Editorial Review

If you have never read anything by beloved fantasy writer Terry Brooks, take your chance with Read more

Reviews (26)

*3.5 stars*
I was somewhat dissapointed by this novel, brooks stated he would 'bridge' two wonderfully seperate series-word/void and shannara.
Bridging Word/Void with Shannara
Terry Brooks revisits the world of his greatest work: The Word and the Void. That original trilogy was set in a modern day United States where there are demons working for the Void trying to turn humans to acts of evil to twist the world to be a more violent, dangerous, and lost place. John Ross, a Knight of the Word, fought daily against visions of the future that he had to try to prevent. Ross's visions were of events that could happen in his own lifetime and for all of Ross's success, all he did was delay the inevitable. Armageddon's Children is set some eighty years after Angel Fire East and the world is a ruined place and things are only fixing to get worse. Pollution is out of control, a nuclear war occurred, the humans which are "safe" live in compounds (like Seattle's Safeco Field) warded off against the outside world. Those compounds are all under siege and they are falling day by day until there will be nowhere left to run or hide. In Seattle there are gangs of children calling themselves Tribes. Adults have failed them and street children are not allowed in Compounds so they must survive by becoming their own families and looking out for each other. Humans who had been caught outside for too long and who somehow survived drinking radioactive water and eating off of the poisoned land have mutated. This is our world, only broken. This could be our future.
This is not my idea of a trilogy...
I just finished this book a few minutes ago. The story is good, but I want to express my extreme frustration with the ending. A trilogy is a story told in three parts, NOT one third of a story that just stops and the reader has to wait a year for the next chapter. The books in Tolkien's Ring trilogy did not end with cliff hangers such as this. I have read every book Brooks has written. The other Word and Void books could stand alone.I am disapointed in the handling of this story so far.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - General    3. Fantasy fiction    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Fantasy    6. Science Fiction And Fantasy    7. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

Read more

Reviews (63)

Sorry To Close This Book
I had put off reading this book for a long time.It just sat there on my bookshelf wanting to be read.But for some reason I didn't until recently.And now I know why.I hated closing this book because now I will never see Nest Freemark again.
Another page turner from a master
Angel Fire East is the last installment in the Word and Void trilogy that started with Running with the Demon.Twenty-nine year old Nest Freemark lives in her hometown of Hopewell, IL recovering from a divorce and trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life after a strange ending to her career as a professional runner.Meanwhile John Ross, the Knight of the Word, starts a mission to find and capture a gypsy morph, a creation of wild magic that can be used for good or evil, which could tip the balance in the war between the Word and the Void.Of course, the forces of the Void are hot on his trail and Nest and the people she loves most are caught in the middle as a battle for the gypsy morph is joined in Hopewell.
a fine conclusion to Word/Void
Terry Brooks wraps up his Word/Void Trilogy with Angel Fire East.It is now some fifteen years after the events of Running With the Demon and ten since A Knight of the Word.John Ross is still fighting the good fight, trying to stop the small events that he knows will tip the world closer to the power of the Void.He dreams of the future, of a world in ruin and of the events that could hold off that future.He learns that a Gyspy Morph will be born, a being born of wild and uncontrolled magic that could tip the balance in the favor of the Void if Ross fails in captured the Morph.It is raw magical energy in a physical form.Standing in Ross's path is Findo Gast.Gast is a demon sent to stop John Ross and to claim the Morph for the Void.He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy - Contemporary    2. Fantasy - Dark/Horror    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Fantasy    6. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (53)

Good Ending for a Good Series
Good ending to a good series.Terry Brooks comes through again.

Good News and Bad News
The good news is that Terry Brooks' latest Shannara trilogy, High Druid of Shannara, is a considerable improvement over his previous effort (Voyage of the Jerle Shannara).The bad news is that this one suffers almost as much from sheer "ho hum", as the last one did from sheer implausibility.
Series fizzles out
Spoiler warning.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Epic    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Fantasy    6. Science Fiction - General    7. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

Terry Brooks's Read more

Reviews (126)

"Did You Sell Your Soul for So Little?"
Terry Brooks is best known for his "Shannara" series, which is immensely popular despite being rather obviously inspired by Tolkien's plots, characters and themes. For reasons even I can't explain, I've read quite a few of these novels (despite my distain for them) and so I can say with a fair amount of confidence that "Running with the Demon" is undoubtedly Brooks's best novel. Moving away from his fantasy subworld of dwarfs, elves, magical talismans and plucky young farmboys-cum-heroes, the only thing Brooks hangs on to is his good against evil theme, placing it in contemporary America.
Modern horror in a positive vein
Capsule Summary: Rating: Excellent. A "positive horror" novel which is well-written, well-paced, and clever.
Running With the Demon
I thought this book was an excellent book! It had me hooked from page one!I sat down and finished the book within 36 hours since I wasn't able to put it down! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Contemporary    3. Fiction - Fantasy    4. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

