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celtic_oracle's review
4.0
I still find John Ross to be insufferably boring, but I do love Nest - and the way this story ended was nothing like I expected and everything it should have been.
bloodredwine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kenzie5227's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dnemec's review against another edition
3.0
This was my first Terry Brooks book, and while I would've liked to have read books 1&2 first, circumstances didn't permit it. But even for not reading those two, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Even though there was talk of past events that may or may not have been part of those other books, I was not lost or clueless at any point (well, no more than usual). The story was interesting and I was completely engrossed with both Nest and John's narratives, much more than I thought I would be. Looks like now I'll have to search out some more of Brooks' books.
christinajl_gb's review against another edition
4.0
I do like Terry Brooks, quick to read and well written. Think I need to buy the Genesis of Shannara trilogy now!! Love John Ross as a character and Nest is pretty cool too.
dathan's review against another edition
3.0
Finally Nest has hit her stride. As a twenty-nine year-old, she's a little careworn, a little sad, and a lot more complete a human being. In A Knight of the Word I couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't practiced her magic more; as a tender of the forest, shouldn't it be her duty to develop the talent that makes her fit for that purpose? Here, she has good reason to fear her talent -- because it risks releasing the demon within. But some demons must be confronted eventually...
The demon quartet in this book never felt all that real to me. Only Findo Gask really had any depth -- Twitch and the Ur'droch barely play bit parts, and Penny Dreadful just came across as a slightly psychopathic bimbo, not the deeply disturbed and dangerously unstable timebomb she was supposed to be.
A real weakness of this book is Nest's relationship with other people. We see that she's civic-minded and active, and well-loved by at least Robert, but we see deeper relationships between her and Bennett Scott or John Ross and Josie than between Nest and any of the people she lives around. She's supposed to be lonely -- never quite fitting in with or around people -- but given how friendly the few acquaintances she has are, it just evokes a feeling of shallowness in the book, rather than a feeling of deep and abiding loneliness in her life.
It's probably telling that I basically forgot to write about the gypsy morph until right now. The little boy has no presence, and when we finally see the morph's true form and how happy Nest is about it, it just feels hollow -- I can't feel invested in their relationship or how it ends.
It's the plot and a few moments of really deep feeling that drive this book. A worthy read, but not one that'll go at the front of my queue to read again.
The demon quartet in this book never felt all that real to me. Only Findo Gask really had any depth -- Twitch and the Ur'droch barely play bit parts, and Penny Dreadful just came across as a slightly psychopathic bimbo, not the deeply disturbed and dangerously unstable timebomb she was supposed to be.
A real weakness of this book is Nest's relationship with other people. We see that she's civic-minded and active, and well-loved by at least Robert, but we see deeper relationships between her and Bennett Scott or John Ross and Josie than between Nest and any of the people she lives around. She's supposed to be lonely -- never quite fitting in with or around people -- but given how friendly the few acquaintances she has are, it just evokes a feeling of shallowness in the book, rather than a feeling of deep and abiding loneliness in her life.
It's probably telling that I basically forgot to write about the gypsy morph until right now. The little boy has no presence, and when we finally see the morph's true form and how happy Nest is about it, it just feels hollow -- I can't feel invested in their relationship or how it ends.
It's the plot and a few moments of really deep feeling that drive this book. A worthy read, but not one that'll go at the front of my queue to read again.
kizuna's review against another edition
1.0
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:), 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.
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:
Spoiler
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.jasmyn9's review against another edition
3.0
There is a little bit of closure to Nest's story in this one, but it still leaves a lot to wonder about. John Ross enlists Nest's help once again, this time to figure out a way to keep a gypsy morph (I had no idea what it was for a long time) away from the Void and turn it to work for the Word.
This book felt a little lost at the beginning. There were lots of things happening that just seemed to be for no reason - but I guess that's the nature of demons?? It wasn't until about half way through that things really started to make more sense. In many ways this is the darkest book of the series by far.
I'm glad I read the series, I'm hoping to see bits and pieces of the lore pop up once we get back into the Shanarra portion of the story arc. I really miss it.
This book felt a little lost at the beginning. There were lots of things happening that just seemed to be for no reason - but I guess that's the nature of demons?? It wasn't until about half way through that things really started to make more sense. In many ways this is the darkest book of the series by far.
I'm glad I read the series, I'm hoping to see bits and pieces of the lore pop up once we get back into the Shanarra portion of the story arc. I really miss it.