Although it is advertised as a good place to start reading about Shannara, it contains plot spoilers about The Wishsong of Shannara, although not of any others in the series. My advice would be to start with Brooks’ first book, Sword of Shannara, but for anybody more au fait with the world of manga and graphic novels this book does give one a taste of the treats in store. There are some fine illustrations in here, in a style midway between that of manga and western comics that suit the story admirably. The story suffers from being rather thin, and does not tell us anything new we don’t already know about any of the characters. Only the witch is new, and we don’t learn enough about her, which is a pity. After the story itself is a section about the making of the book that is interesting, and we learn what Brooks thought of initial drawings and see what the sketches looked like at various stages. There is also a taster from Wishsong itself, so maybe this book will hook in readers who are coming at conventional western fantasy from a different angle.