This is a review for the whole trilogy.

I had read some of the Shannara series when I was younger and a few years back read the Genesis of Shannara trilogy and I remember quite enjoying both experiences. When MTV's adaptation of Elfstones came out, I was reminded of the series and thought it would be great to go back and read it in chronological order, seeing as there was quite a lot that I hadn't read previously.

Unfortunately, just finishing this first trilogy has made me second-guess whether I should continue reading this series lest I ruin the nostalgia. This trilogy is one of the most disappointing things I have read in recent years. I heard it was billed as a the bridge between the fantastical world of Shannara and our present times; a prequel of the post-apocalyptic trilogy of Genesis where evil is winning a long, epic battle to turn our world to ashes.

What I got instead was a series of personal stories where good always triumphed. I was told these personal stories were a part of grand scheme of things, but Brooks fails to deliver the feeling that these meaningless events will capitulate into something greater. I was expecting something unusual - evil winning is not something you see often in any form of media - and seeing as the world of Shannara exists, evil must must have triumphed over good in our modern world at some point in time.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see any of those grim, desperate battles wrought with emotion or turmoil in this series. Instead, Brooks opts for the story we've all heard before - character struggles with some mundane, localized evil and ultimately triumphs despite the odds. Rather than tell the tale of girl and a man fighting a grand, loosing battle against a great evil, Brooks seems to have opted to tell stories about their personal struggles. Unfortunately, even this effort falls flat due to the easily predicted "twists", the abundance of unnecessary detail about events that have little to no impact (such as:the union men talking about the strike and news and descriptions of small town life for pages upon pages, the existence of Jared as his strange disappearance from the rest of the books makes Nest's seemingly integral interactions with him meaningless. Nest's divorce and phone calls from Paul, all of the 'slice of life' scenes in the last book that seemed very out place considering they were supposed to be in mortal danger due to the presence of multiple demons. The entire character of Bennett and her child in the last book, they left no impact. The scene of Nest telling Harper her mother was dead was surprisingly devoid of emotion.), and uninspired characters that seem to be trapped by the same flaws in every scenario and, despite all of their introspection, cannot seem to think their way out of the most obvious of situations.


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Angel Fire East is the third book in Terry Brooks' Word and Void series, and the conclusion of the trilogy. It is not a stand-alone book, so don't start here. Read Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word first.

This story picks up ten years after the second book (fifteen since the first). We're back in Hopewell, Illinois with Nest Freemark, and demons have come knocking. This story describes the third and final time she and John Ross cross paths. While John is a central character, this is very much Nest's story with him acting mostly as a catalyst. I found myself getting pretty annoyed with John at times for being useless.

Along with the carry-over characters of Pick, Josie, and Two Bears, we see the adult versions of Nest's childhood friends Robert Heppler and Bennett Scott, along with some new additions. The cast on the side of the void is expanded as well, with two central demons and two backups, each with distinct traits and personalities.

Trigger warning: Like the second book in the series addressed the topic of homelessness, this one tackles drug addiction and the potential fallout of that lifestyle.

It took me a while to get into the book because the pacing was pretty slow. There was a lot of overly-descriptive exposition and "sit-and-think" moments. There's a nice twist at the end for Nest, though not so nice for anyone else. The book, and therefore the series, ended on a hopeful but rather melancholy note. ( )

http://pro-libertate.net/20100802/133-read-angel-fire-east ( )

This book is signed.

Better than the previous two in the trilogy, but still doesn't compare to the other Shannara books. ( )