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Liked It “Terry Brooks does not disappoint. Fifty pages in, and my heart is racing with excitement, anxiety and anticipation! After recovering the Loden, Kirisin has done some growing up. But, he has a lot more to do in order to fulfill his charge from the Ellcrys. His mind is analyzing what has happened...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I'm normally a HUGE Brooks friend, but this is my least favorite novel by him. There is little conflict - other than the internal struggles of a boy trying to find out if he is the "chosen one".” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“I'm normally a HUGE Brooks friend, but this is my least favorite novel by him. There is little conflict - other than the internal struggles of a boy trying to find out if he is the "chosen one".”
Tod L wrote this review Wednesday, September 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was an okay book. The previous two were better, and create part of the quality of this book, but it's also because of the previous books that made this book just okay. The book right before this one created a sort of idea of what this one would be like, and the idea and book clashed, resulting in a sort of disgruntlement for me. ”
Jonah M wrote this review Sunday, September 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Terry Brooks does not disappoint. Fifty pages in, and my heart is racing with excitement, anxiety and anticipation! After recovering the Loden, Kirisin has done some growing up. But, he has a lot more to do in order to fulfill his charge from the Ellcrys. His mind is analyzing what has happened with Erisha, the demon Culph, and what he must do in order for the Elves to utilize the Loden. Causing him to have a vision that raises more questions than answers. The demon army led by Findo Gask is waiting at Arborlon for Little K and the Elfstones return. So much sacrifice, growing up, and determination in their survival has happened in order for the group to move on to a safe place, before this world is destroyed. Findo Gask is far from giving up! Kirisin, the Loden and the Knights of the Word have escaped his grasp. With his best lieutenants dead, he is forced to replace them with less competent but still highly driven ones. The Ghosts have really changed since their little home in Pioneer Square, and are not the same band of kids they once were. What has happened to Candle’s gift?! My hope is that Simralin will survive with the Elfstones in hand, discover their magic, and help defeat the relentless army. With the demon army led by Findo Gask, finally caught up with the children, a civilization of Elves, and various Lizards, Spiders and mutants, they fight to delay the inevitable, at the Columbia River. The vanishing/invisible demon, Findo Gask’s new lieutenant, is still hunting Hawk. Trying to draw him out by picking off the children. Hawk is seriously scared, and has lost his faith in his charge. Continuing with fear and his lose of faith, Hawk knows he must lead the caravan to a safe place in order to survive the destruction of the world, as they know it.”
Jimmy W wrote this review Sunday, September 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Another one that was entirely worth the wait.”
Laura B wrote this review Friday, September 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“J'ai aimé cette série mais j'ai trouvé l'histoire un peu trop noir. Par contre, j'ai bien aimé la fin de la série.”
Chantal R wrote this review Monday, September 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“great book, looking forward to the next one”
Matthew Moffatt wrote this review Friday, September 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“So far it's great though I'm taking it slowly since the next installment of Genesis won't be out til another year. I just hope Findo Gask gets knocked off ; Logan, John, and Nest should be avenged.”
Steven C wrote this review Wednesday, August 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is the end of the pre-Shannara lore, and really does a great job bringing it all together when it seems like nothing would end up piecing together. One thing I liked about the ending is that it left things open for another set of books!”
Gerry D wrote this review Monday, July 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Storyline: The world as we know it is falling apart. Poisoned by years of nuclear, the earth is slowly dying. Strange creatures—Lizards, Spiders, and Croaks among others—have emerged, former humans that are mutated by the radiation. And demons are determined to wipe out humanity forever.
Heather wrote this review Sunday, July 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Out of it all, an elf-boy named Kirisin has come into possession of the magic known as the Elfstones. He must place the elvish city into an Elfstone known as the Loden and transport it to a safe place.
A boy named Hawk discovers that he is the Gypsy Morph, a creature made of wild magic, who is the only hope for humankind.
And two Knights of the Word, Angel Perez and Logan Tom, are tasked with defending these two boys, bringing them together, and helping them to a place of safety.
Tracking them all is Findo Gask, a demon with a horde at his command.
My Take: To say I was mildly impressed by the technical part of this book is an understatement. Brooks’ writing is amazing—he knows how to drop one character’s storyline in the middle of an exciting part, to pick up another character’s storyline. He flawlessly sticks to his viewpoint character in scenes. And to credit his editors, I noticed no spelling or grammatical mistakes.
But the storyline was…OK. It was an interesting twist on apocalyptic times. This is the third in a series, so I know I was missing parts of the story.
But I think the main thing I disliked was the fact that Brooks’ writing is incredibly dark and humanistic. There are demons, but there is no supernatural “good” being to counteract them—we only have magic that both sides can use.
Brooks’ worlds (both in the Shannara books and his Landover series) revolve on magic. If I’m reading books with magic, I prefer ones like Tolkien, where magic is only a tool, and the good guys use it as little as possible. Plus, there are differences to Gandalf’s magic versus the Balrog’s. There’s no difference between Logan and Angel’s and Findo Gask’s.
However, Brooks had a conversation between Logan and Kirisin that I found extremely interesting. In one scene, Logan abandons his staff to rescue Kirisin using only his sneaking skills. That, Logan explains, is because he wanted to prove to himself that he didn’t have to use the magic. Logan explains that their magic (Kirisin’s Elfstones and his Word magic) is an integral part of who they are. However, they must be extremely careful with it, because the more they use it, the more it consumes them.
“It [the magic] erodes the defenses you create to keep it from overwhelming you, from stealing your soul. Do you think I exaggerate? Think again. Magic can do that. It does do that. It is an addicting, corrupting influence, and the more you use it, the more it makes you want to use it.”
Sounds very, very truthful to me.
While I dislike Brooks’ stories for having such a huge magical element in them, I admire the fact that most of his writing is connected and interwoven. That said, I was still not impressed with the storyline. I don't particularly recommend this book.
”“I have enjoyed the Genesis of Shannara series, I have a theory that any story that involves childern fighting against adversity is a winning formula.
Scott J wrote this review Saturday, June 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Enders Game, His Dark Materials, Lord og The Rings (well Hobbits are a bit like children) and yes even Harry Potter to name but a few.
I will certainly now try the next series The Heritage of Shannara.”
