Brooks’ “The Stiehl Assassin” is the third book of four in the Fall of Shannara quadrilogy and something like the 31st book in the Shannara world which includes various trilogies depicting different times and legends of Shannara. This fantasy world includes sword ⚔️ and sorcery, elves, dwarves, druids, and Flying airships ala Burroughs. There are a huge assortment of characters. Unlike Tolkien’s Middle-earth or Howard’s Hyborian age, Shannara is not set in some mythical prehistory but in a future where civilization as we know it has been extinguished and a new age has dawned with magic often replacing technology.

For those of us who made like Rip Van Winkle and slept through the last forty years and the first 31 flavors of Shannara, an introduction might have been in order, giving some background, history, and character development. It would have helped to quickly know who is on which side and what was at stake. For the rest of the reading universe, such would have been an unnecessary waste of pages.

Much of the story is setting up the chess pieces so the battle can begin, and a lot of the action is given in quick bites. Once it gets underway, there’s a lot of action and adventure, and is certainly a worthwhile read. But how it compares to other books 📚 in the series is for others to say.