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hollyfromthebigsky's review against another edition
3.0
Hmmmmm.
Overall, I'm going to give this trilogy 4 stars.
This book will get 3.
I found the concept and the world created in Word & Void to be fantastic and imaginative. What a fantastic bridge between our world and the world of Shannara.
That said, I didn't really feel that book 3 added a lot to the trilogy. With the exception of the creative introduction of the gypsy morph, I felt that it fell back into the "big bad" chase pattern of the previous two books. I would have enjoyed an introduction of a new "good" character, or a "bad" character which was a bit more grey.
Similarly, I would have loved to have seen more of a relationship between Ross and Nest. They've known each other for years now, in incredibly emotional situations, and yet they seem to just orbit each other, not really engaging emotionally.
So, all told, Book 1 took my breath away, book 2 was great, and book 3 was good. I'm enjoying the stories Brooks tells and am very excited to read the next chapter.
Overall, I'm going to give this trilogy 4 stars.
This book will get 3.
I found the concept and the world created in Word & Void to be fantastic and imaginative. What a fantastic bridge between our world and the world of Shannara.
That said, I didn't really feel that book 3 added a lot to the trilogy. With the exception of the creative introduction of the gypsy morph, I felt that it fell back into the "big bad" chase pattern of the previous two books. I would have enjoyed an introduction of a new "good" character, or a "bad" character which was a bit more grey.
Similarly, I would have loved to have seen more of a relationship between Ross and Nest. They've known each other for years now, in incredibly emotional situations, and yet they seem to just orbit each other, not really engaging emotionally.
So, all told, Book 1 took my breath away, book 2 was great, and book 3 was good. I'm enjoying the stories Brooks tells and am very excited to read the next chapter.
scrivster's review against another edition
4.0
When I read this, I had no idea Brooks would be tying it into the Shannara series. While I appreciate the novel, and the culmination of the trilogy, I still find it a little bit of a stretch as to how he then connected it to Shannara. That said, I still recommend the book.
kristendv's review against another edition
4.0
A great ending to a great trilogy. I’m a long-time fan of Terry Brooks, but had never read this trilogy before, thinking it unrelated to the Shannara series. Great cast of characters and a unique solution to the problem of good vs. evil.
jovvijo's review
5.0
Kyaaaah! Another super good story!
Lucky me, lucky me!
The "final" book in this particular series and wow is it wrapped up well!
Good guys and bad guys are gripping and the action flows thick and fast without totally sweeping you off your feet and leaving you breathless!
Nest you live such an entertaining life - for better and worse!
WARNING: no one is spared the chance of death in a Brooks book!
Lucky me, lucky me!
The "final" book in this particular series and wow is it wrapped up well!
Good guys and bad guys are gripping and the action flows thick and fast without totally sweeping you off your feet and leaving you breathless!
Nest you live such an entertaining life - for better and worse!
WARNING: no one is spared the chance of death in a Brooks book!
reuben_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
An OK book. Definitely better than book 2!
I had issue with the Native American character being referred to as 'the Indian' for the whole book. But aside from that enjoyable enough.
I had issue with the Native American character being referred to as 'the Indian' for the whole book. But aside from that enjoyable enough.
chet_mkm's review
3.0
There are many better fantasy writers out there, but I still like to read Brooks for nostalgia if nothing else.
mommachristy2's review against another edition
5.0
I am so glad that I took the time to reread this series! For some reason in the past I never made it very far in this last book in the trilogy that led to my all time favorite series, and now I am even more puzzled as to why I never finished it. This was a great read! While it was a little slow to get kicked off, it contained characters that you know and love so you are already interested in some measure. I enjoyed getting to see the last of John and Nest as they fought together against yet another demon. It was a wonderful ending to the series and a great push into the next installments in this ongoing tale. I can't wait to pick up the next book!
nerdkitten's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Blood and Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Sexual content
flaweddimension's review
4.0
Urban fantasy comes to the small town for Christmas in this third installment in the Word and the Void series. Knight of the Word John Ross revisits Nest Freemark for another unsettling turn into the supernatural, this time as he struggles to unlock the magic of a fleeting gypsy morph for the Word.
Angel Fire East has glorious villains, demons with texture and initiative attacking on multiple fronts. In the face of the onslaught John Ross seems oddly passive while Nest rises to the occasion, reckoning with magic within and without.
