The Sword of Shannara
The first fantasy paperback on the New York Times trade list and the proof that created the post-Tolkien fantasy industry: commercially, among the most consequential genre novels ever published.
Book Entry · Fantasy
The Elfstones of Shannara
by Terry Brooks · 1982 · Shannara, book 2
What is The Elfstones of Shannara about?
The Ellcrys — the sentient tree whose existence imprisons an ancient horde of demons behind the Forbidding — is dying, and its rebirth requires an elven Chosen to carry its seed to the Bloodfire: a journey that will cost Amberle Elessedil more than her life, in the genre's most quietly brutal use of the sacrifice plot. Wil Ohmsford guards her with Elfstones he can barely use, the demon Reaper stalks them with slasher-film patience, and the Elven defence of Arborlon gives Brooks his first great battle narrative. The consensus pick for the best Shannara novel — darker, sadder and entirely out from Tolkien's shadow.
Why it matters
The book where the Shannara saga found its own voice; its tree-rebirth tragedy remains one of commercial fantasy's most affecting endings, and it anchored the MTV adaptation.
Where does it sit in the series?
Brooks's multi-era saga of the Four Lands — elves, druids and the Ohmsford bloodline — which is quietly our own world, long after the apocalypse. The series that built the commercial fantasy category.
In the Guide from Shannara:
- The Sword of Shannara (1977)
- The Elfstones of Shannara (1982)
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