A new novel by Terry Brooks is always a cause for celebration. For morethan twenty years, the New York Times bestselling author of the classic Shannara epic has proven himself one of the modern masters of fantasy, winning the hearts and minds of devoted readers around the world. In his last acclaimed novel, Ilse Witch, a brave company of explorers led by the last Druid, Walker Boh, traveled across unknown seas in search of an elusive magic. Yet perhaps Boh and his team were lured there for sinister, unforeseen purposes....

Now in Antrax, as the crew aboard the airship Jerle Shannara isattacked by evil forces, the Druid's protégé Bek Rowe andhis companions are pursued by the mysterious Ilse Witch. Meanwhile, Bohis alone, caught in a dark maze beneath the ruined city of Castledown,stalked by a hungry, unseen enemy.

For there is something alive in Castledown. Something not human.Something old beyond reckoning that covets the magic of Druids, elves,even the Ilse Witch. Something that hunts men for its own designs:Antrax. It is a spirit that commands ancient technologies and mechanicalmonsters, feeds off enchantment, and traps the souls of men.

With the Jerle Shannara under siege and Antrax threatening the bold andunwary, the Ilse Witch finds herself face-to-face with a boy who claimsto be the brother she last saw as an infant. Now a young man, Bek wieldsthe magic of the wishsong and carries the Sword of Shannara upon hisback. Unsure whether to trust Bek or to slay him, the Ilse Witch takeshim prisoner. One has come pursuing truth, the other revenge. Yet bothseek Walker Boh -- with the fate of the Four Lands hanging in the balance.

Return to the world of beloved novelist Terry Brooks, where creaturesdrift up from the earth like mist, a hypnotic song can kill, a sword cancut through a veil of lies -- and one man, the true heir of an ancientmagic, must choose between betrayal and redemption.