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I know it's not much to go on, as I read this book probably close to 7-9 years ago. Here's my best synopsis of what I remember. It is also part of a series, if that helps.

There is a magical tree that the people of the land kind of worship, kind of serve. It hasn't spoken in many many years, but one day it does. It speaks to one of the monks/disciples that care for it. (From what I remember, this is a very important and selective job). It tells the person that it is dying and they need to plant a new seed (I think???). The main part that I remember is that this tree was the force protecting their world from evil. Many years ago there was a great war and all the evil was locked behind a magical wall, this wall was kept up by this great magical tree. I am fairly sure the wall is invisible, like it's on another plane of existence and the evil has been trying to break through to this world. Well as the tree is dying, one really bad guy gets through first and is now traveling across the land killing people and being generally evil.

Any help would be much appreciated! This was such a good book and I think I just stumbled across it by itself.

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I'm quite certain you're talking about The Elfstones of Shannara. It's the second book in the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.

The plot involves a tree called the Ellcrys, which holds in place the barrier that blocks the Demons, who were banished millennia ago, from returning into the world. The Elves take care of the tree and there is a group of youths, the Chosen, doing this job.

The Ellcrys speaks after many generations of not having done so because she is dying and needs one of the Chosen to take the tree's seed somewhere where it can be "activated" and save her. But a Demon kills all the Chosen except one, who had left long ago.

The main character (who isn't one of them) has to find that last Chosen and help her save the tree, while the demon hunts them.

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  • Oh my gosh you are my hero! I've been trying to find this book for years! Thank you so much :)
    – callmeredhead
    Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 14:14
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    Bonus: Tor.com is doing a re-read - with - commentary of the entire Shannara series, and they are in the middle of Elfstones right now. tor.com/series/rereading-shannara
    – JohnWinkelman
    Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 14:37

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