Grianne Ohmsford is the Ard Rhys – the High Druid, leader of the third Druid Council. But despite her best efforts in guiding the Council her past as the Ilse Witch when she was under the control of Morgawr (as detailed in the previous Shannara trilogy) still haunts her. People remember this part of her history and distrust her or even despise her.

Shadea a'Ru is one Druid who does not want Grianne to remain as leader of the Druids and together with other conspirators amongst the Druidic ranks and the Prime Minister of the Coalition, Sen Dunsidan she plans to overthrow the Ard Rhys.

This conspiring seems to be successful when Grianne Ohmsford banished to the Forbidding, the alternate realm to which all of the dark creatures (the Jarka Ruus or banished people from the Elven tongue) were expelled centuries before. Her she must struggle to survive and hope that someone from her own dimension can find the means to bring her back.

When Shadea a'Ru quickly assumes the mantle of Ard Rhys, Grianne's dwarf assistant Tagwen realises something is seriously wrong and hurries from Paranor, the Druid's home to search out Grianne's brother Bek, who shares the magical heritage of the Ohmsford family. When he arrives at the Ohmsford home he discovers Bek is away on a voyage and cannot be contacted, and the only person home is Penderrin, Bek's sone and Grianne's nephew - who does not seem to have quite the magical strength of his father and aunt.

As the Galaphile, the Ard Rhys's personal airship arrives quickly behind him (sent by the new Ard Rhys), the two have to flee and set out on their quest to retrieve the rightful Ard Rhys.

This is the twelfth novel of Shannara and there is a certain advantage that a reader will have if he/she has read the previous volumes. But as this is the first in a new trilogy there is a way in for newer fresh readers. To prove this, this is the first Shannara novel I have read in two decades and I found this very readable, with enough of the backstory available in the text for the reader to pick up the tale without too much difficulty.

This is an entertaining read, it's comfortable, non-demanding and has a accessible characters. The Forbidding sections are the highlight of the book, part of this is due to the book's star character, Grianne Ohmsford, is banished to this realm. But also because it's quite a good idea. This is a dimension where all of the evil creatures live. It's essentially the same place as Grianne's home, the topography of the landscape is the same but darker and quite eerie. And you get the feeling that here is where the author was having a little bit of fun, exploring some of the darker creatures of the fantasy mythos.

The other sections though are not up to this standard, in fact there is a feeling of familiarity at times in the plotting. But this said the writing is fairly polished and easy to read. Brooks's style is not the most literary but it does achieve the most important thing for writers – it doesn't prevent you understanding the story; it doesn't get in the way.

And this is what Brooks is all about as a writer – he entertains but don't expect your reading muscles to be stretched. For anyone who has read and enjoyed previous Shannara books, this will prove no disappointment and I guess with the number of fans he has around the world I guess you can call this mission accomplished for Terry Brooks.