by Jasmyn | Feb 1, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Elves really do exist. They’ve remained hidden away in their forest while the world falls apart around them. But when the Lady directs Angel Perez to go find them, she sets out on a journey where she discovers things she once thought as fairy tales are actually real. The elves aren’t all that happy to be found either – but Angel has a mission she must complete.
The elves were great! They seem to be the race the least changed by the events in their attitudes from book to book. We begin to hear rumors of the amazing Elf Stones and see how they became a part of the elves’ lives again.
Meanwhile, the Ghosts are on the move and Logan Tom tries to free their leader, a fairy creature himself, from one of the compounds humans have set up to try and defend themselves from the demon hordes taking over the land.
The world is rushing towards destruction and only a handful stand in its way. Trying to save what they can before the demons overrun it all. Readers of past Shannara series will find places that seem familiar, and it was very exciting to see places from past books that were in ruins come to life on the pages. I don’t know how Terry Brooks keeps it all straight, but he does such an amazing job.
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Title: The Elves of the Cintra (Genesis of Shannara #2)
Author: Terry Brooks
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopia
Content Rating: PG-13
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With his groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Sword of Shannara and its acclaimed sequels, Terry Brooks brought a new audience to epic fantasy. Then he gave the genre a darkly compelling contemporary twist in his trilogy of the Word and the Void. Last year, in Armageddon’s Children, Brooks undertook the stunning chronicle that united two unique worlds. Now that story of clashing forces of darkness and light, of Shannara’s beginnings and the human race’s possible end, marches forward into an unforgettable second volume full of mystery, magic, and momentous events.
Across the ruined landscape that is America–hopelessly poisoned, plague-ridden, burned, and besieged by demon armies bent on exterminating all mortal life–two pilgrims have been summoned to serve the embattled cause of good. Logan Tom has journeyed to desolate Seattle to protect a ragged band of street urchins and the being known as “the gypsy morph,” who is both mortal and magical, and destined to save mankind unless he is destroyed. Likewise, Angel Perez has her own quest, one that will take her from the wreckage of Los Angeles to a distant, secret place untouched by the horrors of the nationwide blight–a place where the race of Elves has dwelled since before man existed. But close behind these lone Knights of the Word swarm the ravening forces of the Void.
As the menacing thunder of war drums heralds the arrival of the demons and their brutal minions in Seattle, the young survivors who call themselves the Ghosts are forced to brave the dangerous world of gangs, mutants, and worse to escape the invasion. And Logan Tom must infiltrate a refugee compound to rescue Hawk, the leader of the street urchins, who has yet to learn the truth about who and what he is. Meanwhile, Angel Perez has joined an equally urgent mission: to find the Ellcrys, a fabled talisman crucial to protecting the Elven realm against an influx of unspeakable evil from the dread dimension known as the Forbidding. But Angel and her Elf allies must beware–for a demon spy, with a monstrous creature at its command, walks among them.
As the legions of darkness draw the noose tighter, and the time of confrontation draws near, those chosen to defend the soul of the world must draw their battle lines and prepare to fight with, and for, their lives. If they fail, humanity falls.
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by Jasmyn | Jan 31, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Shannara isn’t a land of the past or fantasy – it’s the land of the future. It’s the land that emerged after an apocalyptic time period full of demons re-emerging and humans allowing the land to go be poisoned by their greed. In Armageddon’s Children, we get to see how it all happened and where it all came from.
The last remaining Knights of the Word travel the land under the direction of the Lady. Each has their own mission that will bring them together to save the last of humanity. Angel Perez and Logan Tom each have a mission to complete – a mission that brings keeps turning them closer and closer to a group of street kids that call themselves the Ghosts.
The Ghosts will play an important role in the times to come. A time full of danger and strange new discoveries of magic and mutants. They are not what they appear on the surface, but they have not yet realized their full potential.
Traveling with the characters we see the beginnings of the strange creatures that inhabit the world of Shannara – lizards, spiders, and once-men that help to make up the landscape of the Shannara series.
While I wasn’t a fan of the urban fantasy tale that showed more modern times in a previous series, Armageddon’s Children begins to bridges the gap between now and the future of Shannara. It’s not just a dystopian tale, but the beginnings of an origin story like none I’ve read before. I did run into a few cases where the editing could have been better – names misspelled and words that should be capitalized weren’t.
