Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara

The adventure that started in Wards of Faerie takes a thrilling new turn, in the second novel of New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks’s brand-new trilogy — The Dark Legacy of Shannara!

The quest for the long-lost Elfstones has drawn the leader of the Druid order and her followers into the hellish dimension known as the Forbidding, where the most dangerous creatures banished from the Four Lands are imprisoned. Now the hunt for the powerful talismans that can save their world has become a series of great challenges: a desperate search for kidnapped comrades, a relentless battle against unspeakable predators, and a grim race to escape the Forbidding alive. But though freedom is closer than they know, it may come at a terrifying price.

Back in the village of Arborlon, the mystical, sentient tree that maintains the barrier between the Four Lands and the Forbidding is dying. And with each passing day, as the breach between the two worlds grows larger, the threat of the evil eager to spill forth and wreak havoc grows more dire. The only hope lies with a young Druid, faced with a staggering choice: cling to the life she cherishes or combat an army of darkness by making the ultimate sacrifice.

"Brooks, continuing his long-running Shannara high fantasy series, picks up the story begun in The Wards of Faerie just as anguish strikes Arlingfant Elessedil, the sister of doughty young Druid Aphenglow. Arlingfant is Chosen by the dying sacred tree Ellcrys to become its new avatar, and asked to sacrifice her earthly life to resurrect Ellcrys and reseal the magical Forbidden realm where fearsome demons threaten to escape their centuries-long confinement. Arling will have to carry the Ellcrys's seed to the mysterious Bloodfire, but neither she nor Aphen knows its location, leading inevitably to a quest. Brooks splits his questors into several groups, each with its own grisly trials and often horrid fates, the better to reveal several aspects of his fictional universe. Each sister continually declares she 'is there' for the other, a somewhat jarring intrusion of contemporary idiom into the otherwise convincingly colorful fictional world. Shannara fans will delight in Brooks's sorcerous action, skilled characterizations, and rapid-fire storytelling twists, but readers new to the series may yearn for a glossary to tell the heroines and monsters apart. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (Mar.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

“Terry Brooks has been my constant companion over a lifetime of exploring my beloved fantasy genre. I say with all honesty I would not be writing epic fantasy today if not for Shannara. If Tolkien is the grandfather of modern fantasy, Terry Brooks is its favorite uncle.” Peter V. Brett, New York Times bestselling author of The Daylight War

“The Sword of Shannara is an unforgettable and wildly entertaining epic, animated by Terry Brooks’s cosmically generative imagination and storytelling joy. This was one of my favorite fictional worlds growing up, and I look forward to many return trips.” Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Swamplandia!

From New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks comes the second thrilling novel in a brand-new trilogy — The Dark Legacy of Shannara!

The quest for the missing Elfstones has gone badly awry. The Druid Order has been decimated, and its surviving leader and her followers are trapped inside the Forbidding — the hellish dimension that imprisons the most dangerous creatures banished from the Four Lands. But now the powerful magic barrier that surrounds the Forbidding is crumbling, and an evil horde is poised to break free... unless one young Druid is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Terry Brooks is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Dark Legacy of Shannara adventure Wards of Faerie; the Legends of Shannara novels Bearers of the Black Staff and The Measure of the Magic; the Genesis of Shannara trilogy: Armageddon’s Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph; The Sword of Shannara; the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr; the High Druid of Shannara trilogy: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken; the nonfiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life; and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars:® Episode I The Phantom Menace.™ His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century. The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest.