Cover of The High Druid's Blade

The High Druid's Blade

core novel 2014 Shannara

Record

First published2014
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.94 (6,474 ratings, collected 2026-09-12)
First-edition ISBN978-0-345-54070-6
First-edition date2014-07-08
Internal chronology26

Synopsis

Opening the Defenders of Shannara series, the novel follows Paxon Leah, a humble shipping merchant descended from the legendary Highland kings of Leah, who discovers he carries dormant magic in his family's ancestral blade when he uses it to rescue his abducted sister from the dark sorcerer Arcannen. Recognizing that his newly awakened, untrained power is dangerous both to himself and to those around him, Paxon travels to Paranor to seek training from the Druid order and to master his abilities in the hope of becoming one of their protectors. Once there, however, he uncovers a hidden conspiracy within the Druids' own ranks, a sinister plot involving corrupted magic that has been used to twist an innocent person into an unwitting instrument of evil, a threat that, left unchecked, endangers both the Druid order and the wider Four Lands.

Where it sits

  • Universe: Shannara
  • Series: Defenders of Shannara core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
  • Author: Terry Brooks

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

Sources

← Shannara dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.