Paladins of Shannara: Allanon’s Quest by Terry Brooks

7/10

It's been 35 years since the publication of The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. 28 novels later and Brooks is still going strong, still writing books in the Shannara universe that are for the most part well received. As part of his 35th anniversary celebrations, Brooks has decided to write three short stories about three of our favourite Shannara heroes under the collective title Paladins of Shannara. The first of these is Allanon's Quest, and at the cost of $0.99 this is worth the read for all Shannara fans.

This is a fun little short story about the indomitable druid Allanon and his quest to find a living blood descendent of Jerle Shannara. After tracking down a disgraced elven historian Allanon learns that there is still one living blood descendent, but he will have to act fast if he is going to reach the descendent before the Warlock Lord does. At 40 pages this is a very quick read. Much of the world and character building relies on knowledge that has been given to the reader over the course of the last 35 years, which is a good thing because it allows Brooks to focus on the quest and the action. The story is well written, the action sequence is a lot of fun, and it's great to see Allanon kicking ass again after so many years. That said, I was a bit disappointed with Brooks' decision to tie this short story in so closely with The Sword of Shannara. There are so many other tales from Allanon's history that could have been explored, but instead we got a short story so closely tied in with Sword that I think almost any fan will have no trouble predicting the entire plot. Hopefully the other two Paladins of Shannara short stories will explore some new content.

Allanon's Quest is a good short story for fans, and the ideal way to get your head back into the world of Shannara before Brooks releases the first book in his new Shannara trilogy later this month.