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A review by crowinator
The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks
4.0
Posted to my Livejournal in March 2008, saved here for posterity:
This series bridges his Word and the Void series and his Shannara series, and in a pretty clever way, too. In this one, Hawk, who is a street kid trying to survive in a (pre? post?) apocalyptic Seattle, turns out to be the Gypsy Morph, a magical being who is supposed to lead his chosen people to a safe haven where they can wait out the war happening between humans and demons. (Ya got that?) He has Logan, a world-weary Knight of the Word to help him and Hawk's street family to safety. Meanwhile (you knew there was a meanwhile, right?), the elves are starting to notice that the world around them is going to hell, because the Ellcrys has told young elf Kirisin that she needs to be moved to safety. For that, they need the blue elfstones, which are essential to find the Loden Stone that can move the Ellcrys. And they have Angel Perez, another Knight of the Word. And there are demons on all their trails.
Okay, that's all plot, and overly simplified, at that. I think that this series takes place before the Shannara books and chronicles the beginning of the cataclysmic war that remakes the Earth that they mention in The Sword of Shannara. (I might be wrong though, so if anyone knows, clue me in.) This book moves fast, very fast, and has a great deal of action: lots of fights, near death experiences, chase scenes, and betrayals. Characterization is also fast but strong, so that all of the major players are distinctive, if not totally original in terms of fantasy conventions. Also, I love it when disparate plot lines come together in a big, grandiose plan, and that's what this is promising. I'm looking forward to the third book. (Sadly, I attempted to reread The Sword of Shannara, a book I'd loved as a child, and all I can say is, it does not wear well with time. I could not slog through the pages of wordy scenic descriptions and the long-winded character expositions, and the "here's an elf!", "here's a dwarf!", "here's magic sword!", element, though I know that back in 1977, this stuff was not a cliche. Mostly, though, it was the poor writing: the story I loved was still there, but buried under tortured prose. I guess you can't always go back to your childhood, huh?)
This series bridges his Word and the Void series and his Shannara series, and in a pretty clever way, too. In this one, Hawk, who is a street kid trying to survive in a (pre? post?) apocalyptic Seattle, turns out to be the Gypsy Morph, a magical being who is supposed to lead his chosen people to a safe haven where they can wait out the war happening between humans and demons. (Ya got that?) He has Logan, a world-weary Knight of the Word to help him and Hawk's street family to safety. Meanwhile (you knew there was a meanwhile, right?), the elves are starting to notice that the world around them is going to hell, because the Ellcrys has told young elf Kirisin that she needs to be moved to safety. For that, they need the blue elfstones, which are essential to find the Loden Stone that can move the Ellcrys. And they have Angel Perez, another Knight of the Word. And there are demons on all their trails.
Okay, that's all plot, and overly simplified, at that. I think that this series takes place before the Shannara books and chronicles the beginning of the cataclysmic war that remakes the Earth that they mention in The Sword of Shannara. (I might be wrong though, so if anyone knows, clue me in.) This book moves fast, very fast, and has a great deal of action: lots of fights, near death experiences, chase scenes, and betrayals. Characterization is also fast but strong, so that all of the major players are distinctive, if not totally original in terms of fantasy conventions. Also, I love it when disparate plot lines come together in a big, grandiose plan, and that's what this is promising. I'm looking forward to the third book. (Sadly, I attempted to reread The Sword of Shannara, a book I'd loved as a child, and all I can say is, it does not wear well with time. I could not slog through the pages of wordy scenic descriptions and the long-winded character expositions, and the "here's an elf!", "here's a dwarf!", "here's magic sword!", element, though I know that back in 1977, this stuff was not a cliche. Mostly, though, it was the poor writing: the story I loved was still there, but buried under tortured prose. I guess you can't always go back to your childhood, huh?)