An epilogue to The Wishsong of Shannara

The time of the Shannara follows in the wake of an apocalypse that has destroyed the old world and very nearly annihilated its people as well. A thousand years of savagery and barbarism have concluded at the start the series with the emergence of a new civilization in which magic has replaced science as the dominant source of power. A Druid Council comprised of the most talented of the new races–Men, Dwarves, Trolls, Gnomes, and Elves, names taken from the old legends–has begun the arduous task of rebuilding the world and putting an end to the racial warfare that has consumed the survivors of the so-called Great Wars since their conclusion.

But the wars continue, albeit in a different form. Magic, like science, is often mercurial, can be used for good or evil, and can have a positive or negative effect on those who come in contact with it. In The Sword of Shannara, a Druid subverted by his craving for magic’ s power manipulated Trolls and Gnomes in his effort to gain mastery over the other races. He failed because of Shea Ohmsford, the last of an Elven family with the Shannara surname. Shea, with the help of his brother and a small band of companions, was able to wield the fabled Sword of Shannara to destroy the Dark Lord.

Subsequently, in The Elfstones of the Shannara, his grandson Wil was faced with another sort of challenge, one that required the use of a magic contained in a set of Elfstones. But use of the Stones altered Wil’s genetic makeup, so that his own children were born with magic in their blood. As a result, in the third book of the series, the Wishsong of Shannara, Brin and her brother Jair were recruited by the Druid Allanon to seek out and destroy the Ildatch, the book of dark magic that had subverted the Warlock Lord, and was now doing the same with the Mord wraiths.

The story that follows takes place several years after the conclusion of The Wishsong and again features Jair Ohmsford, who must come to terms with his obsession with the past and his use of his magic that his sister has warned him not to trust

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic.