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 |
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 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 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 |
The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Out of the original trilogy of SHANNARA novels, The Wishsong of Shannara is possibility the best of the three, though certainly not Brooks’s best overall (not that his best is groundbreaking literature anyway). As one of the early detractors of Tolkien, Brooks’s SHANNARA series caters to the fantasy buffs that just can’t get enough of noble quests against evil — but with likeable characters, fast-paced narrative and some genuinely intriguing components stirred in Brooks’s works aren’t a complete plagiaristic waste.
July 26th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Terry Brooks | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heart of Valor is set a year and a half after the events of the previous book in this two-part series (though both can be read as stand-alone novels), in which four siblings helped the sorceress Morgana Shee prevent the evil sorcerer Cadal Forge from emerging through her magic teleporting mirrors and causing havoc on the world. At the end of ‘Night of the Solstice’ the doorways to the Wildworld were closed, Cadal was destroyed, and his ally Thia Pendriel managed to escape with the immensely powerful Heart of Valor,
July 19th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | L.J. Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the previous book, the sixteen year old mermyd Niniane (called “Nia” for short), discovered betrayal and conspiracy in her underwater home of Atlantis. With the escape of an evil mermyd named Ma’el and the Farworlder (powerful, intelligent squid-like creatures) that he is telepathically connected to, Atlantis was overthrown and Nia the last living Farworlder were thrown ashore.
Reunion picks up again from the point of view of Corwin, a young man whose master has recently been executed by the tyrannical King Vortigern and is now on the run himself.
July 18th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Kara Dalkey | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Water: Ascension is the first in Kara Dalkey’s trilogy concerning sixteen-year old Nia, a mermyd of a prominent clan in the undersea realm of Atlantis. The City is ruled by squid-like Farworlders, and their Avatars — mermyds that undergo a special bonding ritual that allows them to communicate with the Farworlders and govern Atlantis wisely. To be an Avatar is the highest honour a mermyd can achieve, and it is Nia’s dream. She believes she has a good chance at winning the position against other young candidates from other clans,
July 16th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Kara Dalkey | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I’m giving Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a 5 for the simply reason that I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through, but I’d warn all readers to be more wary than usual of reviews (including this one). More than many books, this one I think will be a matter of true personal taste and experience will be your only truly accurate guide.
To begin with, Strange is often referred to as a “fantasy”
July 14th, 2007. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper, Marion Deeds, Tadiana Jones and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Susanna Clarke | Audio, Hugo Award, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…