Last... But Least?

For some time now, I've been writing some form of the same blog post every year. That's because author Terry Brooks publishes a new book like clockwork every year. Every year, I read that book, lament that it's not nearly as good as the ones he wrote decades ago, and then wonder if it's really just me that's changed. This year might just be the last time I write that post, though, because there's something different about Brooks' newest novel, The Last Druid: it's the final book of his long-running Shannara series.

There are a couple of asterisks you can throw on that declaration. First, the Shannara books have never been a massive single narrative. Though the series overall numbers 20 books, it's always been released in sets of three or four (or occasionally two), with generational time jumps in between to introduce new characters and new plots. There have occasionally been elements that continue across multiple "mini-series," but basically, few popular fantasy series have ever had as many on-ramps as the Shannara books.

Secondly, The Last Druid is the last book in the chronology of the series. Because of all those time jumps (and the occasional novella written to go back and revisit past characters), there are plenty of places Brooks could go back and drop in new stories if he wanted to. (And he has expressly suggested this is a thing he might be open to.)

So essentially, this book is an ending to a saga that felt too segmented to really need an Ultimate Ending... and it's not really the "end" of it anyway. It's The Rise of Skywalker. And it's about as good too. (When I say that, know that I neither loved nor loathed Star Wars Episode IX.)

The Last Druid is full of nostalgia for Brooks' loyal readers. Callbacks to earlier books abound. The final endings for the characters feel a touch more "final" somehow. The series' overall flirtation with the clash between magic and science takes a more central role, and is the issue on which that Ultimate Ending hangs. Structurally, it's fairly satisfying, hitting the notes you want in much the way that a good series finale of a long-running television series does.

But look at it in a different light, and you can just as easily say that The Last Druid shows the same repetitive formula, the same dearth of new ideas, that has plagued the Shannara books for years. It has the same tropes, the same blunt prose, that has made me question after every new book I've read for the better part of a decade: "why am I still reading these?"

In short, The Last Druid is a real prism of a book: what you get from it depends on how you view it. Is echoing elements of earlier books lazy, or is it well-crafted narrative resonance? Is it a good ending, or are you just glad it's over? It's kind of all that, at the same time, to me. And so I find myself giving it a grade that's "just past meh, just shy of truly good": a B-.

Now can I quit reading Terry Brooks? I guess we'll find out in a year or so.