For those of you fond of, or familiar with the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, Part 1 of a new two-book story is now available. Bearers of the Black Staff continues to connect the previous trilogy, Genesis of Shannara, with the Shannara world made famous in Brooks' original novel. BotBS takes place 500 years after the events of The Gypsy Morph, and approximately 1,000 years before First King of Shannara.
I found it to be an interesting read as I usually do with his novels and the characters intriguing enough to care about their eventual fates. What I really enjoyed was seeing the slow morphing of the old world into the new; for example, the mutated humans once known as Lizards now call themselves Trolls, so I suspect that the Gnome race can't be too far behind. The Elfstones also come into play, making another connection between the GoS trilogy and the original.
My only real complaint was that this novel didn't feature a map, as most of the locals bear different names from those of the future Four Lands; no Shady Vale, Callahorn or Skull Kingdom. Yet, anyway. Hopefully, the second volume, The Measure of the Magic, will take care of that oversight by including a map of the Valley and the outside world.
I found it to be an interesting read as I usually do with his novels and the characters intriguing enough to care about their eventual fates. What I really enjoyed was seeing the slow morphing of the old world into the new; for example, the mutated humans once known as Lizards now call themselves Trolls, so I suspect that the Gnome race can't be too far behind. The Elfstones also come into play, making another connection between the GoS trilogy and the original.
My only real complaint was that this novel didn't feature a map, as most of the locals bear different names from those of the future Four Lands; no Shady Vale, Callahorn or Skull Kingdom. Yet, anyway. Hopefully, the second volume, The Measure of the Magic, will take care of that oversight by including a map of the Valley and the outside world.