The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks (1982, HardcoverDJ)

Description: First, a little background. Elfstones of Shannara is a 1982 fantasy novel written by Terry Brooks as a follow-up to his best-selling The Sword of Shannara. Now, I'll go ahead and say... I couldn't finish Sword. I plan to one day, but initially I found that there wasn't a hook to keep me reading Sword. But I had read several reviews telling how good Elfstones, and in his book Sometimes the Magic Just Works, Brooks jokingly lamented the fact that every says his second book is his best work. So I picked this one up, and I can tell you for certain, this is indeed something special.The story is that the magical Ellcyrs tree is dying, and the barrier it is holding to keep the ancient Demons from the world of the mortal is dying. So, the mysterious Allanon sets out to find Wil Ohmsford, grandson of the first book's protagonist. He then tells Wil that his mission is to protect the elven girl Amberle, who is the last of the Chosen, the Ellcrys sworn protectors. All the while, the Elves of the city of Arborlon prepare to battle the ever-growing army of demons, led by one known only as Dagda Mor, and his associates the Changeling and the Reaper, the last of whom is hot on the trail of the two young travelers.The story sounds like your typical fantasy fare, and it is, but it is made up for in several areas. First are the characters. I am of the firm belief that if you have a sort of generic story, but really good characters, then your audience will still be incredibly invested, and the characters here do that well. Wil is a great protagonist in that you get a very strong sense of obligation and honor from this guy. He doesn't really want this task to be placed on his shoulders, but he does it because he feels it is the right thing to do. Amberle REALLY doesn't want to do what has been placed on her shoulders, but she's still pretty likeable, and by the end, you understand her reasons for not wanting to. Prince Ander of the Elves, is really easy to sympathize with, since as second born, he has never had much to do with the kingdom, but now has a lot of his plate. And Allanon... is pretty much Obi-Wan or Gandalf, but he's still cool enough that you don't mind.The second thing is the style of writing. Brooks is really good at describing an area or tone without going into too much detail; just enough that you get an idea, but can still have your own mental images. When he describes the appearances of the demons, just the most twisted and terrifying images occur in my head. The forests sound either approiately beautiful or gloomy.An interesting thing to note is that the book switches to tell the story of Wil and Amberle's travels and the struggles of the Elven army against the Demons. And if I had to make one personal nitpick, it's that I don't find the army scenes as engaging as the relationship between the two young travelers. But that's me personally. The changes aren't too drastic, and aflow pretty well, so I feel they won't bother others that much.Finally, I want to give a personal reason why I love this so much: it is the first book to get me weepy-eyed. Without spoiling anything, the ending of the book is bittersweet. AMAZINGLY bittersweet, in fact. Even though it ends on a happy note, it's not without sacrifice or consequence. Which given the stakes at hand makes sense. Also, this was the book that made me want to get into writing and made me realize my love of fantasy.

Price: 25 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2024-04-23T19:29:58.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD