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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Middle Book, August 30, 2007
So many middle books lag -- just look at A FEAST FOR CROWS by George RR Martin -- but this one doesn't! It goes somewhere with likable characters that develop with each page turned.
The Elves of Cintra takes the characters from Armageddon's Children -- characters who are wholly unique -- and pushes them along toward the inevitable conclusion to come in the third and final book of the series. But unlike some author's middle books, this book has a climax all its own for most of its characters. No cliffhangers here, folks! I was satisfied with how the story unfolded and finished up.
The characters are fantastic and despite what one of the other reviewers said are new and invigorating. There has been no character like Angel Perez in Terry Brooks's other stories -- a hispanic woman who speaks in her native tongue sometimes and has been given great power. Angel must overcome her own doubts, doubts that have plagued her since the beginning in this deteriorated world, and she grows over this middle volume to a great final confrontation with evil.
Logan Tom is another example of a new character for Terry Brooks. He is no John Ross, no Allanon, no Balinor. He is a man destroyed from losing his family and conflicted with the new family he has been given despite not being able to follow the command of the Word. Revenge drives him. This is unlike anything Brooks has tackled before and allows him to talk about responsibility in dark times -- times much like we are living in now.
Then you have the street kids, the Ghosts. All of them are unique, all of them have never been in a Shannara book or Word/Void book. Terry spends time with each of them as they travel from ruined Seattle southward, and as this trilogy unfolds all of them will have their individual stories told.
The only drawback I could see in The Elves of Cintra is the absence of Hawk. Hawk is maybe only in the book for three chapters. He will undoubtedly be in the third book a great deal -- this middle book is the story of Angel Perez and the Elves for the most aprt -- but I felt his absence. Time will tell how his story unfolds and completes.
There were also real moments in this book when I had to reread the passage because I couldn't believe what Terry had done! No one is safe in Terry Brooks's work, and he really surprised me at times with the avenue he took the story. So be prepared for that!
Anyone who loves the Word/Void books should read this series. Anyone who loves the Shannara Elves should read this series. I look forward to reading the third book in this series!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great sequel, great character development, great story!, January 11, 2008
Following in the footsteps of Armageddon's Children, the first book in the Genesis of Shannara series, The Elves of Cintra (2007) seamlessly advances the major plotlines from before, and brings about new truths, excitement and character history to an already great story.
In the previous book, the reader is left with a literal cliff-hanger. Logan Tom has found Hawk, the leader of the Ghosts and also the powerful gypsy morph, only to realize that Hawk is to be executed by being tossed from a compound's high-level wall. Just as Logan gained entry to the complex, Hawk and Tessa were being tossed to their death from high above.
Logan Tom realizes this too late, but during a frenzy at the compound he learns that when Hawk and Tessa are thrown from the compound wall, a great burst of light emerged, whisking them away into nothingness. After learning of this, Logan Tom seeks to regroup with the Ghosts sans-Hawk, and protect them/travel with them towards a safer destination. While doing so, he looks upon the harbor and realizes that hundres, if not thousands of ships approach to take on the compound. He knows that the ships carry once-men and demons, and it's time to leave.
Meanwhile, Panther flees the compound without Logan Tom, seeking to reunite with the rest of the Ghosts. He meets up with Sparrow at Pioneer Square only to be swarmed by croaks, feeders, and all sorts of other madness. It appears that the oncoming attack at the compound has all in the area in complete chaos. They finally escape to meet up with Logan Tom and the rest of the Ghosts.
Later, the Ghosts and Logan Tom encounter incredible battles, death, freaks, a long lost Knight of the Word, and a group of mutant kids. Throughout these ordeals, the reader is privy to further life history from each one of the Ghosts. Where they are from, what brought them to the Ghosts, and a deeper understanding of their character.
As this is occuring, the other Knight of the Word, Angel Perez, is travelling with the tatterdemalion, Ailie, towards the elven domain. As they are traveling, however, they are aware that the demon Delloreen is steadfast in pursuit, and determined to kill them.
Once at the elven domain, Angel and Ailie meet up with Kirisin and his older sister, Simralin, who is an elven tracker. The group minus-Kirisin meet with the king and the High Council to find out that not only will the council not assist them in saving the Elcryss, but there is also trouble amiss at the High Council; there is an intruder of sorts.
Despite the king's wishes, the group alongside the king's daughter Erisha, decide to learn about the elfstones and the Loden through the elven histories, and travel to the elven cemetary, Ashenell, to uncover more facts about the powers with which they are dealing. While there, the group faces terrible tragedy, incredible discoveries, and an understanding about the next step in their quest.
Last but not least, the reader finally learns of Hawk's powers, responsibilities, and goals as the encounter with the King of the Silver River fills in the details of the past as well as Hawk's destiny.
The Elves of Cintra (2007) ends with Angel Perez and her group discovering the Loden and its powers while dealing with the demons; Logan Tom and the Ghosts searching for Hawk; and Hawk, Tessa, and Cheney, along with Helen Rice and the rescued compound children with whom Hawk was joined making their way towards the Ghosts.
It's a highly enjoyable read that easily ties the loose-ends together, providing new excitement and new character development, and leading easily to the finale of the series. Like Armaggedon's Children, I plan on reading The Elves of Cintra at least one more time before the third volume of this series is released. I highly recommend this book.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bridge the gap, September 28, 2007
As is the case with so many titles that are the middle stretch in a trilogy, this book suffers from being highly anticipated with a sense of trepidation at the fact that even before reading it you already have a good sense of the outcome, at least in broad general terms. An author who writes knowing, essentially in advance, that they are producing a trilogy must accept that certain plot points cannot be resolved by the end of book two though some others must be drawn further out.
With that said, I am not diminishing this book at all. Terry Brooks does a solid job in carrying the story that bridges the gap between his trilogy about the Word and the Void and the huge sweeping epic which is the Shannara realm. We get to see the story started with Armageddon's Children carried forward, with a great deal more involvement from the elves. As a reader of this entire mythology, the links start to take shape with this book--how we get from the world in which we human beings live in to the world that is the basis for the many Shannara stories that Brooks has told us over the past thirty years.
But alas, it is the middle book. Sometimes the middle story is the best but usually it just does not have the same magic as the beginning or the end.
I still hesitate in trying to imagine the breadth that the final book will have to have to really meld the two different universes together. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, the questions that come to mind have to do with those creatures that have not shown their faces yet...in partcular dwarves, trolls, druids...etc. Now I am sure that it will all be sorted out (and perhaps Terry has in mind yet another trilogy that will slide in between the first Shannara books and this set to give us even further detail) but I hope that the last book is not crammed to the rafters with a lot of unsubtle "glue" to bind it all together. Another way of putting that would be this: he completes the story of Hawk, Kirisin, Angel, Logan, and all the others, and then spends thirty pages spilling out the next one hundred years...how the dwarves boil up from the earth, how new magic was formed, etc. in such a way that it is just crammed in there. I have faith that Terry Brooks will avoid something like that, but you never know.
The trilogy still has, in my mind, a lot of promise, but I also have high expectations for the third book and hope that it will do justice to the idea of bringing these two different worlds together as one. Until I have the chance to read that book in another year I honestly cannot judge this series effectively. As it stands, as a single novel, this book is solid. It moves the story along, keeps you interested in the characters, and you can start to see how everything is going to start coming together in the end.
I liked the book, despite the "middle" book issues that I already mentioned. It has certainly whetted my apetite for the final chapter in this trilogy.
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