John Ross, the tortured, conflicted Knight of the Word from TerryBrooks's Read more

Reviews (68)

A page turner, but...
John Ross is a Knight of the Word (or Creator) who has had it with his lonley mission to fight the evil minions of the Void (guess who he is).After a mission that ends in tragedy Ross calls it quits and tries to make life for himself serving the homeless in Seatle with a new home and a lover.Life is good, but can Ross escape his calling to defend the world from the depredations of demons and the forces of chaos?No.Ross's past catches up with him in the form of an insidious demonic plot to seduce him into the service of the Void.However, there is hope!Nest Freemark, the girl Ross saved in Running with the Demon, is sent by the Lady, a servant of the Word, to save Ross not only from the Void, but also from the fatal consequences the Word will visit on him if he doesn't get his act together.
some of the best work Brooks has produced
When I was a young lad I would read every Shanarra novel I could find, and several times. I read all of Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover novels. But for some reason I never picked up Running With the Demon or any of the Word/Void novels. It really makes no sense because of how much I enjoyed Brooks' work. A couple of months ago I finally read the first Word/Void novel and was stunned. Running With the Demon was quite possibly the best thing Terry Brooks has written with an argument to be made about Elfstones. What's more, it felt fresh. It was the story of John Ross, a normal man picked by the Word to be its Champion in trying to hold the balance against the Void. When the novel started, Ross had been a Knight for some twenty or so years and made his way to Hopewell, Illinois to try to stop something from happening. He wasn't sure what because his dreams only give him a location and a taste of the horrors that would be unleashed on our world if he fails. He finds a teenaged girl, Nest Freemark and her magic.
John Ross' Story Continues
A Knight of the Word begins with John Ross quiting his destiny of being a Knight.But he is still plagued by dreams of an unpeakably horrifying future (a future that may come true, just read the Shannara books).
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy - Contemporary    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Fantasy    4. Literary    5. Fantasy    6. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (71)

Terrifyingly dull and unoriginal
I bought it, and I have never NOT finished a book that I started... so I'll finish it. But I don't recommend anyone else starting it.
Sword of Shannara is the best of the three
The first book in the trilogy, The Sword of Shannara is in my opinion the best of the three. With Flick and Shea, and the whole supporting cast, the adventure rolls on from the very beginning when the tall dark stranger shows up.
The Sword of Shannara Trilogy
I have not finsihed reading the trilogy yet, but find what I have read interesting.I bought the trilogy to save a little money.I won't do this again.The book is so darned heavy to hold onto physically that I cannot lose myself in the story because I am trying to manipulate the weighty volume.I am not certain I will finish reading it because of this.I may try to find individual editions of each story instead. My rating is based on the physical state and has nothing to do with the story. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Epic    3. Fantasy fiction    4. Fantasy fiction, American    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - Fantasy    7. Shannara (Imaginary place)    8. Fiction / Fantasy / Epic   

Editorial Review

War threatens the Four Lands, and Shannara's only hope lies in Penderrin Ohmsford, but it's a dreadfully slim hope. To save his world, Pen must restore his aunt, the former Ilse Witch, to her rightful position as High Druid of Shannara. But first Pen must free his aunt Grianne from the Forbidding: the world of the demons. To have the slightest chance of freeing her, he must find the mystical tree called the Tanequil, and somehow craft a talisman from its wood. But Shadea a'Ru, the treacherous usurper of his aunt's position, will do anything to stop Pen--and she has already captured Pen's parents and forced them to reveal their son's whereabouts. Sen Dunsidan, the monstrous Prime Minister of the Federation, has armed his greatest airship with a horrible new weapon. And Pen is just a boy, accompanied on his dangerous quest by only a Dwarf, a young Elf, and a blind Rover girl.Read more

Reviews (50)

