I Must Have Missed Something

My husband and I like to listen to audio books when we drive. This is one we picked up from the library recently to listen to. I've read Terry Brooks once before and found it semi interesting. There isn't a big selection of books on CD at the library so I took a chance on this one. Unfortunately I had no idea that it went before a whole series. I looked and didn't see that it said that it was part of a series, so I picked it up. It is the beginning of the Shannara series.

The plot is somewhat intricate, but let me see if I can sum it up a little bit for you. The world is ravaged by war and disease and now lies in ruins. Demons and their once-men search the world looking for people in which they can enslave and experiment upon. There are compounds of the survivors that have come together. The demons and once-men find these and enslave the people. Their are also tribes that are living free in what is left of the cities. The ghosts are one of these tribes. It is made up entirely of children, and they live in downtown Seattle. Their are also elves in this world, but they have shut themselves off from the rest of the world. They have gone into hiding and refuse to come out. They know that the demons and once-men will be after them next, but they seem to do nothing about it. There are also what is called Knights of the Word. They roam the earth seeking out the demons and once-men and their encampment of the people that have been enslaved. They are seeking to destroy them. Once such Knight is named Logan Tom. He is on a quest to find a special boy who has the power to save humankind. Another Knight named Angel Perez must find and help the Elven community in their quest to save themselves.

The story is somewhat complicated. It interweaves four different plots. One is the elves, another Logan Tom, yet another Angel Perez, and the last that of the Ghosts. The story alternates between telling about these four things and you must listen closely. This is certainly an interesting story full of twists and turns, but you have to be into the end of the world type science fiction. You also need to be paying attention or you might miss something. At times, the plot seems to slow down and come to a crawl in this book, but it generally picks back up fairly quickly.

I also feel the need to warn you that this book in no way ends. It just quits the story. It ties nothing up. I would advise you to go ahead and get the second book because you'll want to read it right away. I was severely disappointed in how it stopped, but then again I didn't know much about this book or series.

I'd say the book is about High School reading level and is 384 pages. Because I heard this on audio book I didn't have to try and pronounce any of the names, but let me warn you that there are some interesting names in this to try and pronounce.

Overall, I would hesitantly recommend this book to you. As I've said before, I'll warn you that it is a part of a series. The writing is good for the most part. If you like end of the world books, then you'll probably enjoy this series.