1st hardcover edition.
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Author | Terry Brooks |
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Illustrator | Darrell K. Sweet |
Cover artist | Darrell K. Sweet |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Original Shannara Trilogy |
Genre | Epic fantasy |
Publisher | Del Rey Books |
Publication date
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1982 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback, Mass market paperback) |
Pages | 576 pp (Mass market paperback) |
ISBN |
(1st Edition hardcover) ISBN (Mass market paperback) |
OCLC | 7976998 |
813/.54 19 | |
LC Class | PS3552.R6596 E5 1982 |
Preceded by | The Sword of Shannara |
Followed by | The Wishsong of Shannara |
(1st Edition hardcover)
The Elfstones of Shannara is a 1982 epic fantasy novel by American writer Terry Brooks. It is the first sequel to The Sword of Shannara and the second book in The Original Shannara Trilogy. It expands upon the history of the Elves, which was only hinted at in the preceding story, and follows Wil Ohmsford, grandson of Shea (the hero of the first book) and inheritor of the Elfstones.
The novel, set in a fictional world called the Four Lands, consists of two intertwining plotlines. The first plotline follows the quest of protagonists Wil Ohmsford and Amberle Elessedil to create a new Ellcrys, a magical tree that serves to banish all Demons from the Four Lands. To do this, they must locate a specific place in the Four Lands called Safehold, where the process of creating a new Ellcrys can begin. The second plotline focuses on the efforts of the Elven army and their allies to slow a massive Demon invasion, made possible by the dying of the current Ellcrys, to give Wil and Amberle enough time to complete their quest.
In 2007, Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to the Shannara universe for producer Dan Farah, but the rights deal expired in 2010 and all rights reverted to Terry Brooks. Dan Farah's Farah Films partnered with Sonar Entertainment to acquire the TV rights to the Shannara universe in 2012. The series, The Shannara Chronicles, premiered on MTV in the US on January 5, 2016.
After Terry Brooks had completed all work on his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in fall 1975—having begun it in 1967—he began work on another book soon after. The plot he originally chose featured the son of Menion Leah as the protagonist and a girl with a Siren-like song that could manipulate the properties of objects around her. Brooks outlined about three-quarters of the story before beginning to write; he refused an attempt by Lester del Rey to see it because Brooks wanted to impress the editor. When Brooks finished three-quarters of the tale in fall 1977 after writing around his law practice hours, he found himself stuck and could not think of a suitable ending. He decided to send the story to del Rey to get his opinion on what the end should be. The reply he received was quite unexpected; del Rey firmly believed that Brooks needed to simply get rid of the started novel and start anew due to a plethora of problems he saw. Once del Rey finished a full line-by-line examination of the plot, Brooks leafed through the comments and found them to be disturbingly accurate.