High Druid of Shannara: Straken - Terry Brooks

The High Druid of Shannara trilogy draws to a thrilling close as a young hero nears
completion of his trial by fire, a banished ruler fights for her life in a wilderness
of dread, and forces of darkness and light square off in a battle unto death for
the right to absolute rule. Prepare to be spellbound by the masterly hand of bestselling
legend weaver Terry Brooks, conjuring at the peak of his skills.

For reasons known
only to himself, the King of the Silver River has charged young Penderrin Ohmsford,
barely more than a boy, with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt, Grianne, Ard
Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile in the terrifying dimension of all
things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven
princess Khyber Elessedil by his side-and with the outcome of the bloody war between
the Federation and the Free-born at stake-Pen has accepted his mission without question.
But not without risk . . . or sacrifice.

Because Shadea a'Ru, the ruthless Druid
responsible for imprisoning the true Ard Rhys and usurping leadership at Paranor,
has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen and his comrades.
And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen has paid a devastating
price. Now if the Free-born forces-already decimated by the Federation's death-dealing
new weapon-should fall, Shadea's domination of the Four Lands will be assured. Nothing
short of Pen's success can turn the tide.

But Pen's challenge grows greater when
he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian, have fallen into Shadea' s hands. He must try to help them-but once within the walls of Druid's Keep, where
Shadea's minions and dark magic lurk at every turn, Pen's survival is far from assured.
Yet it will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding-horrors
poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right. . . .