The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch is the first new novel set in Brooks' most popular Shannara universe in many years, and is a return to the world he is best known for. The start of a whole new adventure, Ilse Witch assembles a new cast of characters and reintroduces the Druid, Walker Boh, in an adventure that takes the company in an airship past the very edges of the known world, in search of an ancient and powerful magic .

Thirty years ago, the elven prince Kael Elessedil—brother to the current king—led an expedition in search of a legendary magic said to be more ancient, more powerful, than any in the world. Of all those who set out on that ill-fated voyage, not one ever returned. Now, the mutilated body of a half-drowned elf has been found floating in the seas of the Blue Divide, and the old mystery has resurfaced.

The rescued elf carries a bracelet identifying him as one of royal lineage and a map covered with mysterious symbols that only one man has the skill to decipher. That man is Walker Boh, the last of the Druids. But someone else understands the map's significance, someone dark and ruthless: the Ilse Witch, a beautiful but twisted young woman who wields a magic as potent as his own. She will stop at nothing to possess the map—and the magic to which it leads. To stop her, Walker must find the magic first.

So begins The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara. Aboard the sleek, swift airship are an elven prince, a Rover girl, a monstrous creature part man, part enigma, and a young man named Bek Rowe, who may unknowingly hold the key to the success of the mission—or to its cataclysmic failure. Now, as old secrets come to light, sowing seeds of mistrust and suspicion among the crew, the Jerle Shannara flies into the face of unknown terrors while the Ilse Witch and her dark allies follow, waiting to strike.

About the author
A writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It was a New York Times bestseller for more than five months. He has published 16 consecutive bestsellers since, including the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were each selected by the Rocky Mountain News as one of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the 20th century.

Terry Brooks was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full time, and is presently at work on the next Shannara novel. Brooks explains his decision to become a writer by saying "writing is a profession that chooses you. It catapults you directly into a twilight zone of compulsive behavior, and you write because you have to write. One choice you have is your subject matter. I write fantasy because it gives me a bigger canvas to paint on."

Books by Terry Brooks
• The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch (Del Rey, 2000) • Angel Fire East (Ballantine, 2000)
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Ballantine, 2000)
• A Knight of the Word (Ballantine, 1999)
• First King of Shannara (Random House, 1997 )
• The Wishsong of Shannara (Sword of Shannara series #3, Random House, 1988)
• The Elfstones of Shannara (Sword of Shannara series #2, Ballantine Books, 1983)
• The Sword of Shannara (Sword of Shannara series #1, Random House, 1978 )