The First Druids of Shannara: Brona – Review

The story of the first Druids of Shannara continues with the origin story of an infamous figure that is as gripping as it is tragic.

*warning: minor spoilers below for the plot of The First Druids of Shannara: Brona

One of the most infamous figures in the history of Shannara is Brona, the one-time Druid who becomes known as the Warlock Lord. This figure tries multiple times to subdue the Four Lands under his rule, with war and chaos following in his wake. But where did such a figure come from? How did this figure come to exist at all? Well, that is what The First Druids of Shannara: Brona seeks to tell us. The story takes place about seventeen years after the ending of the previous book, The First Druids of Shannara: Galaphile, and as the title suggests now primarily focuses on Galaphile’s son Brona.

From the start, there is a sense of inevitable doom that permeates this story. Brona’s status as a villain in the history of Shannara is undisputed, so the direction of the story is never really in doubt. No matter how many times Brona, Abronja as he’s named for most of the tale, denies it, we know his story will not end well. In the wrong hands, this could make for a very boring story, as why would we want to read a tale where the outcome is not in doubt. Well, let me assure you, this story isn’t boring in the slightest.

That’s what makes The First Druids of Shannara: Brona so gripping; Abronja is introduced to us as a young man full of life and magic who truly wants nothing more than to take the world by storm and leave his mark. We want to see Abronja succeed and take his place among the great of Paranor. We want to see him make his parents proud. By all accounts, Abronja has everything he needs to succeed in life…until it all begins to go wrong.

The bulk of the story could be described as one giant domino effect, with one pivotal moment starting a downward spiral that very few seem to be aware of until it is far too late. Abronja himself appears to have the best of intentions right until the bitter end. And yet…slowly but surely we can see the young mage slipping towards a darker path. There’s never one single moment where Abronja says “I will now follow evil.” That would’ve been far too easy. The most heartwrenching detail of Abronja’s descent into darkness is that it doesn’t happen all at once. It takes place over years, with a plethora of little, seemingly minor decisions, that add up to nothing short of catastrophe once the pieces fall into place.

I also can’t get out of my mind how oblivious Abronja is to his own fall until almost the very end. Every time a step is taken down that path, there’s a justification for it. And the arguments sound reasonable, at least at first. Of course one needs to increase their magical power in order to fight the Spectre Telle; of course this requires studying secret magical texts; of course this might require taking rogue actions for the greater good, etc. It almost reminds me of Anakin’s slow transformation into Darth Vader. It happens so gradually, for the most part, that you almost don’t realize how much things have changed until something shocking happens and you realize this is not the same person you met at the beginning of the story.

What also fascinates me is getting to see Paranor in its early days. This thriving community is a far cry from the isolated fortress seen in The Sword of Shannara. It’s a little sad, seeing the community grow over the course of the story and realizing that despite what Galaphile hopes for, most of it will eventually be lost. Despite that, it’s interesting to see how the First Druid Council begins to come together. I appreciate that the council doesn’t just seamlessly come together. In very realistic fashion, there is a lot of disagreement and infighting that you might expect to see when a diverse group of people come together for the first time. I find it irksome when things go too smoothly for too long and this struggle to establish the council was something I appreciated.

If I had one gripe with the story, it’s that I couldn’t quite accept that Galaphile couldn’t figure out what was happening with his own son. As much as I love the character of Nirianne, I could accept that she didn’t figure it out because she didn’t have magic, there’s no way she could’ve discovered the truth. But Galaphile is well established to be a powerful mage and very adept at detecting sources of evil. The idea that Galaphile couldn’t detect the presence of such a powerful artifact in such close proximity…feels a little hard to accept. Though I suppose it could be argued that Galaphile has a blind spot where his son is concerned, as is true of most parents.

I thoroughly enjoyed the heart wrenching journey that The First Druids of Shannara: Brona took me on. Shannara is beyond secure in the hands of Delilah Dawson and I’m very interested to see where she takes the story next.