Book Review: The Elfstones of Shannara, by Terry Brooks

The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
**Disclaimer: LOTS OF PLOT SPOILERS!!!**



The plot of Elfstones is intriguing, the characters of the book are likable and pretty, and the world of the elves is a captivating one filled with races of men and magic of a forgotten world.

If you have no problem with the previous sentence, please stop reading this review and immediately pick up Elfstones. You will find yourself in the company OF a fun fantasy novel.

If, however, you felt your eyes itch as you read "of ___" five times in one sentence, please advise - do I finish a book I am enjoying because it is sheer fun, or do I punish Terry Brooks for terrible writing and set his novel down?

I am about half-way through The Elfstones of Shannara -- too far to walk away from now -- and I do feel invested in Wil and Amberle's plight (not, however, "in the plight of Wil and Amberle." Tery Brooks, get an editor!). The elven world is threatened by an ancient evil, and as Amberle, a young elf girl/princess and her quarter-elf companion Wil attempt to keep the evil at bay, demons unleash brutal attacks upon the elf kingdom Arborlorn.

Standard LOTR-ish plot ensues: two young and naive protagonists go on trek across lands populated by trolls, dwarves, and stick-men who pick up our protagonists and carry them across the forest (ahem, Tolkien-is-scratching-his-head). The goal: submerge a magical talisman in the fire from where the magic originates in order to prevent an evil demon army from murdering the elves and taking over their kingdom (ahem, Tolkien-is-now-giving-Brooks-the-stink-eye). The old wizard Allanon, a la Gandalf, helps the two young protagonists along their journey with, among other magic, a magical staff that wards off evil dragons (ahem, Tolkien-just-shakes-his-head). In the end, old magic must be mustered by the young protagonists, each questioning his and her own strength (ahem, oh forget it!).

Arborlorn, the elf kingdom

I know a bit about the series from a friend, and am intrigued by the interesting concept that this magical world is actually the FUTURE rather than a long-ago past. A terrible war occurred thousands of years ago (i.e., around the 20th century), and the people who waged this war are the elves' ancestors. Kinda neat, no? However, Brooks handles this SO SUBTLY that I did not really catch it and I think I'm supposed to read the whole series to truly understand what happened.

Once I finish the book, I will add some final impressions. For now, I am content with my fun fantasy world, though physically pained by the (at-times) atrocious writing.

***

After finishing this book last night:

The blatant similarities between Elfstones and LOTR are most obvious in the battle scenes and demon descriptions, but after a while, I stopped caring about plagiarism and just allowed myself to enjoy the ride. Most of the action occurs in the book's last third or so, with battle scenes that were entirely too long for my taste, and a hectic, exciting, and terrifying race against time through crazy forests. The protagonists grow into a little gang that by the end includes the beautiful Elf girl Ameberle, her protector Wil, the even more beautiful Rover (kind of like "gypsy") girl Eretria, the old man Hegel, Hegel's trusty old dog, Drifter, young Perk, and Perk's trusty old giant flying bird. Whew! There is even a fuzzy, furry, friendly little half-wit elf thrown in for kicks. Guess what, he saves the day!

The writing improves in quality as the book nears its end, perhaps because there is so much action that the writing stops trying to be cutesy and just tells the story. The action itself is riveting enough to have kept me up until 1 a.m. to finish the book, and the climax is pretty damn exciting! Suspense, surprise, the whole shebang.

Lastly, pervasive Christian allegory infuses Elfstones, but not to Narnia levels. Let's give away the story some more: Magical tree in the "Garden of Life;" apostles (the "Chosen") who tend to the tree of life, which turns out to be a symbol not only of purity but also great personal sacrifice; prodigal children abound; and so on. Having recently watched the awfulest of awful summer movies, "Terminator Salvation," I am grateful to Brooks for how he handled Christian mythology in his novel: subtle and embedded in the plot, not garishly obvious and out of place like in McG's (seriously, that's his name?!?!?) terrible of terribles.

I give Terry Brooks' Elfstones of Shannara three enthusiastic stars for effort, but am retracting one star for poor writing and occasional blatant plagiarism.


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