Witch Way

As 2013 came to a close, I finished the final book of Terry Brooks' Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy, Witch Wraith. You may recall that I didn't think much of the previous book, Bloodfire Quest. But Witch Wraith did manage -- somewhat -- to pull the series back from the brink.

Bloodfire Quest suffered from being too similar to prior Shannara novels from Terry Brooks. The quest to renew his magical tree, the Ellcrys, was portrayed more effectively in The Elfstones of Shannara. And he'd journeyed into the alternate land of his exiled demons in the High Druid of Shannara trilogy. But this third book advanced mostly beyond this retrodden ground.

Witch Wraith, like The Elfstones of Shannara, deals largely with the invasion of a demon army into Brooks' mythical Four Lands. But the clash between worlds is presented rather differently thanks to the technological innovations in Brooks' universe between the two books. Where too many fantasy worlds remain frozen in advancement for eternity, Brooks has been gradually adding science to his fantasy over his last several books. The battle between armies in Witch Wraith involves flying airships, laser-like weaponry, and altogether different tactics than the epic battle of Elfstones -- a wise differentiation for this new book.

Brooks also differentiates this book by departing more from his established formula. He always allows a romantic subplot to develop between two of his characters, and it appeared at the end of book two that he had no less than three couples in play for this series. Without providing specific spoilers, I'll simply say that things did not end according to formula for most of the romantic pairings.

I noted of Bloodfire Quest that Terry Brooks seemed to have adopted the "kill all of your characters" style of George R.R. Martin. He continues in that mode here, but has done a much better job of incorporating that aesthetic into his own. It feels less like one author trying to ape another's success and more like an author trying to grow his own skills in a new direction.

But ultimately, the weak parts of this concluding volume are that the general shape of the ending (if not the specifics) are still very predictable, and the fact the the entire series still seems to be a sort of apology for the weak ending of the chronologically preceding series, The High Druid of Shannara.

In all, I think I would recommend this series for Terry Brooks fans. But if that's not you, this final book, though worth a B grade, isn't enough of an improvement over the lacking middle volume to make the full trilogy worth your while.