Terry Brooks

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-12

Terence Dean Brooks was born January 8, 1944, in Sterling, Illinois, where he spent much of his early life before eventually relocating to Seattle, Washington, where he lives with his wife, Judine. He earned a B.A. in English literature from Hamilton College in 1966 and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University, initially practicing law before committing fully to writing. Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings during college and influenced stylistically by William Faulkner, Brooks published his debut novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977, which became a landmark bestseller credited with helping establish commercial epic fantasy as a mainstream publishing category. He went on to build the expansive Shannara universe across numerous interconnected series, including Heritage of Shannara, Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, and The Fall of Shannara tetralogy, as well as the separate Landover fantasy series. He also wrote novelizations for films including Hook and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Brooks has authored twenty-three New York Times bestsellers and sold more than twenty-five million books worldwide. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2017 and an Inkpot Award in 1997. In March 2025, he announced his semi-retirement, passing continuation of the Shannara series to author Delilah S. Dawson.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Sword of Shannara (1977) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) · Shannara Core Canon
• Magic Kingdom for Sale, Sold! (1986) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• The Black Unicorn (1987) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• Wizard at Large (1988) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• The Scions of Shannara (1990) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Druid of Shannara (1991) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Talismans of Shannara (1993) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Tangle Box (1994) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• Witches' Brew (1995) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• First King of Shannara (1996) · Shannara Core Canon
• Running with the Demon (1997) · Shannara Core Canon
• A Knight of the Word (1998) · Shannara Core Canon
• Angel Fire East (1999) · Shannara Core Canon
• Ilse Witch (2000) · Shannara Core Canon
• Antrax (2001) · Shannara Core Canon
• Morgawr (2002) · Shannara Core Canon
• Jarka Ruus (2003) · Shannara Core Canon
• Tanequil (2004) · Shannara Core Canon
• Straken (2005) · Shannara Core Canon
• Armageddon's Children (2006) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Elves of Cintra (2007) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Dark Wraith of Shannara (2008) · Shannara Expanded Canon
• The Gypsy Morph (2008) · Shannara Core Canon
• A Princess of Landover (2009) · Magic Kingdom of Landover Core Canon
• Bearers of the Black Staff (2010) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Measure of the Magic (2011) · Shannara Core Canon
• Wards of Faerie (2012) · Shannara Core Canon
• Bloodfire Quest (2013) · Shannara Core Canon
• Witch Wraith (2013) · Shannara Core Canon
• The High Druid's Blade (2014) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Darkling Child (2015) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Sorcerer's Daughter (2016) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Black Elfstone (2017) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Skaar Invasion (2018) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Stiehl Assassin (2019) · Shannara Core Canon
• The Last Druid (2020) · Shannara Core Canon
• Small Magic: Short Fiction, 1977-2020 (2021) · Shannara Expanded Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 38 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 3 (3 finalist mention)

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