cover image Child of Light

Child of Light

Terry Brooks. Del Rey, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-0-593-35738-5

Bestseller Brooks’s first fantasy since retiring the long-running Shannara series offers an enticing new mystery while delivering enough familiar elements—in both tone and worldbuilding—to make his fans feel right at home. Nineteen-year-old Auris Grieg remembers nothing of her life before being imprisoned by goblins in the middle of a wasteland, though she catches snippets of memories in dreams. After four years, she and her fellow prisoners escape, but at great cost, as her comrades die wandering the wasteland. She believes she will be next—until she is rescued by Harrow, a Sylvan Fae. Harrow introduces Auris to his idyllic, magical world in the belief that she may be Fae herself, despite her human appearance. The more Auris learns of Harrow and his homeland, the more she is drawn to them both, but the truth of her connection with the Fae also ties her to a deeply held secret. Consumed with the need to understand her history, she embarks on a dangerous quest back into human lands with Harrow at her side. Auris is a tough but enchanting protagonist, and the page-turning mystery of her magical origins form the novel’s heart. Brooks’s fans will be thrilled to have a new series to savor. [em](Oct.) [/em]