Ilse Witch (Voyage of the Jerle Shannara #1)
Start of a trilogy set in Brooks' Shannara series. There's nothing surprising in the mix of characters he assembles, and it starts off fairly slowly.Persevere, and the pace picks up nicely. It ends on a cliff hanger which some people may not like as you're disappointed if you're not going to continue with it.
This is a better read than the original Sword of Shannara series - Brooks has improved his writing quite a bit, but it's still formulaic in the people and their behaviour that he puts in there.
 - Terry Brooks)
