I had just finished Wishsong and the short story Indominable, so perhaps the timing was perfect. I found myself wanting to know more about Jair, Brin, Kimber, Colgine, and Slanter. This graphic novel is a fun and quick read that focuses on Jair and his evolving magic. It cannot be compared to Terry Brooks' novels, but for the reader familiar with Shannara and the Ohmsford clan, this is an entertaining extension that touches on many aspects of the mythology. I especially liked the concept of rekindling Paranor's presence, even if it had to be stopped because of the evil behind it. In addition, we do learn a bit more about Colgine's druid past. I recommend The Dark Wraith for Shannara fans, but would have to disagree with book's back cover, which suggests this graphic novel is an "ideal opportunity" for the unfamiliar reader to delve into Brooks' fantasy world. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much had I not already read Wishsong and Indominable. As for those reviewers who were disappointed the book was not a text-based novel, all I can say is read before you buy. The graphic novel format was made very clear in all product information and I certainly knew what I was purchasing.

I'm not a big reader in the area of graphic novels but I have read a few of Brooks' Shannara series and found them to be very entertaining. So, while I was at an airport recently and not looking forward to the long flight ahead of me I decided to pick up this graphic novel to help ease the pain (I should add that I'm an avid reader but can never get comfortable enough on an airplane to have any kind of good reading experience) and I must say that this little book was just the ticket. For a couple of hours I was thoroughly entertained and enjoying my flight. Unfortunately I got through the book way too soon and still had a few more hours to kill (thank goodness for a lay over where I was able to stop and pick up Brooks' "Armageddons Children"!).

All in all I found the plot of "Dark Wraith" fairly simple but diverting and the art work was pretty good (the witch is a very creepy design) although I did find that some of the creatures that were illustrated in the story looked too much like supposedly different kinds of creatures that had appeared a few panels before so the end result was that they became a bit indistinguishable from one another. Another quibble I had was that the dialog between some of the characters (especially between the hero and his sister) was a tad bit cheesy.

So, the bottom line is: while this is not a groundbreaking story it is an enjoyable fantasy romp if your are a Shannara fan or just looking for a an hour or two to kill. I hope Brooks will do more original Shannara graphic novels and my only advice to him would be to make them longer and maybe go through the art and dialog with a finer toothed comb than was used here.

If you are expecting this to be the same as one of Terry's other Shannara novels, you will probably be disappointed. This short graphic novel format is more geared towards a short story, almost like a long comic book. I think of them as something that I could read on the bus or subway on the way to work. I finished this one in less than an hour. It was a good story and I would be interested in seeing more.

I finished reading Dark Wraith a day or two ago. First let me say/acknowledge that I've been a Brooks fan for, wow, about 20 years now. I've read all of his books except two -- First King, which for some reason I just cannot get into -- and Elves of Cintra, which is on my reading list for the summer. Except for First King, I've thoroughly enjoyed them all (the movie adaptations are a little iffy, yes). Terry has a great way of creating worlds and characters that are very believable and accessible. Even though his genre is fantasy, his character's situations and dilemmas are universal which makes his books all that much stronger.

When Terry announced that there was going to be a Shannara graphic novel, I had mixed emotions. I read comics as a kid and have enjoyed some of the graphic novels out there. I'm not a graphic novel die hard by any means. I was worried that the graphic novelization of the Shannara world could taint it or corrupt it somehow. The world seems to be in a graphic novel loving frenzy these days and I'm sure that's part of the reason for the push at this time. I enjoyed the art from the Hildebrandts and I have the art compendium for Shannara. While it's fun to see artists' representations, it can sometimes hurt the imagination.

Still, I was excited to see a new story from the Shannara world. I was also excited to see the sense of movement and excitement visually presented.

As I dove into the pages of Dark Wraith, I was not disappointed. First, it contains a great welcome from Terry in the beginning as well as a great intro to the Shannara world to help make the story accessible to any new readers. It was a good overview since it's been many years since I read the first trilogy (something I plan to do again).

The story begins with Jair working to thwart the powers of darkness and finding a strange new power in the Wishsong (I'm going to try to leave out spoilers without being too vague). The power, like most of Brooks' magics, is powerful to the point of potential consumption and Jair promises his sister he won't use the Wishsong again because it is just too dangerous and she doesn't want to risk losing him to the magic.

The story continues in the same way many/most of the early Shannara books did, with Allanon appearing to give our hero a quest. Naturally, Jair accepts and the adventure begins. We meet up with characters familiar to us from other Shannara tales. It's cool to see how their personalities are slightly different in this time period due to more or less passage of time (depending on which book's version you're comparing them to). It's nice to see the characters progress and develop different traits through different adventures.

One part of the quest is fulfilled and the final portion remains. Jair pushes on to fulfill his quest and is presented with difficult morale choices of keeping his promise to his sistetr or succumbing to the call of the magic, hoping he's strong enough to withstand it's pull.

I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of the Shannara world and fans of fantasy and/or graphic novels. The story is engaging and the artwork is fabulous.

My main criticism is the seeming lack of length/depth. The story itself is only ~160 pages and it travels fairly quickly. I agree with the comments of the adaptor who said this could easily expand into something much larger. If a "picture is worth a thousand words", then we're probably still pretty close to a standard novel size, maybe still a bit shorter. So much of the struggle that goes on in Shannara books is internal to the characters, something that is difficult to bring into a graphic novel and still maintain the pacing created in this form. The adventure itself goes very quickly. The general pacing of the travel and the adventure is good, I just want more of it.

