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Coming from Del Rey:
Bearers of the Black Staff
First book in the Legends of Shannara saga

Bearers of the Black Staff returns to Shannara at a strange and dangerous time in history. The Genesis of Shannara trilogy—Armageddon’s Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph—charted the fall of our own world into the hands of once-men and demons and the escape of a few humans and those of other races into a remote mountain valley walled in by impenetrable magic. For five hundred years the survivors have lived peacefully, learning to coexist and to build a new world with the limited resources and skills available to them. Now the magic that kept them safe for so many centuries is wearing down. Frightening creatures are penetrating the barriers and wreaking havoc on the valley within. It is time for the four peoples to stand together—or for all of them to fall. In this excerpt from Bearers of the Black Staff—coming from Del Rey in August 2010—Sider Ament, last of the Knights of the Word, meets an unexpected ally.