The supporting characters are sensitively drawn, many of them familiar faces from the prior books. Roughly 5% of the word count is taking off and putting on parkas, but don't hold that against it. The snow has real verisimilitude.
It's a strong finish to the series. It's hard to compare with Running with the Demon just because Nest is at such a different place in her life, but...it's a strong finish.
Angel Fire East has glorious villains, demons with texture and initiative attacking on multiple fronts. In the face of the onslaught John Ross seems oddly passive while Nest rises to the occasion, reckoning with magic within and without.
The supporting characters are sensitively drawn, many of them familiar faces from the prior books. Roughly 5% of the word count is taking off and putting on parkas, but don't hold that against it. The snow has real verisimilitude.
It's a strong finish to the series. It's hard to compare with Running with the Demon just because Nest is at such a different place in her life, but...it's a strong finish.
weewaa13's review
2.0
TW: mentions substance abuse, vaguely suicide-adjacent ideology, child abuse, non-graphic sexual harassment
Again I just can’t ignore the amount of sexism and misogyny in this trilogy!!
The few female characters in the book each have issues that go beyond character flaws and I think are a direct result of the internalized misogyny that society has, and the lack of awareness Terry Brooks has for the importance of having a balance of diverse female characters.
First of all is Nest, the protagonist, who STILL is not comfortable with the magical abilities she has after years and years. She has no magical beings to look up to who aren’t men, and she has absolutely no support in dealing with her feelings of self-doubt. The way the men around her keep her in the dark or mistreat her is astounding, but even more is that in most cases it’s not specified that the behaviour is wrong by any characters in the story or in the author’s tone. Now she has a few moments, for example when she hangs up on her ex husband and one of the demons instead of listening to their bs, but it doesn’t excuse the rest of it.
We also have Penny, a demon working under one of the most powerful male demons in the world currently. She’s presented as crazy, unstable, and expendable.
I don’t know if The Lady (magical fairy woman who’s probably a metaphor for God but I don’t have the time nor energy to analyse the Christian ideology in these books) counts all that much as a female character because she’s barely in it and also like...a magical being who shouldn’t really follow human gender standards anyway but whatever. She’s the typical white, able-bodied, thin image of a beautiful fairy (I know she’s white because Brooks didn’t say otherwise - as he does with every other character of colour (seriously I think there was maybe one black man in this whole book)), and she seems like your typical “~you have to follow what I say because it’s the right thing to do and I won’t explain things to you clearly and make you feel guilty and alone when you make a human mistake btw here’s a magic net for this quest~” deity.
Josie is John’s (knight of the word, other main character) romantic interest I guess? I wouldn’t call them partners because they can never really be in a healthy or consistent relationship because of John serving The Word. Anyway, her role is to be a nice taste of a “normal” life for John, so that whenever he’s in town they can spend a night together and then he leaves her. She appears to be perfectly okay with this arrangement, however, because most of her characterization is a) how she can support John and b) she’s very attractive for a middle aged woman, I’m not buying it.
Then there’s Bennet Scott, who Nest knew as a small child. Her mother had substance abuse issues and found herself with terrible men as partners, which left Bennet neglected and abused. She comes back to Nest years after having run away from home, gotten into drugs herself, and having had a child - Harper (Harper is a little angel and I love her). Sadly the demons tempt her into using again even though she’s been clean for a bit. They end up dragging her out into the snow and convince her to jump off a cliff where she dies from the cold. I don’t think her death was necessary, or fair to the character. It didn’t contribute anything to the story except perpetuating the idea that there’s no hope for those who struggle with addiction. We already knew the demons are bad - this was not needed.
Also? [This is the literal end of the book and a huge spoiler so if you’ve already come this far and not read the book proceed with caution]
I’m not a fan of the fact that Little John (the magical being John was sent to retrieve for the Word who appears as a young boy) ends up being Nest’s child. He’s an unstable magical being who will dissipate unless they find out his secret within a certain amount of time, and Brooks just went for the whole magical Jesus baby thing and it ends with Nest like,,,absorbing him into her uterus and “giving her body” to this little magic baby. After a whole story of Nest being sexually harassed by this one cop dude and having her ex husband try to visit just to make a news story of her ‘failed running career’ and nearly every man she interacts with doing her wrong - now you’re really just making her the vessel??
