Angel Fire East

This is a review for the whole trilogy.

I had read some of the Shannara series when I was younger and a few years back read the Genesis of Shannara trilogy and I remember quite enjoying both experiences. When MTV's adaptation of Elfstones came out, I was reminded of the series and thought it would be great to go back and read it in chronological order, seeing as there was quite a lot that I hadn't read previously.

Unfortunately, just finishing this first trilogy has made me second-guess whether I should continue reading this series lest I ruin the nostalgia. This trilogy is one of the most disappointing things I have read in recent years. I heard it was billed as a the bridge between the fantastical world of Shannara and our present show more times; a prequel of the post-apocalyptic trilogy of Genesis where evil is winning a long, epic battle to turn our world to ashes.

What I got instead was a series of personal stories where good always triumphed. I was told these personal stories were a part of grand scheme of things, but Brooks fails to deliver the feeling that these meaningless events will capitulate into something greater. I was expecting something unusual - evil winning is not something you see often in any form of media - and seeing as the world of Shannara exists, evil must must have triumphed over good in our modern world at some point in time.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see any of those grim, desperate battles wrought with emotion or turmoil in this series. Instead, Brooks opts for the story we've all heard before - character struggles with some mundane, localized evil and ultimately triumphs despite the odds. Rather than tell the tale of girl and a man fighting a grand, loosing battle against a great evil, Brooks seems to have opted to tell stories about their personal struggles. Unfortunately, even this effort falls flat due to the easily predicted "twists", the abundance of unnecessary detail about events that have little to no impact (such as:the union men talking about the strike and news and descriptions of small town life for pages upon pages, the existence of Jared as his strange disappearance from the rest of the books makes Nest's seemingly integral interactions with him meaningless. Nest's divorce and phone calls from Paul, all of the 'slice of life' scenes in the last book that seemed very out place considering they were supposed to be in mortal danger due to the presence of multiple demons. The entire character of Bennett and her child in the last book, they left no impact. The scene of Nest telling Harper her mother was dead was surprisingly devoid of emotion.), and uninspired characters that seem to be trapped by the same flaws in every scenario and, despite all of their introspection, cannot seem to think their way out of the most obvious of situations.
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Angel Fire East is the third book in Terry Brooks' Word and Void series, and the conclusion of the trilogy. It is not a stand-alone book, so don't start here. Read Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word first.

This story picks up ten years after the second book (fifteen since the first). We're back in Hopewell, Illinois with Nest Freemark, and demons have come knocking. This story describes the third and final time she and John Ross cross paths. While John is a central character, this is very much Nest's story with him acting mostly as a catalyst. I found myself getting pretty annoyed with John at times for being useless.

Along with the carry-over characters of Pick, Josie, and Two Bears, we see the adult versions of Nest's show more childhood friends Robert Heppler and Bennett Scott, along with some new additions. The cast on the side of the void is expanded as well, with two central demons and two backups, each with distinct traits and personalities.

Trigger warning: Like the second book in the series addressed the topic of homelessness, this one tackles drug addiction and the potential fallout of that lifestyle.

It took me a while to get into the book because the pacing was pretty slow. There was a lot of overly-descriptive exposition and "sit-and-think" moments. There's a nice twist at the end for Nest, though not so nice for anyone else. The book, and therefore the series, ended on a hopeful but rather melancholy note. show less

The last instalment of The Word and the Void trilogy. Time has moved on and Nest is now 29 and living in Hopewell. Her life is turned upside down when two old friends turn up on her doorstep with children in tow. One of those children is a gypsy morph - a being created by wild magics, wanted by both The Word and the Void.

Nest and John Ross are reunited for another adventure. Fans of the series will not be disappointed!

Unlike Brooks' standard novels, this is contemporary fantasy, not set in one of his fantasy world settings. It is the 3rd book in the Word and the Void series, again featuring John Ross and Nest Freemark. John and Nest are both in Hopewell, trying to keep the mysterious Gypsy Morph away from the demons.
Once again, John has been shown that the future is grim if he fails, though as usual he does not know what failure might be. Nest is drawn into the problem again as she helps John defend the morph and some old friends against the demons.
In some ways, while this is fantasy fiction, it feels too likely - what if demons really are prompting people to do the horrendous things they do in real life, and what if that means the demons are show more winning. As usual, this is a well written story that keeps you interested until the very end, and then you want more. show less

I found John Ross's lack of action whilst visiting Nest disturbing. The demons came across as schoolyard bullies without enough gumption to take control of the situation in spite of having an 'elite' leader and outnumbering the good guys. Sending nightmares via telephone..? Really? And Nest basically runs around like a chicken with its head cut off - lots of impulsive action with no real consequence. Baking cookies, caroling and sledding are probably not ideal activities for people in (allegedly) mortal danger.

While this last volume is considerably better than the first two, it was still predictable and left threads dangling.

Final Battle of John Ross, Knight of the Word. Finds a gypsy morph, powerful wild magic, and must figure out how to use it for service to the Word. He dies, but it becomes a baby in Nest Freemarks body. I could only read a couple of chapters at a time. Sets up perfectly for the upcoming Armageddon’s Children. As a whole, this whole Word & Void series was depressing. The Word creates, the Void destroys. The Word has no hope of ever getting rid of the Void, but the Void feeds on the thought of destroying the Word. I’m sorry he’s tying this into his Shannara series, but it was inevitable I guess.

Il migliore della trilogia del Verbo e del Vuoto, non raggiunge comunque le vette dei primi libri di Shannara. Anche qui si perde troppo in descrizioni ripetitive e troppo lunghe dei posti.