Box 1

The 3rd book in original Shannara.

I think it is time for me to move on...I wanted this book to be good-it did not have to be great, just good. I am stretching myself giving this book three stars. It may be, as I said that it is just time for me to move on to another author for a while. I do want to, at some point, continue reading the series. I have hopes that at some point Brook's editor reigned him in and cut out the massive amount of adjectives that slogged this book down for me. ( )

Rounding out Brook's original Shannara trilogy, we have the Wishsong of Shannara.

Wil Ohmsford, in the quest for the Ellcrys, wielded the seeking stones to defend Amberle. Yet he was far more human than Elven, and the stones did not always work for him. In desperation he sought within himself for what had made the stones work before- and the seeking stones responded...

His children were born with part of the ancient magic of the original Elves, the Elves the seeking stones knew as Elves. The wishsong; wish for it, sing for it, and it is yours. Jair, his son, can use it to create illusions limited only by his imagination that seem completely real until his singing stops. But his sister, Brin, has the true magic of the wishsong- she truly changes things, not just their appearance.

Allanon, aged by the battle with the Demons of the Forbidding, comes to the Ohmsford home seeking the magic of Brin to destroy the Illdatch; a sentient tome of evil from Faerie that once created the Warlock Lord and now has birthed the Mord Wraiths, the black walkers. Only Brin can reach and destroy the book. But Allanon does not know everything.

At the end, Brin gives up her magic to destroy the ancient evil of the Illdatch, but bequeaths to her progeny a sacred trust in Allanon's blood against the future need of the Four Lands. Here too we see the end of Steel Jans, and the creation of the Sword of Leah.

Surprisingly and uncharacteristically dark for Shannara, this book is tonally more in line with Brook's Knights of the Word. It completes the Elfstones of Shannara in a satisfying way, I recommend reading them as a pair. ( )

Listened to audio narrated by Scott Brick. Allanon takes Brin to use her magic to help him retrieve the power source of the wraiths, her brother ends up on a quest to save her. Epic tales to save the world from evil.
( )

Just can't do it. Really wanted to at least finish the trilogy, but I can't read a third installment of the same book. Ok, the first book is LOTR, sure. Then the second one is pretty much the same thing. Alright. But a THIRD book that starts with Allanon coming to the Vale and taking an Ohmsford kid away with him to save the world from sure doom? I just can't. ( )