The Elfstones of Shannara - Terry Brooks

Here we are, back in the world of Shannara, of the elves, trolls, dwarves, humans and gnomes... with an extra ration of demons.

The Ellcrys tree is dying... and this means the demons are going to be back into the world. Allanon, back from his Druid nap, wakes up and teams up with the latest of the Ohmsford, Wil, in a quest to find the last of the Chosen ones, Amberle, and help her in her quest to bring the Ellcrys back to health and stop the demons from conquering and destroying the world...

"The Elfstones of Shannara" picks up decades after the first one and offers a new threat to the world Terry Brooks created. That he has to stretch his own world's background a little bit to fit this story doesn't seem to matter much, but, ok, we will buy it. We can accept that this book is just entertainment.

However, what is difficult to accept, is the lame and lazy work Brooks has done with this book. The story repeats itself and is boring as hell: characters team up, have to go to a place, and things happen along the way. It happens, in a big way, because Brooks does little to create interesting situations and almost all that he can think of is to throw a demon or a little threat to the characters in their quest. Here, you got to the river, Amberle and Wil, let's put a demon so you can fight it.

The characters, by the way, are as shallow as they come. Wil or Allanon have a little bit of life in them, but little, and almost all the others are cartoon heroes. And that without going into Wil's two female companions: we have Amberle, the shy one, and Eretria, the independent, sassy one. Of course, both of them with more than a passing interest in the 'hero' (if you can call a cardboard character as Wil a hero).

And if the story is not original, and boring, and the characters are also shallow... What is left? Well, Brooks unnecessary need for stretching the story thin and his penchant for writing 10, 15 pages long chapters around the big fights between elves and demons, between armies. Fights that are just descriptive and done in a very poor manner, like if Brooks put some toys in his dinner room and then put into paper his adventures playing with the toys. Fights or wars can be nicely written in a book, but here is just, A kills B, group C is bigger than D, but D counterattacks and survives, but C keeps pushing, but A from group D, goes into the fight and helps his companions. Very, but very poor writing.

A boring book, just for fans of Brooks's world.

The best: Allanon is back and offers more Allanon'ess, the ending is better than expected

The worst: the endless and boring fights between the armies, the shallowness of everyone involved, the book forgets all other races to just center on elves, the shy girl/feisty girl duality

To read: heck, it is not as if there are no other options (and way better); from the original behind this fantasy craziness, "The Lord of the Rings", to Robert Jordan's books, George R.R. Martin (less fantasy, more plotting and violence and people eating; and it may never end), Stephen R. Donaldson, Robin Hobb or less known compared with others but really amazing in character and world creation David Gemmell... The list of fantasy writers is endless, and almost all of them write better and have better plots than Brooks. Even the first book in the series is better than this one, even if it follows the 'chosen one-team creation-go to the bad guy's lair' model.

5/10

(Original English Version)