Now let me clarify. I don’t expect that every female character in a series should be extremely powerful or without flaws, but I do think that when there are so few, they should be handled with more attention. Needlessly subjecting then all to implicit and explicit sexism takes away from the story and it’s simply bad representation.
Anyway. I was not a fan of this book nor the rest of this trilogy. I’m going to keep reading the other books in this universe because I’m curious and also analyzing them is kind of fun, if in a maddening way. Some people apparently didn’t like the Word and Void books so I’m hoping the other series are better than this one.
Again I just can’t ignore the amount of sexism and misogyny in this trilogy!!
The few female characters in the book each have issues that go beyond character flaws and I think are a direct result of the internalized misogyny that society has, and the lack of awareness Terry Brooks has for the importance of having a balance of diverse female characters.
First of all is Nest, the protagonist, who STILL is not comfortable with the magical abilities she has after years and years. She has no magical beings to look up to who aren’t men, and she has absolutely no support in dealing with her feelings of self-doubt. The way the men around her keep her in the dark or mistreat her is astounding, but even more is that in most cases it’s not specified that the behaviour is wrong by any characters in the story or in the author’s tone. Now she has a few moments, for example when she hangs up on her ex husband and one of the demons instead of listening to their bs, but it doesn’t excuse the rest of it.
We also have Penny, a demon working under one of the most powerful male demons in the world currently. She’s presented as crazy, unstable, and expendable.
I don’t know if The Lady (magical fairy woman who’s probably a metaphor for God but I don’t have the time nor energy to analyse the Christian ideology in these books) counts all that much as a female character because she’s barely in it and also like...a magical being who shouldn’t really follow human gender standards anyway but whatever. She’s the typical white, able-bodied, thin image of a beautiful fairy (I know she’s white because Brooks didn’t say otherwise - as he does with every other character of colour (seriously I think there was maybe one black man in this whole book)), and she seems like your typical “~you have to follow what I say because it’s the right thing to do and I won’t explain things to you clearly and make you feel guilty and alone when you make a human mistake btw here’s a magic net for this quest~” deity.
Josie is John’s (knight of the word, other main character) romantic interest I guess? I wouldn’t call them partners because they can never really be in a healthy or consistent relationship because of John serving The Word. Anyway, her role is to be a nice taste of a “normal” life for John, so that whenever he’s in town they can spend a night together and then he leaves her. She appears to be perfectly okay with this arrangement, however, because most of her characterization is a) how she can support John and b) she’s very attractive for a middle aged woman, I’m not buying it.
Then there’s Bennet Scott, who Nest knew as a small child. Her mother had substance abuse issues and found herself with terrible men as partners, which left Bennet neglected and abused. She comes back to Nest years after having run away from home, gotten into drugs herself, and having had a child - Harper (Harper is a little angel and I love her). Sadly the demons tempt her into using again even though she’s been clean for a bit. They end up dragging her out into the snow and convince her to jump off a cliff where she dies from the cold. I don’t think her death was necessary, or fair to the character. It didn’t contribute anything to the story except perpetuating the idea that there’s no hope for those who struggle with addiction. We already knew the demons are bad - this was not needed.
Also? [This is the literal end of the book and a huge spoiler so if you’ve already come this far and not read the book proceed with caution]
I’m not a fan of the fact that Little John (the magical being John was sent to retrieve for the Word who appears as a young boy) ends up being Nest’s child. He’s an unstable magical being who will dissipate unless they find out his secret within a certain amount of time, and Brooks just went for the whole magical Jesus baby thing and it ends with Nest like,,,absorbing him into her uterus and “giving her body” to this little magic baby. After a whole story of Nest being sexually harassed by this one cop dude and having her ex husband try to visit just to make a news story of her ‘failed running career’ and nearly every man she interacts with doing her wrong - now you’re really just making her the vessel??
Now let me clarify. I don’t expect that every female character in a series should be extremely powerful or without flaws, but I do think that when there are so few, they should be handled with more attention. Needlessly subjecting then all to implicit and explicit sexism takes away from the story and it’s simply bad representation.
Anyway. I was not a fan of this book nor the rest of this trilogy. I’m going to keep reading the other books in this universe because I’m curious and also analyzing them is kind of fun, if in a maddening way. Some people apparently didn’t like the Word and Void books so I’m hoping the other series are better than this one.