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The Genesis of Shannara, Book 1
by Terry Brooks
Book Reviewed by:Set in a near-future United States ravaged by nuclear fallout, widespread plagues, and chemical contamination, Armageddon's Children follows a handful of unlikely heroes as they struggle to survive in a poisoned world infested by demons, insane "once-men," and other mutant creatures too horrific to describe.
Terry Brooks is one of a handful of writers whose work defines modern fantasy fiction. His twenty-three international bestsellers have ranged from the beloved Shannara series to stories that tread a much darker path. Armageddon’s Children is a new creation–the perfect opportunity for readers unfamiliar with Brooks’s previous work to experience an author at the height of his considerable storytelling powers. It is a gripping chronicle of a once-familiar world now spun shockingly out of control, in which an extraordinary few struggle to salvage hope in the face of terrifying chaos.
Logan Tom is doomed to remember the past and determined to rescue the future. Far behind him lies a boyhood cut violently short by his family’s slaughter, when the forces of madness and hate swept our world after decadent excesses led to civilization’s downfall. Somewhere ahead of him rests the only chance to beat back the minions of evil that are systematically killing and enslaving the last remnants of humanity. Navigating the scarred and poisoned landscape that once was America and guided by a powerful talisman, Logan has sworn an oath to seek out a remarkable being born of magic, possessed of untold abilities, and destined to lead the final fight against darkness.
Across the country, Angel Perez, herself a survivor of the malevolent, death-dealing forces combing the land, has also been chosen for an uncanny mission in the name of her ruined world’s salvation. From the devastated streets of Los Angeles, she will journey to find a place – and a people – shrouded in mystery, celebrated in legend, and vital to the cause of humankind . . . even as a relentless foe follows close behind, bent on her extermination. While in the nearly forsaken city of Seattle, a makeshift family of refugees has carved out a tenuous existence among the street gangs, mutants, and marauders fighting to stay alive against mounting odds–and something unspeakable that has come from the shadows in search of prey.
In time, all their paths will cross. Their common purpose will draw them together. Their courage and convictions will be tested and their fates will be decided, as their singular crusade begins: to take back, or lose forever, the only world they have.
In Armageddon’s Children, Brooks brings his gifts as a mythmaker to the timeless theme of the unending, essential conflict between darkness and light–and carries his unique imaginative vision to a stunning new level. Prepare for a breathtaking tour de force. To those who are new to Terry Brooks, welcome. And to those who have read him for many years: prepare for a dramatic surprise.
One
He is fast asleep in his bed on the night that the demon and the once-men
come for his family. They have been watching the compound for days, studying its
walls and the routine of the guards who ward them. They have waited patiently
for their chance, and now it has arrived. An advance party is over the walls and
past the guards. They have opened the gates from the inside to let in the
others, and now all are pouring into the compound. In less than five minutes,
everything has been lost.
He doesn’t realize this when his father shakes him awake, but he knows
something is wrong.
“Logan, get up.” Urgency and fear are apparent in his father’s voice.
Logan blinks against the beam of the flashlight his father holds, one of two
they still possess. He sees his brother dressing across the way, pulling on his
shirt and pants, moving quickly, anxiously. Tyler isn’t griping, isn’t saying
anything, doesn’t even look over at him.
...
The first part of this first in a new series offers a refreshing and challenging new look at a post-apocalyptic world, vividly realized and frighteningly plausible. However as the book moves into the second half Brooks's imagination seems to falter and the book teeters dangerously close to becoming formulaic. However, overall Armageddon's Children is an exciting read that few sci-fi aficionados will want to miss...continued
Full Review
(589 words)
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Terry Brooks was born in Illinois in 1944, where he spent a great deal of his
childhood and early adulthood dreaming up stories in and around Sinnissippi
Park, the very same park that would eventually become the setting for his
bestselling Word & Void trilogy. He went to college and received his
undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, where he majored in English
Literature, and he received his graduate degree from the School of Law at
Washington & Lee University.
A writer since high school, he wrote many stories within the genres of science
fiction, westerns, and non-fiction, until one semester early in his college
years he was given The Lord of the Rings to read. That moment changed
Terry's writing career forever,...
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