The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara - Antrax (Hardcover)

by Terry Brooks (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Antrax is the second book in the Voyage of Jerle Shannara trilogy, part of an epic started by famed fantasy writer Terry Brooks more than two decades ago with The Sword of Shannara. In this installment, we join the Druid Walker Boh and his companions in the search for Antrax--a powerful and malevolent technological guardian. Walker believes Antrax's magic is potent enough to help restore the Druid council to the Four lands, a struggle that has consumed his life. But while the unlikely heroes journey in the Jerle Shannara across the Blue Divide to the city of Castledown, the Druid's archnemesis--the Ilse Witch--and her band of Mwellrets closely follow in an airship of their own. The race is on, and the prize is the power of Antrax. Meanwhile, Bek Rowe discovers that his destiny is inextricably linked with the Ilse Witch herself.

Mixing several subplots into the main story, Brooks cooks up a satisfying stew of fantasy with just a taste of science fiction. Brooks quickly reels the reader in with nonstop action, and, in classic style, leaves the reader yearning for the third and final installment, Morgawr. --Robert Leavengood

From Publishers Weekly
Continuing the saga begun in The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch (2000), bestseller Brooks opens this slick, lightweight fantasy with our band of heroes (Druids, elves, shape-shifters, Rovers, etc.) trapped on an island ruled by the evil artificial intelligence Antrax. Antrax has lured this disparate crew to its underground lair in order to use their assorted magics to expand its influence across the world of Shannara. The expedition's leader, the Druid Walker, wants to steal Antrax's ancient technology, but to gain it, he must engage in deadly combat with the machine. The treacherous seer, Ryer Ord Star, and the young, frightened elven prince, Ahren Elessedil, join the fight. Meanwhile, Bek Ohmsford, a prot‚g‚ of Walker's who's been left mostly in the dark about his own magical potential, must try to convince his sister, the dangerous Ilse Witch, that his version of their shared past is true, as he struggles to keep her from killing him or his friends. Also complicating the plot are the battles of the Rovers to reclaim the group's airship the only means for the adventurers to return home. Some emotionally painful encounters occur with former friends who have been enslaved by Antrax, turned into cyborgs and forced to do the nasty AI's bidding. Brooks's fans are sure to be pleased with this action-packed yarn, which neatly weaves the many plots and characters into a coherent whole. Those readers looking for more depth or less predictability are unlikely to have started on this series in the first place. 12-city author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books - Del Rey; 1st edition (September 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345397665
• ISBN-13: 978-0345397669
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,938 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupid cliffhangers!, June 30, 2002

By	Lydia Brodeur (Owosso, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

I've read the entire Shannara series since I was introduced to The Sword of Shannara two years ago, in high school. I read the last book in the series, Isle Witch, last year. Luckily for me, Antrax was released about a week after I finished it.
I just finished this book last night, and I cursed Terry Brooks and his evil, evil tendency to write cliffhangers. He gave me four or five different cruel cliffhangers to chew on, and I felt ready to destroy something! I HAVE to know how this ends!! I eagerly await the release of Morgawr in September.
The book was very absorbing, just like the rest of the Brook's books, and I found it very easy using my imagination to imagine the world they were in. That's the nice thing about Terry Brook's writing - he's so descriptive.
Long live the Sword of Shannara!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Better Than Ilse Witch, September 18, 2001

By	Alexander R. Small (Pomona, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was much less predictable than Ilse Witch. Although the map managed to give away a few key plot points I wasn't able to predict how it would end, and I was surprised many times. In Ilse Witch I was able to guess much of the plot after randomly leafing through and reading about 2 sentences near the end.

Brooks manages to keep several coherent story lines running, and he brings them together quite well. Although it still has the requisite moments of angst that are trademarks of Brooks post-Wishsong they were much less frequent than in previous books.

Also, without saying how it ends, this cliffhanger ending is a true cliffhanger. The beginning of Antrax was quite predictable given how Ilse Witch ended. This time I truly have no clue what will happen next with Walker, Grianne, and some other key characters. I have no clue what the Sword of Shannara is doing. I have no clue about the surprise visitors at the end of the book (it doesn't give much away to say that the Jerle Shannara encounters surprise visitors, since surprise encounters are the standard fare of fantasy).

Finally, post-apocalyptic sci-fi is all over this book. He's gone to the theme that he always hinted at but never developed in previous novels.

I was not let down this time. Hopefully Morgawr will not be anti-climactic.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terry Brook's best, December 2, 2002

By	Joseph L. Frankovitch "eternityshard" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Antrax (The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Antrax" had me completely spellbound throughout its entirety. I finished this book and quickly decided that it was by far the best in a long line of great novels by Terry Brooks. The character development is excellent; the plots are intriguing; and the twist are fascinating.

Even after finishing the third in the series, Morgawr, Antrax still gets my vote as Terry brooks best effort ever. Many criticize his Shannara novels for following similar plotlines every time, but a fantasy novel is a fantasy novel. And if you like fanatasy novels, then Antrax will most definitely sit prominently on your bookshelf.