Ilse Witch (The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Book 1)
Terry Brooks's new Shannara epic, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara,  kicks off its first volume,Ilse Witch, with the discovery of a mad elf  drifting on wreckage miles out at sea with his tongue and eyes removed and a map  secreted among his possessions. The elf is revealed to be a lost prince who set  out decades earlier to find old magics on another continent. Walker Boh, the  Druid we last saw inThe  Talismans of Shannara, persuades the Elf King that both vengeance and  prudence dictate a second expedition and assembles the usual crew of talented  misfits to travel by airship into unknown territory. The forces of evil are on  their way as well--the shadowy figure known as the Ilse Witch and the  lizard-like mercenaries forced on her by her untrustworthy ally, the Morgawr,  are closing in, with acquisition and murder in their hearts.Fans of Terry Brooks will know precisely what to expect from him: undemanding  sword-and-sorcery adventure with touches of the gloomily mysterious and of more  complex emotions. This is Brooks at his best and this novel is the least  dependent on earlier models as it becomes clear that in this sequence the  relationship between good and evil is more complicated than usual.--Roz  Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk