A fun book. In the normal fashion of book 2 in a trilogy, a macguffin was found and hardships endured. Everything seems on the brink of collapse, but never fear, book 3 will resolve all.

Another well-written book; Brooks has again done a good job with the second in a trilogy, drawing smaller plots to a close and leading larger ones to a suitable point of transition between the books. The last few pages in particular were very difficult to read slowly; I really wanted to zip through them and find out how things would be left for the third book.

Although there are several roles that have been present in many of the Shannara books to this point, characters in those roles frequently deviate enough to prevent the story from being formulaic to a fault, but stay true to the roles enough to keep a sense of continuity throughout this series. I'm definitely looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

Chiacchiericcio nel Divieto

Tael Riverine, dal suo castello nero come la pece, racconta a Grianne di quanto fossero belle le antiche epoche con i demoni liberi a pascolare nel mondo, mentre gli umani stavano zitti e muti; e che i tempi erano ormai maturi per il ritorno (migliaia e migliaia di anni in attesa non si sa bene di cosa).
Insomma, nel Divieto si sparano fregnacce a destra e sinistra; addirittura a un certo punto si fanno riferimenti sibillini a piani d'accoppiamento tra l'umana e il demone per partorire una progenie infernale che...dovrà fare qualcosa di importante.
Quello che sfugge a tutti è la credibilità di Tael Riverine come leader all'interno del Divieto, visto che l'unico piano che ordisce in migliaia di anni è quello di liberare sulla terra il Moric e, nel frattempo, accoppiarsi con Grianne (lo farei anche io eh, ma da un'entità infernale ci si aspetterebbe una sottigliezza mentale n'attimino più articolata).
Tutto quello che resta della storia è un ripescaggio poco convinto di dinamiche stantie e già lette, con l'unica simpatica eccezione dell'ingegnere federale che riscopre il laser con applicazioni in campo bellico (collegamento con il mondo antecedente alle guerre atomiche).

uneven, lot of cat and mouse chasing. Read two of the later series now, and I'm not sure if they're not as good as the earlier one's, or If it's just been 20 years since I read those and my taste has changed.

I enjoy the characters, but this is not a good Shannara book. Of course I'm going to continue, but I hope the third book in this trilogy improves.

Star Rating: 5 stars

Note: This is the 2nd book in the High Druid of Shannara trilogy and the 16th book in the overarching Shannara epic (Since I am reading them for the first time, I’m reading them in the order that Terry Brooks recommends for new readers.) so this will not be an in-depth review.

At this point, I have been reading the Shannara series by Terry Brooks for around 3 years, and to be honest, I was starting to think that I was losing interest in the series as I found I wasn’t enjoying the books as much as I had in the past. However, as I have been making my way through the 5 books that I assigned to myself this year (In my long currently running series such as Shannara, I assign myself at least 5 books a year so that I am making steady progress and they aren’t sitting on my TBR for longer than they should.), I realized that wasn’t the case, instead I think I was letting too much time past between books, and that was what was decreasing my enjoyment so I have made a point not to do that this year.

However, when it comes to this book in particular, it continues the story of Penderrin Ohmsford and his companions as they struggle to find a mysterious magical artifact and save his aunt and possibly the world in the process. My favorite part about this book is definitely the world-building, particularly Brooks’s nature writing as he has a talent for it. To explain what I mean, let me give you some context, this book appears like your typical epic fantasy at first and in many ways it is, however as the story progresses, you start to realize that something much more significant is going on as certain elements of the story start to come to the forefront. You learn very quickly that even settings that you know and have experience with can become magical and scared if enough time has passed and enough knowledge has been lost, and this is where Brooks shines, in conveying these scenes and the feelings they would emote. All in all, if you think that this is your typical Lord of the Rings-style fantasy, then you’re in for a treat. (Side note: I hate that every classic epic fantasy is compared to Lords of the Rings. Yes, the Lord of the Rings established the genre, made it mainstream, and created a lot of the recognizable troupes, however, the works that followed him (Jordan’s Wheel of Time, Brooks’s Shannara, and others) are their own thing and stand on their own, using motifs and troupes that Tolkien established in their own unique ways.)

The other thing that I liked about this book is the themes that Brooks explores in this narrative-themes of the weight of leadership and how different people approach heroism and sacrifice. Although I can’t express exactly how he utilizes them in this narrative because they are reoccurring and I don’t want to spoil anything, just know they are flawless if you like your books to explore deeper concepts as well as giving you a straight story. I will say that our main character, Penderrin, goes through some deep character development in this book, specifically in regard to these themes. (Side note again: I love how the titles are deep references to events in the book that you don’t understand the full context of until you’re done reading. It’s a nice touch!!)

All in all, this was a great addition to the narrative of Shannara, and I am looking forward to picking up the next and final one in this arc as well as reading the rest of the Shannara series as my love for the series has been reunited. 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like most 2nd books of a trilogy, it ends with a lot of unresolved cliffhangers. But the story moved along swiftly and was a good read. Brooks has this formula down and if you like the Shannara format, this book is fine.

Normally the middle book of a trilogy feels like the glue for the beginning and end of a story and doesn't do much but advance what's already there, but I felt this book was really good and stood well on its own two feet. It still does its job of advancing what we learned in the first book, but also delivers a compelling story that kept me intrigued. There were some typical "saw that coming" moments but overall, I'm pleased with the book.

Plot: 0
Characters: 1
Description: 1
Style: 1
Symbolism: 0
TOTAL: 3
We get it you love each other.