Again, I haven't read the original trilogy for a while, so I may be perhaps dwelling too much on the modern Brooks. I definitely recall that over the years, Terry's plotlines have become much more complex...intricate spiderwebs of motivations and subplots. I think I wanted to see more of that in this book. But that may have been a bit overwhelming for the graphic novel form and it may also be that this style is more true to the original Wishsong.

Overall:
****
4 out of 5 stars

Ignore the reviews that say they didn't like it "because they thought it was a book." Graphic novels are a perfectly viable storytelling medium. I think no less of stories because they're told with words AND pictures.

Besides, the product description states very clearly "GRAPHIC NOVEL." If people can't read that much, they don't even have any business reading books in the first place.

Be advised this is "graphic novel" more akin to a comic book than to the regular books by Terry Brooks. It may be a great graphic novel but I was expecting one of his regular written novels in text and not one based mainly on illustrations. This is the first one from Terry Brooks for me and I returned it. I have read most all of his novels and he has been my favorite fictional author and I will continue to look forward to his regular "text" books in the future.

I was disappointed with my purchase because it was in the illustrated comic format. I expected a more normal science fantasy novel. I also felt it was overpriced for its type, especially as I also paid for overseas postage.
Patricia Bridge

I was a little wary to say the least when I first heard about this grand experiment as Terry has called it. I am not what you would call a real fan of the format in general, and have yet to just *get into* the whole idea of reading a Comic Book (for lack of a better description). However, I tempered all of this with the fact that Terry has been one of the more consistently GOOD Fantasy Authors of the last 30 years and I decided to gamble on buying a copy.

For me, I believe the gamble paid off. While I won't be putting Dark Wraith up there with the likes of pretty much ANY of Terry's large (and growing) collection of great novels, I WILL admit that the story and even the art-work was enough to keep me interested and above-all, entertained from beginning to end.

Let me say that I am a gigantic fan of the Wishsong novel and the subsequent short story featuring Jair in the Legends II Fantasy collection and felt that Dark Wraith would be a nice continuation of events within that scope. I STILL feel that the character of Garet Jax is easily one of Brooks' best creations, and I think the whole idea behind using magic through song is one that potentially has limitless possibilities within the realm of a Shannara-themed story...add that together and I already felt like I was familiar with this story even before I began page 1.

I have to say that getting re-acquainted with Slanter all over again was a sincere pleasure...after finishing the story, I have to say that I really wish it had been longer. For those who may purchase this book thinking that the story is as epic as the typical Shannara tale will be sorely disappointed. This particular tale can be read in one fairly short sitting--unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story, I just felt that the book barely got moving when almost as suddenly it ended...it's THAT short.

Take that all into account along with the fact that this IS a Graphic Novel and NOT a typical story and I believe you may enjoy this shortened visit into the land of Shannara quite a bit...but for those who are strongly against Graphic-type novels, you may want to think twice before picking this one up. I guess it's just a matter of taste...and I actually enjoyed this one, but wish it had been longer.

The story was very weak, so if you haven't read other books by Terry Brooks, you will be lost. The plot had no heads or tails and it was very childish.
The artwork was terrible. The action scenes, character faces, background, etc...The whole art is very amateurish. I was expecting a lot more from an author like Brooks.

In the Four Lands, the dream frightens Jair Ohmsford as he finds himself in trouble with shades like the late great warrior Jaret Jax the Weapons Master helping him survive his nightmare. However, reality proves even scarier when the shade of Allonon warns him an evil inhuman race the Mwellerts have a new scheme starting with the abduction of two of Jair's friends Kimber and Cogline. Jair knows he must rescue them, but no one wants to abet his cause out of fear of the enemy. Still he has power if he dares use the dark magic Wishsong that his father and his sister have cautioned as the price of employing this conjuring could be his soul. However, reluctantly he turns to the spirit of a deceased warrior for help as the enemy has come for him because he has proven with his sister to being the one to prevent the Mwells from making a nightmarish future for everyone.

DARK WRAITH OF SHANNARA is a stand alone graphic comic book that is a direct follow up to Terry Brooks' WISHSONG OF SHANNARA. The story line is entertaining due to the prime character as Jair, not wanting to bring his sibling Brin into what he believes is his cause, has difficult magical choices to make to save his friends. The black and white artwork is well done as the pictures enhance the plot. There are several other background sections that might fascinate some readers like the "The making of Dark Wraith" and "The Artist's Sketchbook" but this reviewer has no interest (even with the art being top rate) in those sections so I only gave it a quick glimpse. Fans of the Shannara saga will enjoy this novel entry.

Harriet Klausner

Incredibly disappointed!!! This is not a book, it is a bound comic strip. I just received it after pre-ordering weeks ago and had no idea that it was not really a book. I have read every work written by Terry Brooks and thoroughly enjoy his command of the English language, his style, his story flow, his character development and his ability to paint visual pictures with words. This is nothing more than a comic book, and, as such, negates all reasons for reading a Terry Brooks work. I want to use my imagination when reading a fantasy, not have some cartoonist's rendition of the story staring me in the face.

Terry calls this book an "experiment" in his first page description of why he wrote it in this format. Looks like a bad marketing ploy to me. If you are listening Terry, the experiment failed!! Please go back to writing real books for your real readers. I would relish a Garet Jax based story in a real Terry Brooks book. I will be waiting.