Rate this book

Witch Wraith (2013)

by Terry Brooks(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Del Rey

series

The Dark Legacy of Shannara

review 1: Mixed feelings. A bit less of the been there, done that plot repeating that book two had, but suddenly Shannara is full of teenagery angst - not loving it! There were a few things that didnt gel right. Keeton & Wint are built up, then abandoned. Presumably demon-fodder, but still - don't just drop 'em! The scene in the inn retrieving the seed was not smooth, it felt like padding. Nice to have an Ilse Witch comeback, but this aspect could have been developed more fully, not enough was made of it (too much of Railing feeling crappy, not enough Witchy dramatics!). The 'finding' of Redden at the end was rushed. This could have been a very emotional finish to the book, but it just wasn't. It was more like a scribbled afterthought. Aphen lost her fizzle. And Tesla Dart - written... more out so quickly. She deserved a few more paragraphs of Oriantha desperately trying to hold her back, and so on and so forth (and who would have given her the box to hold at that critical juncture, come on!)Next series - in the Forbidding? Grianne and Redden showdown? Redden sympathetically ruling the Jarka Ruus? Mirai and Railing's kiddies rebuilding the Druid Order? Plenty scope left after the end of this 'un, but hopefully less wandering spider dipped in ink writing!Terry Brooks still rocks, though. Always has, always will. Just saying!
review 2: I thought Terry was going somewhere new with his formula and I was excited!! I have been a huge fan over the years, but even for me the formula is getting old. This book Terry introduced three very new plot elements that could have given new life to the series. These elements were... 1. Three bag guys – The demon dude running the foreboding, the evil witch ruling the federation, and the Ilse Witch (who I liked as the head druid) was back in evil form. We have seen good badly outnumbered fighting mounds of bad guys many times in Brooks series, but what happens when evil characters attack each other? 2. The lost elf stones were found!! No, trust me, this is HUGE!! I sat up as I was reading this major payoff. What could the lost elf stones do? An Ohmsford is wielding one of the new elfstones...and we all know he shouldn’t be right, but this one steals life of the target and the sap who isn’t totally elvish! Wow, right? What effect will this have on the Ohmsford line? 3. At the end the elf lady doesn’t want to be a druid! (Who since Allanon has wanted the job?) Will an Ohmsford become the next Allanon figure?????? That would have been very cool! I get more and more excited as I near the end of this book, thinking Terry Brooks is about to breath new life into this fantasy world I love so much! I am sad to say Terry slammed on the brakes and veered right back into his tried and true formula...sigh!! Plot line one was resolved in the blink of an eye as the lady in charge of the Federation goes down relatively easily taking out the new head druids love interest...who was a cool guy might I add! Then Ilse Witch takes out the big bad head demon dude in like a page or two...(very disappointing fight) and then gets magically ripped back to the foreboding when the elf tree is reborn. So nothing has really changed, because now instead of bad demon dude locked away we now have the Ilse Witch...locked away! 2. Lost elf stones are handed to a foreboding character right before all the demons get ripped back...so they are all lost again except for the stone that kills its targets AND the user if they are not an elf??? Really???? I felt massively cheated here!! Why would you hand it to the foreboding character anyway?? Wouldn’t it make more sense to hand them to an elf captain and have him...oh...that wouldn’t work either because the elves never use any of their own magic to fight bad guys with...unless the main character is an elf, and then none of the elves in power WANTS them to use it! 3. The elf lady decides to become the head druid after all and the Ohmsford boy does not become the next druid, but merely wakes up after all put draining every scrap of life out of himself!! “Oh, hey bro? What’s up?” Having an Ohmsford be the hated mysterious head druid would have been awesome!! Other formula elements were solidly in place such as – they meet the King of Silver River and the Grimpond, big evil army swept over heroic smaller army, the elves do there normal “wait, we can’t get involved!” thing, but double down when a demon army is coming right at them, and their new king is like “no its not!”, all three quests (a new twist I guess) succeeded...sort of, and although the elf hunters didn’t get slaughtered in this book...I believe they all died in a previous one. Why did I give the book a three rating, even though this formula is so predictable I am starting to wonder if Terry uses a mad lib as a plot out line for his new books? For giving me the hope that something different might happen and at least letting me see the lost elf stones for a few seconds anyway. less

Download links for: Witch Wraith

Advertising