John Grant

While England's Richard I fights in the crusades and his brother John consumes the riches at home, Matty, an accomplished falconer, seeks adventures with a group of friends, among them the future Robin Hood.

This huge volume is the first comprehensive encyclopedia of the fantasy field, offering an exciting new analysis of this highly diverse and hugely popular sphere of literature, from precursors such as Shakespeare and Dante, through Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald and L. Frank Baum to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and their modern successors, like Ursula K. Le Guin, Peter S. Beagle, Stephen R. Donaldson and Jostein Gaarder. With over 4,000 entries and over 1 million words, it covers every aspect of fantasy - in literature, films, television, opera, art and comics.

Cut off from his friends and the Druid Allanon, Shea remains determined to continue his pursuit of Orl Fane, the crazed gnome who has stolen the fabled Sword of Shannara. Fane's tracks suggest he is headed north to Skull Mountain, lair of the master of all that is evil. If the gnome is not stopped, and the Sword delivered into the Dark Lord's hands, all hope for the races of the Four Lands will be lost forever. And time is already running out, for even as Fane flees with Shea in pursuit, the Warlock Lord summons a vast army of gnomes, trolls and northmen. Under the command of his dreaded Skull Bearers they begin the march south - with plans to annihilate all in their path. And so the classic tale of magic, adventure and epic conflict that is the legend of The Sword of Shannara draws to its unforgettable conclusion.