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Title: Armageddon’s Children (Genesis of Shannara #1)
Author: Terry Brooks
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopia
Content Rating: PG-13
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Terry Brooks is one of a handful of writers whose work defines modern fantasy fiction. His twenty-three international bestsellers have ranged from the beloved Shannara series to stories that tread a much darker path. Armageddon’s Children is a new creation–the perfect opportunity for readers unfamiliar with Brooks’s previous work to experience an author at the height of his considerable storytelling powers. It is a gripping chronicle of a once-familiar world now spun shockingly out of control, in which an extraordinary few struggle to salvage hope in the face of terrifying chaos.
Logan Tom is doomed to remember the past and determined to rescue the future. Far behind him lies a boyhood cut violently short by his family’s slaughter, when the forces of madness and hate swept our world after decadent excesses led to civilization’s downfall. Somewhere ahead of him rests the only chance to beat back the minions of evil that are systematically killing and enslaving the last remnants of humanity. Navigating the scarred and poisoned landscape that once was America and guided by a powerful talisman, Logan has sworn an oath to seek out a remarkable being born of magic, possessed of untold abilities, and destined to lead the final fight against darkness.
Across the country, Angel Perez, herself a survivor of the malevolent, death-dealing forces combing the land, has also been chosen for an uncanny mission in the name of her ruined world’s salvation. From the devastated streets of Los Angeles, she will journey to find a place–and a people–shrouded in mystery, celebrated in legend, and vital to the cause of humankind . . . even as a relentless foe follows close behind, bent on her extermination. While in the nearly forsaken city of Seattle, a makeshift family of refugees has carved out a tenuous existence among the street gangs, mutants, and marauders fighting to stay alive against mounting odds–and something unspeakable that has come from the shadows in search of prey.
In time, all their paths will cross. Their common purpose will draw them together. Their courage and convictions will be tested and their fates will be decided, as their singular crusade begins: to take back, or lose forever, the only world they have.
In Armageddon’s Children, Brooks brings his gifts as a mythmaker to the timeless theme of the unending, essential conflict between darkness and light–and carries his unique imaginative vision to a stunning new level. Prepare for a breathtaking tour de force. To those who are new to Terry Brooks, welcome. And to those who have read him for many years: prepare for a dramatic surprise.
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by Jasmyn | Jan 30, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Grainne remains one of my favorite Shannara characters through the end of this series. She has such a dynamic past and is constantly evolving to adapt to her present – trying to predict what she will need to be for her future. But she has found herself in over her head exiled in the Forbidding.
Through Straken we see the resolution of Grainne’s story and the beginning of Pen’s. For he has the wishsong. Their stories will draw in all of the realms in true epic fantasy style.
The war between the Federation and the Free-born is raging on, with no real win in sight. A false Ard Rhys is leading the order of the druids, and Pen has sacrificed much to help make it right. Terry Brooks somehow manages to weave all these pieces together and once again reach a satisfying – if sometimes surprising – conclusion to this era of the Shannara story.
But the door is open for more – and I know there is because they are sitting on my shelf waiting. However, one of the things I like best about these series within a series is the ability to have that satisfaction of finishing – while still knowing you get to come back for a grand new adventure soon.
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Title: Straken (High Druid of Shannara #3)
Author: Terry Brooks
Genre: High Fantasy
Content Rating: PG-13
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The High Druid of Shannara trilogy draws to a thrilling close as a young hero nears completion of his trial by fire, a banished ruler fights for her life in a wilderness of dread, and forces of darkness and light square off in a battle unto death for the right to absolute rule. Prepare to be spellbound by the masterly hand of bestselling legend weaver Terry Brooks, conjuring at the peak of his skills.
For reasons known only to himself, the King of the Silver River has charged young Penderrin Ohmsford, barely more than a boy, with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt, Grianne, Ard Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile in the terrifying dimension of all things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven princess Khyber Elessedil by his side–and with the outcome of the bloody war between the Federation and the Free-born at stake–Pen has accepted his mission without question. But not without risk . . . or sacrifice.
Because Shadea a’Ru, the ruthless Druid responsible for imprisoning the true Ard Rhys and usurping leadership at Paranor, has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen and his comrades. And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen has paid a devastating price. Now if the Free-born forces–already decimated by the Federation’s death-dealing new weapon–should fall, Shadea’s domination of the Four Lands will be assured. Nothing short of Pen’s success can turn the tide.
But Pen’s challenge grows greater when he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian, have fallen into Shadea’s hands. He must try to help them–but once within the walls of Druid’s Keep, where Shadea’s minions and dark magic lurk at every turn, Pen’s survival is far from assured. Yet it will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding–horrors poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right. . . .
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