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A review by hidusty
The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks
3.0
If you’ve read any of Terry Brooks’ books then you know what to expect. Great characters. Great adventures. There will be some humans, some elves. Elfstones or a Bearer of the Black Staff. And mainly that is my problem with the series at this point. It feels like there is very little fresh to discover. This book had a dragon in it, which I believe is a first for Brooks. How that dragon plays into the story is fascinating but otherwise I felt like I knew what to expect. Despite the some of the violence in this book it never felt over the top or graphic, which is good for young readers. The book’s lone love scene was a single paragraph where nothing more than a hand touching bare skin was revealed. Compared to some of the books I’m used to reading these days it feels like I’m reading a Young Adult book as opposed to an adult piece of fantasy.
And really my issue is just that it all feels a little stale. At this point I’d like to discover a new elven magic, or a forgotten race, something. It just feels like no effort is put into developing twists. And despite the fact that there is a lot of death in this book, none of it has any impact. I never cared enough for any character to be punched in the gut by their loss. Most of the characters felt paper thin and unexplored. I never felt like I was invested in the story. In fact toward the end I found myself going thread A will be resolved like this, thread B will be resolved like this, and then the last few paragraphs will probably amount to this. And unfortunately I was right.
Another thing worth mention is this is book two in a duology. It continues where Bearers of the Black Staff left off. And I mean it picks right up. No reminders of what’s going on. No reminders of who’s who. It just picks up like you closed book one and picked up book two. I would prefer a “Previously in Bearers of the Black Staff” introduction.
All of my griping aside, it isn’t a bad book. It’s just that I’ve read everything Shannara related that Brooks has to offer and I feel like I’m getting the same meal fed to me. It’s not a bad meal. It’s satisfying. It just doesn’t wow me like it used to. If you’re a fan of Shannara then you’ll likely enjoy this book too but I don’t think he’s going to win any new hearts with it.
And really my issue is just that it all feels a little stale. At this point I’d like to discover a new elven magic, or a forgotten race, something. It just feels like no effort is put into developing twists. And despite the fact that there is a lot of death in this book, none of it has any impact. I never cared enough for any character to be punched in the gut by their loss. Most of the characters felt paper thin and unexplored. I never felt like I was invested in the story. In fact toward the end I found myself going thread A will be resolved like this, thread B will be resolved like this, and then the last few paragraphs will probably amount to this. And unfortunately I was right.
Another thing worth mention is this is book two in a duology. It continues where Bearers of the Black Staff left off. And I mean it picks right up. No reminders of what’s going on. No reminders of who’s who. It just picks up like you closed book one and picked up book two. I would prefer a “Previously in Bearers of the Black Staff” introduction.
All of my griping aside, it isn’t a bad book. It’s just that I’ve read everything Shannara related that Brooks has to offer and I feel like I’m getting the same meal fed to me. It’s not a bad meal. It’s satisfying. It just doesn’t wow me like it used to. If you’re a fan of Shannara then you’ll likely enjoy this book too but I don’t think he’s going to win any new hearts with it.