Dark Wraith of Shannara

Rating All Ages Genre fantasy Publisher Random House External Links Official

Most people who will pick up this graphic novel are already familiar with Terry Brook’s other Shannara novels. The story itself takes place after Wishsong and contains most of the characters from the previous book. After Jair finally destroys the last page of the book of World Domination, he believes that the world is at peace. But since this is a fantasy story, the world can’t be at peace for very long. Soon he’s contacted by a deceased wizard who tells him that the Mwellrats, strange raptor-like creatures, are trying to find the Druid stronghold and tap into its power. Not only that, but the Mwellrats have captured his girlfriend and her father, a Druid, to summon the castle into this world. Like any hero, Jair goes to the rescue and recruits his faithful gnome companion for the adventure.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fantasy story if Jair didn’t have some kind of power. His is the power of the wishsong. Basically, Jair sings to create different spells, with illusions being his specialty. He goes a little too far with the song at the beginning of the book and actual becomes the deceased weapon master Garet Jax. Of course, he’s warned by his sister Brin, who also can utilize the wishsong, that it’s a dangerous magic, and makes Jair promise that he won’t ever use the powers of transformation again. Brooks doesn’t really explain why it is so dangerous, except to hint that Jair could possibly lose his sense of self to that of Garet. Or at least that’s what I gathered. Anyway, Jair promises not the use the wishsong anymore. Does he keep the promise? Well, I can’t give that away now can I?

It’s a stereotypical fantasy plot that is highly predictable. It reads more like a story book than an actual comic with the majority of the text actually being set ups for the scene. Since Terry Brooks is more a book author, it’s probably difficult for him to switch writing styles, and it certainly shows. This would probably read better as an epilogue to Wishsong than a separate entity. The pace doesn’t work correctly for what he is trying to accomplish, and without some background on the characters, the relationships seem unnatural. And again there’s the problem of the narration with the images. For comics, you need to show, not tell, but Brooks tells and doesn’t show. The layout is stagnant as are the drawings. The images don’t really add anything to the story except what the characters and world look like. Even the character designs aren’t that great and are quasi-manga in nature, especially in the eye and ear regions. That’s not to say it’s bad, but it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. I did enjoy the extras more than the actual story. You get to see the transformation of the gnome as well as the sketches of other characters such as the Croton Witch. There’s also the first chapter of Wishsong at the end of the book.

Certainly Brooks has his place among fantasy authors, but this just seemed like a way to cash in on the booming graphic novel genre. I think that if he had taken some more time with the writing and maybe even considered extending the story into more issues, the pace and relationship between audience and characters would have been a lot better. As it is, everything is a little rushed and doesn’t really make that much sense to people new to the series. However, if you are a die-hard Brooks fan, you might just want to pick up this installment to see what happens. It’s not the greatest book out there, but it’s certainly not the worst. It’s just mediocre, which is a problem unto itself.