Gypsy Morph pg 285

Alright, after asking around a little bit, it appears that all of the copies of The Gypsy Morph cut out randomly on page 285. Brooks' official website says that the chapter was planned that way - the character doesn't make it, and ends mid thought. I'm of the opinion that it should have ended with a dash then, to signify that the thought was cut off. But if that was the way it was planned, then so be it! (I just think the way it is it looks like the printers made a mistake or something!)

The Gypsy Morph

This one took me a little longer to read; I've been extremely busy all week, and wasn't able to read the way I did last weekend.

The Gypsy Morph picks up at the end of The Elves of Cintra. Angel Perez has helped the elves Kirisin and Simralin find the Loden Elfstone. Yet Angel was badly wounded, so in it up to Logan Tom to help the Elves save their city and the Ellcrys.

Meanwhile, the Gypsy Morph is getting as many people together as possible so that he can lead them to a place of safety against the coming destruction. He knows with certainty that everything that has happened to date will pale in comparison to the coming storm. He knows what he has to do, but he is operating almost solely on instinct, which is making people question him. But he is the world's only hope for a future.

The demons and their army of once-men lie in wait for the activation of the Loden, and also ready to chase Kirisin wherever he may go. Logan Tom has to help everyone, and hopes that the Word's promise of revenge will be fulfilled. And Angel Perez, now healed with the help of an elf, helps lead the children and protect the Gypsy Morph. The final book of Terry Brooks' Genesis of Shannara series brings everyone together, sometimes in very surprising ways! I enjoyed reading it, but overall I think my favourite of this series was The Elves of Cintra.

Oh, as an afterword, my copy of The Gypsy Morph has chapter 25 ending abruptly. The last sentence ends in the middle of a word! I'm not entirely sure if this was a printing error or what, but I have asked around on the internet for what page 285 is supposed to say. When I find out, I will let you know!

The Elves of Cintra

Yes, I know. I read this book in just over 24 hours. I started reading The Elves of Cintra almost right after I finished Armageddon's Children at just before midnight last night. And I finished it about two minutes ago.

The Elves of Cintra picks up right where Armageddon's Children left off. Logan Tom has found the Gypsy Morph, but almost immediately lost him. Yet there is no time to worry about it right now; an army of demons and once men have appeared and are attacking the city. Logan has to fight his way free and help the Morph's family get away as well.

But as the title of the book suggests, most of its story is more concerned with Angel Perez, charged with helping the Elves save the Ellcrys. She has joined forces with a couple of Elves while the rest of the Elven nation tries to thwart their efforts by order of their King. With no one to turn to for help, and hunted by demons, they set out on their own to find the mysterious talisman that will save the Elven nation from destruction by the demons.

The Elves of Cintra continues the masterfully told blending of two of Terry Brooks' epic series. I cannot wait to see how everything ends with The Gypsy Morph!

Armageddon's Children

After two years of waiting, I have finally read Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks. Armageddon's Children is the first book in Brooks' Genesis of Shannara series. As I said in my last post, I have owned the book for almost two years, and I refused to read it until the final book in the trilogy was out. Now that The Gypsy Morph is out, I can read the whole story uninterrupted.

The reason I hoarded both Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra until The Gypsy Morph was released is that the last trilogy that I read of Brooks' was also released over a period of two years; when I opened Straken and started reading, I couldn't believe that I had no clue who the first character that I encountered was! Prior to that moment, I was certain that, even with the time in between reading Tanequil and Straken, I remembered the story well enough to proceed. After that moment, I vowed that I wouldn't let that happen again; I would wait until all the books of any new trilogies were released before reading them. (This is much like I said I would do for the Harry Potter series if and when I ever decide to read it).

Armageddon's Children is the first in a series of books in which Brooks bridges his Word and Void series with his Shannara series. Armageddon's Children opens in disaster: the world and future that Knight of the Word John Ross was trying to prevent in the Word and Void has happened. War has destroyed civilization as we know it. The land, water and air lie poisoned. Mutants have evolved out of people as a result of the poisons. Those people unaffected by the poisons, for the most part, live in walled complexes, trying desperately to cling to life as it once was. Demons, the Void's servants who have evolved out of humans, and their armies of once men ravage the countryside, attacking the complexes and killing most while enslaving others. Those enslaved are brought to slave camps to live out a horrible existence at the hands of the demons and once men.

It is here that we find Logan Tom, one of the last Knights of the Word. Logan is given the task of finding the Gypsy Morph, the one born to Nest Freemark nearly a century earlier. The Morph is said to be humanity's last chance at survival. There is a larger disaster coming, and the Morph is the only one able to lead a handful of survivors, not all of them human, to a place of safety where they can survive. Logan is tasked with protecting the Morph so that it may complete its task.

Half way across the country is Angel Perez, herself another Knight of the Word, given the task of finding and helping a people born of legend. For with them lies the Ellcrys, which must be protected at all costs.

Armageddon's Children offers a terrifyingly bleak view of what nuclear war would do to life as we know it. Yet it also offers a view of the hope and determination that is the foundation of the human spirit. Even at the verge of total annihilation there are those who refuse to give up hope, fighting for survival, fighting for the future, fighting for love.

The Gypsy Morph is Here!!!!

I wandered into one of my local bookstores yesterday and I couldn't believe it: the final book in Terry Brooks' Genesis of Shannara trilogy was there! It was out several days before it was due to be released according to Brooks' site (August 26/08). I'm just excited because now I can finally read Armageddon's Children, the first book in the Genesis trilogy. I've been hoarding it until book 3 was released.