Armegeddon's Children by Terry Brooks

Why have I never heard of Terry Brooks. The Swords of Shannara, published in 1977, was the first sci-fi novel to break into the New York Times Bestseller list. It spent 5 months on the list and is considered by some of today's top authors to be one of the best science fiction novels of the 21st century. I can't believe this book, and this author has not caught my attention until now. But, better late than never. This book is simply amazing. Although there is a lot of back story and characters that I am not familiar with (Armegeddon's Children being one of Terry's most recent novels), I'm glad that I read this one first. It states on the books flaps that it is a good book for new readers of Terry Brooks to be introduced to his work and worlds.

The book features a world which is destroyed by humanity. The ultimate destruction that we as humans know we are capable of. Human beings are the only species that posses the ability, and desire some would argue, to destroy itself. And Terry Brooks does a masterful job of bringing a world where human excesses bring the about the destruction of the world.

Desolate country landscapes. Burnt out and abandoned apartment buildings and city streets. Gutted buildings and empty stores provide the setting for this amazing story. The plot mainly focuses on three factions: Logan Tom, a Knight of the Word who has been been given the task to find humanity's only hope; the Gypsy Morph. This Gypsy Morph is the off-spring of characters that have appeared in Brook's older novels: Nest Freemark and John Ross. The story of Angel Perez is also told. She is a Knight of the Word and is also given a task. Her's is to find the ancient and secret race of the Elves and try to protect them from the coming doom.

The other character who's story is told is a boy named Hawk. This is a very interesting part of Terry's world. Hawk is the leader of what is called 'street kids' in this post-apoctolyptic world and has carved out a 'family' in the city and refuses to be holed up and confined in settlements which are being built and erected in all the major sporting arenas around the country. For example, Safeco Field is used as one compound which is where Hawk's friend and beloved Teresea lives. The story is the first in what is to be a trilogy. I'm looking forward to reading the next volume, which I just picked up at the library, called the Elves of Cintra. This book will follow Logan Tom and the Ghosts (Hawk's family) hunt for Hawk, also introduced briefly in Armegeddon's Children were the Evles of Cintra, so this next book will delve deeper into that story and Angel's fight with the demon that's been chasing her relentlessly across country.

This story is deep, well written and easy to read. That's what was the most surprising about this book. Is how flawlessly and effortlessly it flowed. It was a joy to read, and Terry's prose is brilliant. I still am disappointed that it's taken me so long to discover Terry Brooks, but I'm certainly glad to have found him now and am looking forward to reading his other novels. Particularly, Running with The Demon, The Swords of Shannara, and The Elves of Cintra. Running with the Demons, is considered by some to be one of the 10 best science fiction novels written in the 20th century. That's quite a claim. And I can't see a book with that sort of recognition being too bad. So, here's to Terry Brooks and the wonderful stories he's given us. And, here's to the wonderful world of science fiction. Which has given us stories such as Star Wars, Battlestar Gallactica, etc. I will write a review and some rantings on the Elves of Cintra and Running with Demons when I finish them. Unti then, keep reading the sci-fi.

Sweet River....