Jun 21 2009
Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks - a review
I have always enjoyed Terry Brooks’s work. I fell in love with the original Shannara trilogy and then made my way through The Heritage of Shannara series in pretty short order. When the Genesis of Shannara series came out (this book was released in 2006), I was so busy and I had lost track of Mr. Brooks’ writing, sadly enough. But now I’m going back through and reading all of his novels.
Armageddon’s Children is the First of the Genesis of Shannara series and was released in 2006. The setting is the United States, specifically the Pacific Northwest, in a post-apocalyptic world that had been ravaged by nuclear war and plague. Demons and their once-men underlings roam the earth enslaving any and all healthy humans, in order to run tests on them and eventually convert them into their once men slaves. The nuclear fall out has also created mutants that aren’t demons but aren’t really humans either - Moles (who live underground), Spiders (who have long limbs), Lizards and Croaks (which are zombies that roam the earth). The majority of humans have walled themselves into compounds, usually stadiums, but also apartment complexes, isolating themselves from the demons. A few, mostly tribes of children, live on the streets.
The Ghosts are one such a tribe and is lead by Hawk, who has talents that range from visions to magic (albeit uncontrolled). The book also focuses on two knights of the word - which are akin to the druids that we all hear so much about in Shannara books. Logan Tom is one of them. Initially, his charge is to go around helping compounds but then he is charged with finding a gypsy morph - which is a powerful magic born in the form of a child that doesn’t age. Angel is the other Kinght of the Word. She is pursued by demons, who target her. After narrowly escaping death, she is told of the existence of the elves and she is charged with searching with an Elfstone that will guarantee the continued existence of the Elves.
The Elves of course, and the Ellcrys tree, also make an appearance in this book - although it’s a brief one. The Ellcrys, a sentient tree that ensures that all evil beings remain behind a forcefield so to speak, is afraid of impending demon domination and telepathically communciates with two of her Chosen — Kirisin and his cousin Erish — and charges them with finding three seeking Elfstones to use them to find a Loden Elfstone. Once all of these Elfstones are found, the Ellcrys tree can be sealed within and can remain safe.
I was honestly disappointed by this novel. I felt like the action was repetitive and boring, even though the premise was really cool and had lots of potential. There were a few pointless flashbacks. Perhaps I would like it more if I had read the Word and the Void Series first because then, I would at least know what he was bridging FROM. That being said, I still love Terry Brooks’ writing style. I would kill to be able to write like him one day (and, did you know that he was a lawyer before he started writing?!).
This is a book that I will probably re-read later on, after I have done the Word and Void Trilogy and would only recommend this to die hard Shannara/Brooks fans.
Book 37/100
