DRAGON WING; By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Bantam; $18.95.
TEHANU: THE LAST BOOK OF EARTHSEA; By Ursula K. LeGuin; Atheneum; $15.95.
In terms of style, language, grace of narration, whatever comes to mind when you think of good writing, Ellen Kushner's "Thomas the Rhymer" is in every way a much, much better book than Terry Brooks' "The Scions of Shannara."If I had to choose between them, though, I'd probably pick the latter. More important, so would the thousands of fantasy readers who have made best sellers of Brooks' novels.
There are so many of us who are suckers for the grand sweep of epic fantasy that a good storyteller can rearrange the cliches and conventions with enough originality to capture a huge audience. Terry Brooks and David Eddings have done it; so have Stephen Donaldson and Guy Gavriel Kay, on perhaps a bit higher level.
This preoccupation with the epic form tends to make success more difficult for fantasy of a more focused scope, such as "Thomas the Rhymer," which is a wonderful book.
Kushner expands the 12th-century English folk tale of True Thomas (told in one of the Child ballads) into the very human, lively, charming story of an all-too-fallible young harper lured into seven years of underground enchantment in return for a kiss - and somewhat more - from the Queen of Elfland.
And don't read the word "charming" as a synonym for "precious." This is an earthy, witty, even mildly erotic book, as convincing in its depiction of fairie passion and prejudice as in its descriptions of the narrowly focused life of the Middle Ages. It's thoroughly enjoyable.
"The Scions of Shannara" is the first volume of Brooks' new trilogy, "The Heritage of Shannara," with the descendants of the heroes and heroines of the earlier novels taking up where their ancestors left off 300 years before in the struggle against evil, oppression and things that go "Aaaargh!" in the night.
Par Ohmsford, great-great-great-whatever of the fabled Shea, is the principal protagonist, and he and his brother Coll are virtually carbon copies of the Ohmsfords who cavorted in "The Sword of Shannara," which began the first trilogy. Other descendants arrive on the scene and all go charging off on quests for the lost sword, elfstones and the missing elves themselves.
"Dragon Wing" is the first of the (gasp!) seven novels in the proposed "Death Gate Cycle" and marks the hardcover debut of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, who have had paperback success with their "Dragonlance," "Darksword" and "Rose of the Prophet" series.
Again, readers of fantasy will be on familiar, cliche-sprinkled ground, with elves, dwarves, dragons and that mixture of magic and forgotten science that earlier writers have exploited so frequently. However, Weis and Hickman seem more original than most, or at least make fresh uses of old devices.
The novel has a world of continents floating in space; a couple of intriguing anti-heroes heading a cast of well-drawn characters; and an entertaining dwarf society that has slipped away from technology, with both comic and tragic results. All in all, it's a tale in which roles of good and evil are not as easily assigned as in most such fiction.
Last, but certainly not least, there's Ursula K. LeGuin. Over the years, LeGuin has climbed beyond her role as science-fiction master, outstripping any genre boundaries, but one of her most engaging works remains the Earthsea trilogy, originally published for "juvenile" readers but certainly one of the great works of modern epic fantasy.
Now, 18 years later, she has added a fourth Earthsea novel. "Tehanu" is a much more tightly focused, more homely book - a story of magicians who have left the magic behind them and are intent on coming to terms with their humanity.
Tenar is living out her life as a farmer's widow on the isle of Gont, far removed from the adventures she shared with the young wizard Ged in "The Tombs of Atuan." Then Ged, his own magic gone, returns.
This short, beautifully written novel seems almost like a coda to the earlier Earthsea novels - a quiet reflection on the disparity between grand deeds and life's day-to-day challenges, seen from the perspective of maturity.
But then, at the end, despite the novel's subtitle, there is a thread of plot left hanging, a bridge to adventures to come. Only LeGuin, presumably, knows if this truly is "The Last Book of Earthsea."