James Barclay

[Drizzt]

I've long been a fan of Terry Brooks. His were my first fantasy books after Lord of the Rings and I've been following the Shannara and Word/Void books ever since. I loved his early stuff, later stuff was ok but I really wasn't much impressed with the last two trilogies.

Then came Armageddon's Children.

For those who don't know, Terry is best known for his Shannara and Word/Void stories and for years there was always the question about whether one series was the 'future' from the other. A couple of years ago we found out this was the case and Armageddon's Children was the first in a new series of books which was going to bridge the gap. And a damned good read it was as well.

So, it's been a long year waiting the second installment. The last book ended on something of a cliffhanger - the sod!! The Elves of Cintra manages to satisfy the questions you were left asking at the end of that last book whilst managing to move the story along at a fair rate of knotts. And... for those of us who've read the Shannara books... you can kind of get a feel of where the overall narrative is heading and it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
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Pagan Music

[Deornoth]

I kept trying but could never get any further than a couple of hundred pages into 'Sword of Shannara', I did like the first two 'Word & Void' books though... 'Armageddon's Children' was a great way to carry on reading what I liked in Brooks' work while getting a feel for the Shannara stuff. I was hooked well before the cliffhanger ending that left me thinking... "The sod!"
'Elves of Cintra' was just as good, I can't believe I've got to wait another year (?) to see how this all ends, even though we know anyway. I may now try 'Sword of Shannara' again...
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Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Does exactly what it says on the tin!