In Stores Now: THE HIGH DRUID’S BLADE

The High Druid’s Blade by Terry Brooks is in fine US and UK bookstores today!

It is the first book in the Defenders of Shannara series. And it is quite different from most Shannara novels.

Beginning with The Scions of Shannara in 1990, Terry began writing stories that were so large they couldn’t be physically and economically bound in one book. Every successive Shannara tale has been published in sets of books, the stories epic in content and word count. Terry has wonderful fans but they have also had to be patient; for most of those series, it took two years to get complete stories.

But I have attended more Terry Brooks signing events over the last two decades than anyone other than Terry’s wife, Judine. And fans continued to ask one question over most others:

Will you ever write a stand-alone Shannara novel again?

Terry listened to his readers. The High Druid’s Blade is the first stand-alone Shannara novel since First King of Shannara published in 1996. Today’s new Shannara novel has a beginning, middle, and an end. It has one unresolved thread that will become important in next year’s book, The Darkling Child.

But a reader can begin The High Druid’s Blade, finish it, and feel like an entire story has been told. I have no doubt it will make all of you quite happy.

That is not the only way the new Shannara novel is different though. For the first time in current Shannara continuity, The High Druid’s Blade is told from the point of view of a Leah rather than an Ohmsford. It makes for a very different kind of tale. Ever since The Sword of Shannara, the Ohmsford family has been the principle focus of Terry’s storytelling. But he chose to write about Paxon Leah, inheritor of the Sword of Leah, and his attempt to keep his family safe.

The story does not feature a large cast with multiple points of view like other Shannara epics. It is far more personal—Terry has not written a story like this in the past—and the reader truly becomes immersed in Paxon’s life and where that life is leading.

You might be surprised where he ends up.

Today, on July 8th, Terry is holding a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA). He will be taking questions from his readers all day long and then answering those questions at 4:00 PM PDT today. If you have a question for Terry, please feel free to drop in and ask. Or just read other people’s questions and Terry’s answers!

Terry is also signing at two events in the next few days. Here are those details:

The High Druid’s Blade by Terry Brooks is in fine bookstores today!

Happy reading!