Ballantine Books shockingly was not Terry’s first choice to publish The Sword of Shannara. Terry chose DAW Books to send his first manuscript to because Ballantine already had Tolkien. DAW however sent Terry to Lester Del Rey, the new fantasy editor at Ballantine. Lester immediately saw the value of The Sword of Shannara and signed Terry.
Del Rey Books, with Terry Brooks as its major foundation, was born.
From this humble beginning Terry has written more than 25 New York Times bestselling novels. But what is more marvelous about this fact is that those novels vary greatly in the type of fantasy they present to the reader. The novels of Shannara are epic fantasy, grand and serious in scope. The Landover novels are light-hearted fantasy. Nearly the exact opposite from the Landover novels is the Word & Void series—a dark, contemporary fantasy.
Terry is now writing a post-Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy titled Defenders of Shannara which will be three loosely-connected stand alone novels.
Note: For Terry’s suggested reading order of Shannara novels, click HERE.
PRE-SHANNARA
Genesis of Shannara
Legends of Shannara
SHANNARA
The Original Shannara Novels
- The Sword of Shannara
– In the Shadow of the Warlock Lord – first 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara
– The Druids’ Keep – middle 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara
– The Secret of the Sword – last 1/3 of The Sword of Shannara - The Elfstones of Shannara
- The Wishsong of Shannara
A Shannara Novella
- Indomitable (in the Legends II anthology)
A Shannara Graphic Novel
The Heritage of Shannara
- The Scions of Shannara
- The Druid of Shannara
- The Elf Queen of Shannara
- The Talismans of Shannara
A Shannara Prequel
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara
- Ilse Witch
- Antrax
- Morgawr
High Druid of Shannara
- Jarka Ruus
- Tanequil
- Straken
The Dark Legacy of Shannara
Defenders of Shannara
- The High Druid’s Blade
- The Darkling Child
- The Sorcerer’s Daughter (May 24, 2016)
MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER
- Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!
- The Black Unicorn
- Wizard At Large
- The Tangle Box
- Witches’ Brew
- A Princess of Landover
- Untitled Final Book (forthcoming)
WORD & VOID
OTHER WORKS
- Imaginary Friends (short story in Once Upon A Time)
- Hook (film adaptation)
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (film adaptation)
- Sometimes the Magic Works
- Why I Write About Elves (Amazon Short)
- An Unfortunate Influx of Filipians (short story in Unbound)
The High Druid’s Blade, Book One of Defenders of Shannara, is published. Terry has finished writing both The Darkling Child and The Sorcerer’s Daughter, sequels to The High Druid’s Blade. The Darkling Child will publish June 9, 2015 with The Sorcerer’s Daughter publishing May 24, 2016!
Terry has begun writing the end Shannara trilogy that will wrap up the end continuity of the series.