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A review by brittney_tyler
The Druid of Shannara by Terry Brooks
5.0
Star Rating: 4.5 stars
Note: This is the 2nd book in the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, but the 5th book in the over-arching Shannara series so this will not be an in-depth review.
First off, I want to preface this review by saying that Terry Brooks is my all-time favorite author and the Shannara series is my all-time favorite series. This book, in particular, The Druid of Shannara, continues the story of the Shannara children, the most recent descendants of the heroic families of the Four Lands as they try to save their world from the newest evil to stalk their homeland. (The over-arching Shannara series is the story of our world after it is ravaged by global nuclear war, and the heroic families are the individuals that survived the destruction and have been instrumental in its re-building).
This book was a lot slower and introspective than the previous ones. It features Walker Boh, Morgan Leah, Pe Ell, and Quickening as they undertake a journey deep into the unexplored Northland to a place called the Eldwist. They are searching for an ancient fairy being called Uhl Belk or the Stone King because they have need of a talisman that he has in his possession. Although there is a physical journey in this book and it is exciting, particularly towards the end, this book is more about our heroes coming to terms with the fact that they are heroes not because they want to be or because they deserve it, but because there is no one else willing to do it. This has been the trend throughout the Heritage portion of the Shannara series as each of our main characters is a descendant of the heroes from the first trilogy in the Shannara series, which consists of The Sword, The Elfstones, and The Wishsong of Shannara, and over the course of this quartet have to come to the realization that whether or not they want the “heritage” of their fore-bearers, they have it and they have a responsibility because of it. I can understand that this may make the story boring to some people, but I find it very interesting to explore the effect that having a heroic ancestor can do to a person. Does this automatically mean that the descendants have to heroes too if their world becomes imperiled again? Would people think that because the ancestor saved the world that the descendant would have to by default?
The only small qualm I had with this book and the Heritage quartet in general is these books have multiple storylines running through them. Normally, this doesn’t bother me, it usually makes the book seem more interesting, however, instead of weaving the storylines together in a cohesive narrative, he focuses on one of them for the majority of each book, with only glimpses of what is going on in the other ones, until the last book were he brings them all back together. This tends to make the book drag and I think if he took the more traditional approach of giving us a steady movement of all the storylines, then it would fix this problem.
All in all, this was a wonderful read, even if I was not my favorite of his. 4.5 stars!!!!!!!
Note: This is the 2nd book in the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, but the 5th book in the over-arching Shannara series so this will not be an in-depth review.
First off, I want to preface this review by saying that Terry Brooks is my all-time favorite author and the Shannara series is my all-time favorite series. This book, in particular, The Druid of Shannara, continues the story of the Shannara children, the most recent descendants of the heroic families of the Four Lands as they try to save their world from the newest evil to stalk their homeland. (The over-arching Shannara series is the story of our world after it is ravaged by global nuclear war, and the heroic families are the individuals that survived the destruction and have been instrumental in its re-building).
This book was a lot slower and introspective than the previous ones. It features Walker Boh, Morgan Leah, Pe Ell, and Quickening as they undertake a journey deep into the unexplored Northland to a place called the Eldwist. They are searching for an ancient fairy being called Uhl Belk or the Stone King because they have need of a talisman that he has in his possession. Although there is a physical journey in this book and it is exciting, particularly towards the end, this book is more about our heroes coming to terms with the fact that they are heroes not because they want to be or because they deserve it, but because there is no one else willing to do it. This has been the trend throughout the Heritage portion of the Shannara series as each of our main characters is a descendant of the heroes from the first trilogy in the Shannara series, which consists of The Sword, The Elfstones, and The Wishsong of Shannara, and over the course of this quartet have to come to the realization that whether or not they want the “heritage” of their fore-bearers, they have it and they have a responsibility because of it. I can understand that this may make the story boring to some people, but I find it very interesting to explore the effect that having a heroic ancestor can do to a person. Does this automatically mean that the descendants have to heroes too if their world becomes imperiled again? Would people think that because the ancestor saved the world that the descendant would have to by default?
The only small qualm I had with this book and the Heritage quartet in general is these books have multiple storylines running through them. Normally, this doesn’t bother me, it usually makes the book seem more interesting, however, instead of weaving the storylines together in a cohesive narrative, he focuses on one of them for the majority of each book, with only glimpses of what is going on in the other ones, until the last book were he brings them all back together. This tends to make the book drag and I think if he took the more traditional approach of giving us a steady movement of all the storylines, then it would fix this problem.
All in all, this was a wonderful read, even if I was not my favorite of his. 4.5 stars!!!!!!!