Angel Fire East (Word and the Void)

Brooks, Terry

4.11

13,380 ratings by Goodreads

9780375407062: Angel Fire East (Word and the Void)

ISBN 10: 0375407065 ISBN 13: 9780375407062

Publisher: Random House Audio, 1999

Read by Kate Burton
Three cassettes / 4 hours

When Running with the Demon appeared two years ago, it was recognized at once as a masterpiece in the making, a bold departure that promised to revitalize contemporary urban fantasy and showcase Terry Boorks's vast storytelling gifts as never before. The second book of the series, A Knight of the Word, raised expectations even higher. Now, in Angel Fire East, sure to be hailed as his most ambitious, most accomplished work yet, Terry Brooks brings his bestselling epic trilogy of good and evil to an unforgettable close.

As a Knight of the Word, John Ross has struggled against the tireless dark forces of the Void for twenty-five years. A rootless wanderer scarred as deeply by the magic he weilds as by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed in its service, Ross is driven by dreams that show the world reduced to blood and ashed by the Void and its minions. The grim future he dreams each night will come true unless he can stop them now, in the present. But for all his power, John Ross is only one man, while the demons he hunts--and which hunt him in turn--are legion.

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Review:

Angel Fire East marks the close of Terry Brooks's Nest Freemark-John Ross saga, which began with 1997's Running with the Demon. After a long layover in Seattle for the middle book, Knight of the Word, the fantasy-meets-modernity action returns to Nest's native Hopewell, where once again Nest and John must face off against the Void, this time in the form of ancient demon Findo Gask, who favors a black-clad evil preacher getup for his menacing needs.

Brooks's well-realized and likable cast from the previous books is back, from Nest (now 29) to Ross (haggard as ever) to Pick (still just a few inches tall) and even grown-up versions of Nest's childhood friends from Running, including Bennett, now a junkie with child. Of course, Findo Gask has assembled a creepy little Legion of Doom to harry these nice folks: a giant albino demon; a formless, flesh-eating ur'droch; and a knife-wielding Orphan-Annie-gone-bad named Penny Dreadful. And Angel Fire's main plot thread is even compelling: John Ross has caught a shape-changing, wild-magic creature of enormous power, a gypsy morph, that he and Nest must discover how to turn to the Word before Gask and his crew can capture it for the Void.

But as with Knight of the Word, wooden pacing and unconvincing transitions keep this tale from rising to the level of Brooks's previous masterworks, such as the excellent Shannara and Landover series. If you've read the first two books, it's certainly worth seeing off your old friends in Angel Fire East. But if you're--heaven forbid--new to Terry Brooks, check out his earlier work, or even his very capable novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. --Paul Hughes

From the Back Cover:

"Terry Brooks is one of a handful of fantasy writers whose work consistently meets the highest literary standards."
--Rocky Mountain News

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