One of the most iconic structures in the Four Lands is Paranor, the fortress home of the Druid Order. Legend holds that it was erected by an Elven leader known as Galaphile Joss. But who was this Galaphile, and how and why did he choose to establish this center of magic and learning?
Within these pages we meet the real Galaphile, following him from a friendless teenage orphan stranded in the Human world to a powerful adult and master mage, studying under the infamous recluse, Cogline. We learn of the forces that shaped him, those he loved, and those he lost; those who aided him, and those who stood against him. Throughout it all, Galaphile’s goal is a noble one: to bring order to a chaotic world, and to make life better for those trying to survive it. To this end, he commences building the citadel which will one day be known as Paranor with the aid of the King of the Silver River. But there is one other who seeks dominion over the Four Lands and for far less virtuous ends.
For this foe has been corrupted by an ancient evil—one that will not only reach out and touch Galaphile’s nearest and dearest, but also echo down through the centuries, sowing the seeds for some of the darkest times the Four Lands will ever face.
Galaphile: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks will be published on March 11, 2025. Del Rey provided an early galley for review.
I was a teenager when Brook's The Sword of Shannara was first published, and I picked up the mass market paperback sometime during my late high school or early college years when I started to get into Dungeons and Dragons and various other fantasy books. Since that time, the author has penned around three-dozen novels set in this literary realm. I was very curious to check out the latest which is a prequel to that first book.
The first chapter started things off strongly with the introduction to Galaphile and Starns. But in short order, we move through a half dozen years in just a few short chapters, being told a lot of what happened but not shown how. It happens again with four years of training with Cogline happening in half as many chapters. It felt very rushed to me. I get that Brooks is trying to spare the reader the boring bits as the main character acquires his abilities for the tasks he faces, but not seeing moments of growth make it all seem very hollow.
A little before the halfway mark, the narrative shifts for a couple chapters from Galaphile's viewpoint to that the villain of the piece. Again, Brook's is using this approach to convey important details to the reader, but it comes across as heavy-handed and overly expositional.
I need to check out more of his work at some point to determine if this is his stylistic approach. He's been at this game for a long time and, at age 81, has likely found an approach that works for him. There is definitely a moving, sweeping, epic story here (he's known for these kinds of large arcs in his fantasy work). He has gone on record stating he prefers to have hundreds upon hundreds of pages to play with when writing (as opposed to shorter works that have tighter focuses and are more character-driven than plot-driven). I just think the delivery tends to be very old-school and thus not as impactful as it could be.
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