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A review by smcscot
Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks
4.0
This was a satisfying end to the trilogy and it gives me hope for the future works. I have a bit of a reading problem where I have to know how a story arc ends if I begin it. Through the Heritage of Shannara, I grew bored. This trilogy was a nice alteration because we shed the land of Shannara and moved into our own world. Our own world will eventually be bridged into that fantasy world, but for now the voice was able to change, the tone was able to change, and the verbiage was able to change. It felt as though that gave Brooks the freedom to grow as a writer. He still expounds far too much, reiterating points over and over again, but the story arc was significantly tighter, despite the fact that we didn't really need A Knight of the Word (book 2).
Brooks builds this story slowly, but manages to keep the pace quick enough that you don't really notice it. There were some characters I would have liked to see far more of (Penny Dreadful was an interesting character, that we didn't really get to explore), but Nest was decently rendered. It feels almost as though unless Brooks has multiple books to develop a character they are one note. In fact John Ross felt that way even with his own book. The issue here is that Brooks relies heavily on tropes, and you are supposed to infer about the character based upon how they are presented to you. Bennett is the perfect example. She is an addict, so that's all we get to know about her. She follows the trope of an addict and we are not surprised, nor let down. It's as though Brooks is too afraid to take his characters just that extra step further.
We get resolution, but it's a kind resolution. There is no real gravity in his books. That's what makes the both good and bad. You know the book will have a happy ending, and Brooks lays out how it's supposed to end from the beginning. We never stray from that path. I look at this as a detriment, though I know that some readers look at this as a solace.
Brooks builds this story slowly, but manages to keep the pace quick enough that you don't really notice it. There were some characters I would have liked to see far more of (Penny Dreadful was an interesting character, that we didn't really get to explore), but Nest was decently rendered. It feels almost as though unless Brooks has multiple books to develop a character they are one note. In fact John Ross felt that way even with his own book. The issue here is that Brooks relies heavily on tropes, and you are supposed to infer about the character based upon how they are presented to you. Bennett is the perfect example. She is an addict, so that's all we get to know about her. She follows the trope of an addict and we are not surprised, nor let down. It's as though Brooks is too afraid to take his characters just that extra step further.
We get resolution, but it's a kind resolution. There is no real gravity in his books. That's what makes the both good and bad. You know the book will have a happy ending, and Brooks lays out how it's supposed to end from the beginning. We never stray from that path. I look at this as a detriment, though I know that some readers look at this as a solace.