Middle novel of a Terry Brooks story
Terry Brooks has made a career out of a complicated fantasy world where magic rules as well as politics and inter-racial warfare keeps the balance of good versus evil in a constant state of flux. In all of his books there are several steady components: The Ohmsford family through all of its generations is imbued with a strong strain of magic that they are regularly called upon to exercise even if they do not wish to do so.
series in decline
Although I loved the first Shannara series, something of the magic has departed the more recent books. Picking up where Book I left off, Tanequil tells the stories of what has happened to the world since Griane Ohmsford's betrayal. As her enemies work to solidify their rule, her family tries to find her. Spurred by the words of the King of the Silver River, her nephew, Pen, searches for the Tanequil, a magical tree, somewhat like the Ellcrys, to craft a dark wand so he can journey into the Forbidding to rescue her, but he did not count to cost before setting out, and it is dear. Meanwhile, Griane's plight is more desperate than she can imagine. Now the prisoner of the Straken Lord, she is forced to call upon her own evil to survive, risking losing herself in the process.
A great story with some re-used ideas
I'm definitely an avid Brooks fan, and this book is not a disappointment.There are some very similar elements between Tanequil and the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series (Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Epic    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fantasy - Series    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - Fantasy    7. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (523)

A "Lord Of The Rings" knockoff
Well, I read most of the series in school, and was fairly impressed, but I saw to many resemblances to "The Lord Of The Rings". They had a wizard, a warrior prince, an elf, a dwarf, and a bunch of short people. Sounds familiar don't it? The next thing was that the characters were looking for a sword that could stop an evil being. What's the difference?!?!?!?!?!? Oh, a ring to stop an evil being.
Disappointing after all the hype
What so many other reviewers are saying about the slavish similarities to--and sometimes outright copying of--Lord of the Rings are right on the mark. True, Brooks dresses his world up differently, and adds few original touches (some of which aren't bad), but in the end this story simply fails to deliver anything new or even anything worth the time it takes to get through the 700+ pages of poorly-wrought prose. As John Gardner once said, it takes an authentic junk mind to write junk fiction, and the poor quality of the sequel bears testimony that Brooks doesn't improve a great deal after his debut novel.
The second half of book is better
I read a lot of SF Fantasy...I love the stuff! Of course, I had heard of the Shannara series but never got around to reading it until now. Love, R.A. Salvatore, Margaret Weis, Dragonlance series, Raymond Heist...I could go on. Anyway, since this book is considered one of the best in the genre, I decided to read it. I must say I had a very difficult time getting into this book. I normally take about 1-2 days to read a book, this one took 2 weeks of reading a few pages, then putting it down. I thought the beginning was not very well paced and had way too much detail. The book did start becoming interesting in the middle and I completed that part in a day. I thought the writing was average and there were several plot holes but after the first half of the book, it was a quick enjoyable read. I have just started the second book "Elfstones of Shannara" thinking it was a sequel, but it is not. It has some background but the characters are generally related in some way to the previous books' characters. The one consistent character is the druid, Allannon. The character development was slow but I thought the main characters were fleshed out well, even if they were somewhat clichéd and predictable. The story revolves around a quest by Shea, a half-elf, to retrieve the Sword of Shannara to fight the evil presence that plans to destroy the world. The story includes trials, tribulations, adventure and eccentric characters he meets along the way. At various times the book is told through the eyes of variouscharacters in the book. I give this book a 3.5 and thought it was okay enough to try the next few books in the "series". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Series    3. Fiction - Fantasy    4. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (31)

hey
i would say this book was good. was kind of out of in regards to all the specific details but i got alot of the main plot.

An absorbing and straightforward plot
Very east to read and its worth buying the whole series of 5 books.Although they can be read seperately from each other the story interweaves throughout all books.I like the way the author does not let his character figure out to quickly what is happening even though the reader knows what is happening.

A well thought out novel, with a fun story
Brooks has an amazing way to twist words and thoughts together in a flow that paints a beautiful picture for his readers. When reading The Black Unicorn, I found that I was able to visualize the world that Ben Holiday and his friends traversed from day to day, and that I was able to understand, at least in part, the lives of those who would inhabit the world.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantastic fiction    2. Fantasy    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction - Fantasy    5. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

With Read more

Reviews (73)

