Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks

 

(hb; 1999: third book in Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy)

 

From the inside flap

“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 wields as by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed in its service. Ross is driven by dreams that show the world reduced to blood and ashes by the Void and its minions. The grim futures 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 he hunts—and which hunt him in turn—are legion.

“Then Ross learns of the birth of a gypsy morph, a rare and dangerous creature formed of wild magics spontaneously knit together. If he can discover its secret, the morph will be an invaluable weapon against the Void. But the Void, too, knows the value of the morph, and will not rest until the creature has been corrupted—or destroyed.

“Desperate, Ross returns to the town of Hopewell, Illinois, home of Nest Freemark, a young woman with magical abilities of her own. Twice before, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the lives of Ross and Nest have intersected. Together, they have prevailed. But now they face an ancient evil beyond anything they have ever encountered, for a demon of ruthless intelligence and feral cunning awaits them in Hopewell. As a firestorm of good and evil erupts, threatening to consume lives and shatter dreams, Ross and Nest have but a single chance go solve the mystery of the gypsy morph—and of their own profound connection.”

 

Review

John Ross’s and Nest Freemark’s supernatural conflict with Void/demon forces reunites them in Nest’s hometown (Hopewell, Illinois) where they, along with their friends, battle the most powerful evil force they’ve confronted: the leather book-bearing Findo Gask, as well his demonic, sabotage-minded hit team (the ink-flow ur’droch, the “giant albino” Twitch, and the impatient, anarchic and sly Penny). All the qualities and characters that endeared readers to the first two Word & Void novels are likely to charm and deliciously vex them again, another worth-purchasing book from Brooks.

A Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks

 

(hb; 1998: second book in Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy)

 

From the inside flap

“In the eleventh century the Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr was chosen to combat the demonic evil of the Void and disappeared from history to fulfill that mission. Armed with powerful magic, Glyndwr became a Knight of the Word—a draining and demanding legacy passed on eight centuries later to John Ross, a professor of English literature on tour in Wales.

“In accepting the black runestaff that channeled the magic of the Word, John Ross accepted a solemn trust—and an awful burden. Each night he dreams of hellish futures wrought upon the world by the Void. And each dream is of a future that will come to pass unless Ross prevents it in the present. Crippled in body and soul by the searing magic he wields and the horrors he dreams, sustained only by his faith in the goodness of the Word. Ross drifts across America, a modern-day knight errant in search of the agents of the Void.

“Then an unspeakable act of violence shatters his weary beliefs. Haunted by guilt, Ross turns his back on the Word. With the help of beautiful Stefanie Winslow, Ross slowly builds a new life—a life whose only magic lies in Stefanie’s healing love.

“But a fallen knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, and merciless demons soon stalk Ross and those close to him. His only hope is young Nest Freemark, who wields powerful magic all her own. Five years earlier, Ross had aided Nest when the future of humanity rested upon the choice she would make between Word and Void. Now Nest must return the favor. She must restore Ross’s faith, or his life—and her own—will be forfeit.”

 

Review

Five years after the events of Running with the Demon, a reluctant, emotionally ruptured John Ross and Nest Freemark (now nineteen years old) confront an elusive demon whose presence threaten not only Ross’s fragile sense of peace but the world at large—in short, same fight, life-altered characters, different demon and locale. Seattle, Washington—author Brooks’s real-life home city—is lovingly (to a fault) described so much it should be labeled more character than location.

That said, Knight has all the qualities and reader-gripping flow of Running: a grab-you-from-the-get-go tone and fast-and-vividly-described flow that effectively matures its struggling protagonists (Ross, Freemark) while expanding—a little bit—their world,  now in urban surroundings, further setting Knight apart from Running’s rural events. Anyone who’s read this sort of book might easily spot who the demon is, but it doesn’t ruin the nightmare-driven and heartfelt ride.

Another great read, this, from Brooks, one worth purchasing. Followed by the final book in the trilogy, Angel Fire East.

Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

 

(hb; 1997: first novel in Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy, which, according to Wikipedia,  “precedes the action in [Brooks’s] Genesis of Shannara trilogy and serves as the start of Shannara saga”)

 

From the inside flap

“On the hottest Fourth of July weekend in decades, two men have come to Hopewell, Illinois, site of a lengthy, bitter steel strike. One is a demon, dark servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to attain a terrible secret goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word, a man who, while he sleeps, lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its course on waking. Ross has been given the ability to see the future. But does he have the power to change it?

“At stake is the soul of a fourteen-year-old girl mysteriously linked to both men. And the lives of the people of Hopewell. And the future of the country. This Fourth of July, while friends and families picnic in Sinnissippi Park and fireworks explode in celebration of freedom and independence, the fate of Humanity will be decided.”

 

Review

Demon is an immediately immersive, deft and character-intriguing rural/real-world fantasy with horror-ish and Americana elements thrown into its heady, swift-paced and cinematic-vivid mix, a read that fans of Clive Barker, Stephen King (albeit King with better editing) and other writers of that ilk may well thrill to—worth owning, this, and a prequel to Brooks’s second Word & Void trilogy, A Knight of the Word.