Tag: Terry Brooks

Bearers of the Black Staff

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Bearers of the Black Staff
Legends of Shannara #1
Terry Brooks
Fantasy
3 Stars
Epub, 336 Pages

taking place after the Genesis of Shannara trilogy. 500 years later, the ward of protection Hawk placed wears out. The valley has split into factions, mainly based on species, but the world outside has survived too, albeit, all the nasty strong things. Inside the Knights of the Word devolved into outcasts who forgot their history. Follows 2 humans, both who have magic potential, as the valley is about to be invaded by trolls. One of the them is a candidate for the blackstaff and it looks like he will probably be the founder of the wizards. Typical Brooks, with nothing stunning, but nonetheless, an interesting story, mainly because we want to know how things get to the world of The Sword of Shannara.

Recycled material. So no real surprises.

But even with that, quite a good read. I found it more enjoyable than the last 2 Genesis of Shannara books.

A Princess of Landover

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A Princess of Landover
Magic Kingdom of Landover #6
Terry Brooks
Fantasy
2 Stars
352 Pages

this was just another tired rehash. About Ben and Willow’s daughter.

She is a teenager and rebellious and is sent off to a library to fix it. She rebels, Edgewood Dirk the prism cat convinces her to go anyway, she goes, discovers an evil magician [there only seem to be evil or inept magicians in Landover by the way] who is trying to open a gate to Abaddon.

In the end she takes care of everything and learns a valuable lesson about listening to her elders and yet doing exactly what she wants to anyway.

I am not sure I can stomach much more of Brooks’ stuff. Give me at least another year or two.

Witches’ Brew

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Witches’ Brew
Magic Kingdom of Landover #5
Terry Brooks
Fantasy
2 stars
304 pages

Ben and Willow’s child is kidnapped by Nightshade. Nightshade uses the child’s magic against Ben before he gets a clue and realizes what is going on. Ends with everything ok and Nightshade as a crow in our world.

This book had absolutely nothing interesting in it. Which is why it was the last of the Landover novels. But it was typical Brooks, so who knows why this series didn’t take off like the Shannara one.

The Gypsy Morph

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The Gypsy Morph
Genesis of Shannara
Terry Brooks
fantasy
3 stars
402 pages

a typical Brooks novel. Hawk, the gypsy morph, gathers a group and goes to a safe place. Elves all go into the Lodenstone and are also taken to the Safehaven. Findo Gask is supposedly destroyed by a combination of the Elfstone magic and Tom Logan’s Knight of the Word magic. I don’t believe it. I think he is the Warlock/Morgawr. Ends with Hawk going into a magical sleep and placing a protective mist around the new enclave and some insane soldier firing off all the remaining nukes that America has. Really doesn’t say how our world “changed” into Shannara, just shows the end of ours. I was really hoping for more. I bet he writes another trilogy taking place one generation after this one though. Milk that cash cow 😉

The Tangle Box

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The Tangle Box
Magic Kingdom of Landover #4
Terry Brooks
fantasy
3 stars
334 pages

some evil faery creature gets loose and traps Ben, Nightshade and Strabo in his old trap. Willow gives birth. The inept conjurer who started all this mess fixes things by releasing Ben & Co and trapping the Gorse again. I enjoyed this novel the most since Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, which is surprising. Cause I remember hating this when I read it for the first time. Now I’m looking forward to the next one 🙂

Elves of Cintra

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Elves of Cintra
Genesis of Shannara #2
Terry Brooks
fantasy
3 stars
376 pages

Very enjoyable. Logan takes the Ghosts under his wing, Hawk/Morph is rescued by the River Master and told his destiny. Angel meets the elves and goes off with one of the Chosen and a tracker to find the Lodenstone. They find it and 2 demons are destroyed. This story just continues to show how humanity completely fell apart. Because of the spiritual aspect of it, I can really relate. It is the worst of humanities nightmares brought forth without the hope of Jesus. Thank God there is a God and not just demons.

Wizard at Large

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Wizard at Large
Magic Kingdom of Landover #3
Terry Brooks
fantasy
3 stars
238 pages

Questor Thews attempts to turn Abernathy back into a man, but bungles up as usual. As a result, Ben and Willow go back to Ben’s world after Abernathy, while Questor must deal with a demon and Nightshade. Everything gets solved right at the end. I liked it much better than Black Unicorn. Just no character development though.

The Black Unicorn

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The Black Unicorn
Magic Kingdom of Landover #2
Terry Brooks
fantasy
2stars
239 pages

Meeks tries to take over Landover again and it is shown that the Books of Magic are actually captured unicorns, whose magic is siphoned and used. It is like Brooks has taken the whole WORLD of Shannara and tried to push it into one small fairy land. It was interesting, but rather flat.

Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

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magickingdom

Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

Magic Kingdom of Landover #1

Terry Brooks

308 Pages

3 Stars

 

A man who is widowed, “buys” a Magic Kingdom because he has nothing left to live for. Ends up saving the Kingdom and himself. Isaac Demme pointed out that this Landover series was not good because there was no depth to the characters and that we only enjoyed the first one because it was all new. Since this is my 3rd or 4th time reading this, I was looking to disprove that. Sadly, I couldn’t. A good read, as long as you don’t read any of the following 🙂

Armageddon’s Children

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Armageddon’s Children
Genesis of Shannara #1
Terry Brooks
fantasy
3 stars

this is the first in trilogy that ties the Word and the Void Trilogy to his Shannara series. This was a well written book. Dark enough like the W&V series but without as much of the hopelessness of it.

The future envisioned by John Ross is here. Demons and once-men roam the world while humans hide behind walls in enclaves that are slowling falling to the demons onslaughts. Follows one Knight of the Word as he is sent to find and protect Nest Freemark’s son, the gypsy morph, who has not aged in the last 80+ years. Another Knight[and these 2 seem to be the last 2 alive, all the others falling prey to the Demon Gask’s machinations] is led to protect a group of elves who are on a quest to find the Elven lodestone, in which the Elcrys can hide and survive the coming destruction. The final focus is on a group of kids[teens and early 20’s] who have banded together and are led by a youngman named Hawk, who has a vision[and who is the gypsy morph, it is revealed at the end]. I enjoyed this, without the emotional problems I had with the W&V series.