"The Elfstones of Shannara" is one of the strongest Shannara books. It isn't my favorite - that title has to go to "The Wishsong of Shannara." Nor is it, in my view, the best. That title has to go to...well, it's hard to say...I'm leaning toward "Straken"? I'm not sure... In any event, the version of "The Elfstones of Shannara" that I read had a forward that noted that this was Terry Brooks' personal favorite. That's interesting to note.
A slightly crummy TV series was made based on "The Elfstones of Shannara," which I have watched and enjoyed some despite myself. I believe this was my third read of the book....my first read was a long, long time ago when I was quite young. My second was perhaps ten to fifteen years ago. And I had some content refreshers from the TV series to the extent they weren't inconsistent with one another. There was much that I remembered, but it was still pretty fresh and there were some scenes that I didn't recall until I was reading them again. Fun times.
"The Elfstones of Shannara" is about a small group of folks trying to defend against the death of a magical tree called the Ellcrys. The tree enforced a barrier segregating demons from the natural world. As the tree dies, demons begin to break through. Some of them are pretty fun to read about and they have a decent amount of variety even if much of the hordes are left to the reader's imagination. I think that approach works well. Wil Ohmsford is the main character, and he is entrusted with protecting Amberle Elessedil, the last surviving Chosen who can restore the Ellcrys to its proper state. Allanon, the last surviving druid who starred in "The Sword of Shannara," along with the elven king, Eventine Elessidil, both make impactful returns. Flick Ohmsford does as well, though not with as much impact to the storyline as the other two.
Stee Jans, the leader of the Free Corps, the soldiers that Callahorn provided to help the elves as an almost token gesture, was an amazing commander and character. His truthfulness is disarming. I liked him tremendously.
Ander Elessedil, I feel, somewhat steals the show when it comes to the direct conflict between the elves and the demons, though. He was a character that I understand was added to, or at least had his role enhanced in, later iterations of the drafts of the book, as much to improve the storytelling quality of the novel as for any other reason. But Ander is both memorable and moves the story forward significantly. Ander had tensions with his brother, Arion, which are tragic but understandable as the latter was the eldest and the favorite of Eventine. Ander also finds he has enormous shoes to fill when Eventine is grievously injured, and Ander has to assume command. He has Allanon's support, which helped, but ultimately, Ander had to step up and fill those shoes himself. He did so well, though, and it's a joy to read.
Near the end of the book, Wil and Amberle encounter Perk, a Sky Elf and soon-to-be Wing Rider who offers to return them to Arborlon by air, where the Ellcrys was dying, once they have finished their quest. Later, Eretria, a Rover, joins Wil and Amberle along with others and the three of them travel to Arborlon with Perk with the seed ready to restore the Ellcrys. They were down to hours, most likely, before the annihilation of the elven forces at Arborlon when the Ellcrys was restored. This was one of the only things about the plot that bothered me, honestly. Allanon knew about the process for restoring the Ellcrys, knew where they needed to take the seed to prepare it for the restoration, and knew the costs involved in doing so...specifically, Amberle would have to give up her life to become the Ellcrys. If the chance encounter with Perk hadn't happened, there is no way that the elves wouldn't have been annihilated. They had too far to walk. Perhaps Allanon had misjudged the rapidity of the failure of the Forbidding, the barrier preventing the demons from entering the world? It seems reckless, even, for Allanon to send them on a quest that relied on a chance encounter for it to be successful.
It bothers me just a tad, but not so much that it takes away from the epic awesomeness of the book. It's wonderful and packs a powerful fantasy punch. I was glad to read it again. Ander resonated with me much more strongly than I recall he did last time I read it. Stee Jans as well. I liked all of the characters, even the ones that don't behave very likeably, and that's, in my opinion, a hallmark characteristic of a well written novel.
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