THE BLACK ELFSTONE is the first book in the FALL OF SHANNARA, the epic four-part conclusion to the wildly popular Shannara series by Terry Brooks - one of the all-time masters of fantasy. The Four Lands has been at peace for generations, but now a mysterious army of invaders is cutting a bloody swath across a remote region of the land. No one knows who they are, where they come from, or what they are after - and most seem content to ignore these disturbing events. The only people who sense a greater, growing threat and wish to uncover the truth are society's outcasts: an exiled High Druid, a conflicted warrior, a teenage girl struggling to master a prodigious magic . . . and a scrappy young orphan, improbably named Shea Ohmsford. 'Terry's place is at the head of the fantasy world' Phillip Pullman 'I can't even begin to count how many of Terry Brooks's books I've read (and re-read) over the years' Patrick Rothfuss 'I would not be writing epic fantasy today if not for Shannara' Peter V. Brett 'A master of the craft . . . required reading' Brent Weeks