Running With the Demon by Terry Brooks
Did You Sell Your Soul for So Little?
Terry Brooks is best known for his Shannara series, which is immensely popular despite being rather obviously inspired by Tolkien’s plots, characters and themes. For reasons even I can’t explain, I’ve read quite a few of these novels (despite my disdain for them) and so I can say with a fair amount of confidence that Running With the Demon is undoubtedly Brooks’s best novel.
July 31st, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
With the second book of The Lighthouse Duet, Breath and Bone, now out, I decided to refresh my memory, as it’s been a full year since I last read this one. I can remember being distinctly disappointed with it. Yet after some of what I’ve read this year (some of it being absolutely awful) I’d have to say my mind has changed somewhat.
This year my poor eyes have suffered so much awkward prose and poorly placed punctuation that Carol Berg’s elegant,
July 31st, 2007. Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 4 | Carol Berg | Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
The Looking Glass Wars, somewhat a reimagining of Alice In Wonderland, has its moments but is generally weak throughout. It’s a “multi-platform” concept, which means along with the requisite trilogy (Seeing Redd is out currently as book two), there are graphic novels and a planned movie and video game. What does all this mean?
Perhaps a wonderfully immersive experience in the world if one buys all the stuff.
July 31st, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | Frank Beddor | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I have to admit that I’ve found Cornelia Funke’s works for the most part to be wonderful concepts whose execution never quite matched their potential. Dragonrider I thought was her most successful work so far, mostly because it didn’t reach quite so high. With Inkspell, however, Funke has finally meshed concept and execution together perfectly, creating her best piece of work so far.
Inkspell picks up about a year after the events of Inkheart,
July 30th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Cornelia Funke | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Being the second book in the fifteen-book series The Circle of Three, this further introduces to us the concept of Wicca and the three teenage girls that decide to explore it. Kate, Cooper and Annie are three very different girls that met over a spell that went awry, and as a consequence discovered a subculture of Wiccan practices at work in their town of Beecher Falls. Like the previous book, So Mote It Be, the story is predominantly told through the point-of-view of Kate,
July 30th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Isobel Bird | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Compass Rose by Gail Dayton
I simply could not finish Gail Dayton’s The Compass Rose (and have already donated it to my public library). It begins adequately and has decent world-building, but about halfway in (once the strong-yet-unremarkable protagonist, Kallista, and company start toward the capital city) it sinks into a nauseating quagmire of romantic pseudo-plots and issues. The scenes are poorly paced, and for no apparent reason (other than weak attempts at creating tension), chapters begin and end in the middle of the same scene.
July 29th, 2007. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 0.1 | Gail Dayton | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
How does one review this book? Everyone knows about it, everyone has an opinion on it and not everybody likes it. Any discussion on the matter seems somewhat redundant. Deemed controversial because of its religious connotations, adored by millions of readers young and old, the subject of hundreds of different interpretations and now the focus of a blockbuster movie (with sequels still to come), it doesn’t seem the “Lion, Witch and Wardrobe” debate will end any time soon.
The four Pevensie siblings are evacuated to the country estate of Professor Kirke during World War II: responsible Peter,
July 29th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | C.S. Lewis | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Druid of Shannara by Terry Brooks
“I Envy Your Past… I Have None…”
The second book in the four-part series THE HERITAGE OF SHANNARA focuses on Walker Boh, the most unique and intriguing character that Brooks has ever created. In an ongoing series that is filled with grim wizards, plucky farm-boys, feisty love-interests, and bland members of the Leah family thrown in for good measure, Walker Boh is a breath of fresh air and makes a compelling protagonist for the best installment of Brooks’s best SHANNARA-based series.
July 28th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes
The Charnel Prince succeeds in what should be the immediate and least of goals for second books in series — it moves the plot along. The book is well-paced, moving quickly through various storylines and transitioning nicely from one point-of-view to another. The shifts occur smoothly and repeatedly act to increase suspense (some may tire of the tactic; it never really bothered me). The different stories are mostly well-balanced, each carrying its own weight in terms of plot and character. Though I’d say one is noticeably weaker than the others,
July 28th, 2007. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Greg Keyes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks
“You Believe We Are the Ones for Whom the Trust was Intended…”
Whether you love or hate Terry Brooks’s books, one thing is certain: that the four-part HERITAGE OF SHANNARA is the best of his fantasy series (though Running With the Demon is his best singular novel). Of course, when I say “best” I do not mean that it is profound, life-changing stuff. Like all of his work it contains long-winded sentences, awful dialogue, too much sentimentality,
July 27th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…
Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.
I like the way you think, Bill. I found the second one particularly objectionable; the one with Khan. It was…