[Books] The Measure of the Magic (Legends of Shannara Book 2)

As a fan of both the Shannara books and the Word & Void titles, I've been pretty interested in seeing how Terry Brooks would bridge the two franchises together. The results have been interesting but not overwhelmingly brilliant and I'm not sure if that's because my interests have moved on from Shannara or perhaps I'm expecting a lot more from Brook's writing now that I've been exposed to so many different authors.

However, The Measure of the Magic does appear to be the more interesting half of the Legends of Shannara duology. A lot of times these two-book stories fall into the trap of following the pace of a trilogy in the first book and rushing to finish everything come the second book. This novel didn't come out that bad and actually had some good plot points to cover in the second half of the story.

I'm sure there are more stories to be told in this early period just after Word & Void  and before the proper run of Shannara, but this book does leave you with a decent level of satisfaction regarding how the two worlds have been married together. I guess it will all depend on whether or not Brooks decides to explore this period more.

[Books] Straken (High Druid of Shannara Book 3)

Today's review brings us to the end of Terry Brook's High Druid of Shannara trilogy of books, which has been an interesting romp in the world of Shannara. And while this wasn't a necessarily brilliant work, it was still a pretty fun ride.

The world of Shannara and the writings of Terry Brooks in general seem to have quite a number of recurring themes. You can call them tropes or many just key standards of the world that come back and back and back. And for the Shannara books, our big focus will always be the Ohmsford family. This has been a good thing and and a bit of a band thing depending on the particular book and the story worked the family into the narrative. But in many ways, they'll always be the heroes of the series.

This trilogy really took things to a particular level given it has all been about the effort to rescue Grianne Ohmsford from the Forbidding - an effort that involved quite a number of members of the Ohmsford family as well. I appreciate the focus, but man it's like the whole range of possibilities won't let this family get a break. And I really think they could get some time off some time.

[Books] Tanequil (High Druid of Shannara Book 2)

So I'm still in the process of catching up with a lot of the Shannara novels that had been released over the years. I continue to maintain this odd loyalty to the franchise, especially after Terry Brooks decided to merge this story universe with his Word & Void series of novels. It has certainly made for a more interesting fantasy world.

This series, the High Druid of Shannara is an interesting return to the realm with a lot of old concepts being revived in new ways. And this goes beyond mere repetition of past events (like what we saw in Scions of Shannara) but actually a few new ideas that are keeping things interesting. Yay for continued life in an on-going book series.

Although while I'm enjoying things, it's not quite like that I'm totally in love with the series just yet. There are a lot of things about the story so far that are interesting but also a good number of items that seem like they could have used more thought. I'm still a little on the fence about a lot of the story elements at work for now but then I do want to give the series a good run before I come to a more final decision.

[Books] Jarka Ruus (High Druid of Shannara Book 1)

Shannara was my first fantasy series (yes, even before The Lord of the Rings) and so I've sort of stuck with the books ever since. And while they haven't necessarily been the best ever fantasy books around, they do always have a certain degree of nostalgia for me with every new book that I read. And Terry Brooks seems more than willing to continue to flesh out his little world, even going as far as linking this book series with his Word & Void books to have them in a single continuity.

Jarka Ruus is one of the "latter" books in this on-going series that continues to tell the adventures of this fantasy land and how the Ohmsford family continues to play a key role in things. Given the franchise already spans quite a number of books telling similar stories across quite a number of generations at this point, it's interesting how we can never quite get rid of this particular family. It's as if they were designed to be heroes and the powers that drive this particular fantasy realm just can't get enough of them. If anyone is fated to save the Four Lands from evil plots and darker forces, an Ohmsford has to get involved in one way or another.

The last series of books, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, introduced the element of airships into the Shannara stories, which gives things a bit of a steampunk feel at times. This element continues to play a key role in this trilogy, which I suppose is a good thing given a lot of the former books involved a heck of a lot of walking. This allows us to focus on the story itself, which nicely employs elements from prior books in a new way.

[Books] Morgawr (The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Book 3)

The Shannara books of Terry Brooks were actually my first foray into the world of fantasy novels, for one reason or another. Yes, I read Shannara before I read The Lord of the Rings. And so the books have always held a special place in my heart, and thus my continued efforts to follow the series throughout the years.

In recent years I had only been investing time in the prequel novels that aim to marry the Brooks-created worlds of the Word & Void series with the Shannara books. It's only now that I decided to finally pick things up where I had left off - just before the conclusion of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy of books. Don't ask my why I didn't read book 3 right away - it just sort of happened that way.

It was surprisingly easy for me to pick up where I had left off so many years ago. It just goes to show how (1) decently memorable the Shannara books are or (2) just how strong the "pattern" of such books tend to be. Similar to the David Eddings books, I've always felt that Brooks has a tendency to go back to familiar patterns in his stories. The fact that both the Blue Elfstones and the Sword of Shannara continue to survive across the generations of his characters really leans in that direction.

But it doesn't mean that the books aren't fun.