"The One that Plays the Others as a Master Does his Puppets..."
It's been twenty years since the events of "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara", in which a combined group of Elves, Men and Dwarves sailed under the leadership of the Druid Walker Boh in an attempt to reclaim archaic knowledge from lost islands far to the West. Though the mission failed in this respect, it did achieve one of Walker's chief desires; to redeem the life of Grianne Ohmsford. Kidnapped from her family when she was a child, she was raised as the evil Ilse Witch and only made aware of her true identity by the intervention of her brother Bek Ohmsford.
Revisit the amazing world of Shannara!
Grianne Ohmsford, struggling with the inner demons of her former evil life as the Ilse Witch, also wrestles with the politics of her new role as Ard Rhys, High Druid of Paranor, responsible for the unification of the third Druid Council. Peace and harmony among the races of the four lands seems a distant, faint hope as her enemies on the council, the dissenting druids led by Shadea a'Rhu, refuse to accept the reality of Grianne's redemption and plot to bring her down, each striving to achieve their own ends and bring their own agenda to completion. When Grianne vanishes, seemingly defeated by the circle of treasonous plotters surrounding her and locked behind impenetrable magic walls in the land of the Forbidding, her trusted servant and aide, Tagwen, realizes that his own life hangs in the balance and narrowly escapes Paranor himself. Relentlessly pursued by Terek Molt, another rebellious Druid on the Council and Aphasia Wye, a deadly assassin, Tagwen seeks help from the only people he can think of - Pen Ohmsford, Grianne's resourceful, young nephew and Ahren Ellesdil, a self-exiled elf Druid and master of no small amount of magic himself!
WOW.That pretty well sums it up.
I've loved Terry Brooks since 1979 when I first read The Sword of Shannara. Was it essentially the same plot outline as Lord of the Rings? Yes. But I was 11, and had just finished reading LOTR for the first time. Shannara worked well for me, and I was quickly hooked.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Epic    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fantasy - Series    5. Fiction    6. Fiction - Fantasy    7. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (104)

A different and great fantasy novel
Terry brooks breaks away from his shannara series to write a very good book full of suspense and action. This book is a very interesting read and is well written. Reccommended for any fan of fantasy.

First Terry Brooks Book I ever read
Way back when I first started into fantasy, this one caught my eye. To buy a Kingdom was a cool idea. Of course at the time they don't explain all the 'bad' things which go with it and that you have to leave this world. LOved it.
The strength that comes from within.
Magic Kingdom may diverge from your typical fantasy story in many ways but at it's core is the timeless tale of a man who must find stregth within to conquer demons (physical and emotional) to succeed in fulfilling his destiny.Ben Holiday is just that man.His wife has left him a widower and his job as a lawyer is no longer enough to hold together his reason for living.Eventually he answers a strange add in which he buys a kingdom to rule for one million dollars.The only problem is the people of the land don't recognize his legitimacy to the throne.The Kingdom almost like his inner-self is dying.To save himself he must recognize who he is.Only than will the power to save himself and the kingdom be made possible.The book moves along quickly but don't be a stickler for everything to make sense or be sensible.Anything is believable in a novel as long as you buy into the writer's world.However even that world has rules.Sometimes Brooks doesn't stick to them.For example we are to believe Ben Holiday a man of great wisdom and intelligence from his law days.However it is clear that the land he inhabits is dangerous.He is accosted by a dragon upon entering it.Early in the novel Ben decides to go out alone in the Kindom.When he returns he is surprised to find out he was trailed for his safety as there are bog wumps, cave wight, and wolves out there.He hears this and believes that "apparently" he was in danger out there and didn't know it.I guess dragons don't count as being dangerous becouse the fact that there is one out there didn't bother him or seem dangerous.Small details like this occur but it is a good story.I'm just a little to retentive I guess.Enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - General    3. Fiction - Fantasy    4. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (15)

Landover' Great
Ben Holiday continues to struggle with the Kingdom of Landover, always seems something's going on which requires his attention. Very well done and may be the best of the series to date. Good fantasy and a an easy, enjoyable read.
Lighthearted fantasy in keeping with Landover mystique
I was a big fan of Terry Brooks' Kingdom of Landover series when the original books came out.Because I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club, receiving regular mailings, I always saw when the next one came out and made sure I would get it right away.At some point, however, either my subscription ended or I got the series before the final book, Witches' Brew came out in 1995.
The second best Landover novel yet
Book 5 was especially creative and kept me interested; much better than the long-winded #4 in this series.Almost as good as the original Magic Kingdom for Sale! Holiday's daughter is an intriguing character and I liked following some of the story through her eyes.What now, Terry?? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - General    3. Fiction - Fantasy    4. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Reviews (81)

The finale and a review of the trilogy
The Isle Witch has discovered the truth about herself, and seeks to make amends for herself by helping those she once considered enemies escape from the land of Antrax.But her ex-ally and mentor the Morgawr has other plans for his protégé and the crew of the Jerle Shannara.