Genesis of Shannara

[Procutus]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Gypsy Morph, the third volume of Terry Brooks' prelude series to his popular Shannara books. Although this trilogy concludes with this novel, Brooks apparently plans to continue with several more, each series moving closer to the time of First King of Shannara.

Genesis of Shannara bridges his previous Word and Void series with the beginnings of the Shannara world. It's a unique blending of styles and I've enjoyed the story thus far.

I highly recommend this to any Brooks fans who have discovered it yet.

 

[Venardhi]

I was really disappointed with the first book, and haven't bothered to pick up the second yet. I loved the subdued modern fantasy setting of the W&V series and this just felt like he was out of ideas.

 

[Procutus]

I'll agree with you that Armageddon's Children was a bit slow at first, but the action really picked up with The Elves of Cintra. I don't think Brooks is out of ideas just yet. I was reading the last 100 pages during lunch at work today, and really didn't want to put it down.

 

[Othello]

Do you have to read the Word and the Void trilogy to read these? I've read all the other Shanarra books but never started the W&V series of books. I own them but they always seem to stay in my "to read" pile. I reread the older books regularly.

 

[Procutus]

I don't think it's really necessary to read W&V first. There are references to it in the first novel, but I think you can infer enough to make the connection without knowing every single detail from the previous trilogy.

I have the first W&V and like you Othello, it's been on my list of 'To Read' for some time. I think you'd enjoy this series, since it will eventually connect to the Shannara world we're familiar with.

 

[Othello]

Cool. Thanks.

I'll definitely have to check it out then.

 

[backstept]

I have the Sword of Shannara trilogy and 'First King' and the Heritage series . . . I'm about a third of the way through First King

I gots lots of reading to do
but I'll definitely have to pick these up at some point

 

[Procutus]

I'm hoping that Brooks will keep the momentum up and come out with the first of the next trilogy next summer. Actually, I'd like to see a large, single novel set about 20 years after GM, then have him jump ahead a couple of centuries for the next trilogy.

 

[FreezeC77]

I just recently got around to reading GM and I liked this trilogy overall more then the Voyage one although mainly for the last two books because I also felt the first was a little slow.

Although does it appear to anyone that Brooks has kind of softened over the years? Elfstones of Shannara is definitely my favorite so maybe I just compare everything Shannara to that.

Spoiler: Gypsy Morph Ending

Was pretty much happy ending-ville compared to some of his other Shannara books. He's often killed off a main character or more near the end of a tale, but GM everyone lived. I guess maybe he was afraid of too many comparrisons to Amberle with Hawk so that might have been why he let Hawk then leave the Mists and have a regular life.

But characters like Angel and Logan... Hey I just realized writing that. Wonder if he's an X-men fan? But anyway they seemed primed for death especially Angel and it didn't happen. You can even say he let Cat & Panther go off with an ambiguous fate so who knows what happens there.

Just felt kind of softer then the old Brooks would be to his main characters. There were definitely harsh elements to the story (the Klee and what it did to the children) though.

 

[rafterman1701]

What I really like is how our world is morphing into the Four Lands. I like how everything takes place in my backyard.

 

[FreezeC77]

What I really like is how our world is morphing into the Four Lands. I like how everything takes place in my backyard.

I always wondered what about the rest of the world. We know the Four Lands is the Pacific Northwest, and after Gypsy Morph we know that people evolved/survived outside of the 'safe zone'. They would become the Dwarves, gnomes, trolls, etc... So are there survivors in Russia? Russian dwarves and trolls?

 

[Procutus]

I think that Freeze might be right, that Brooks has mellowed a bit since the early days (BTW, EoS is also my favorite of his books too. Which is why I'm glad they're planning to make that one into a movie first).

Funny you should mention that about Logan, I pictured Hugh Jackman from the moment I first started reading Armageddon's Children.

I'd love to know what happend to the rest of the world as well. I think I work with some Russian trolls.