sister now safe, Paxon seeks help from the Druids to learn how to use his magic blade, but Arcannen is not done with the Leah siblings. VERDICT High adventure, lots of action, and appealing (if stock) characters make this a comfortable traditional fantasy that will appeal to the many fans of Brooks's Shannara books. The added bonus is that this is a good place for new readers to jump into the author's world, as it includes plenty of nods to earlier books while remaining a stand-alone story.

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