Running With the Demon (The Word and the Void Trilogy, Book 1)

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Summary: Running with the Demon is The Stand Lite
Review: Brooks has made an industry out of borrowing others: first Tolkien and now Stephen King. Basically, Demon is The Stand Lite (it's got the Walking Man demon and unwilling knightly hero and manipulated villains and the threat of a post-apocalyptic age of darkness and pseudo-religious overtones). The writing is competent, the characters are cardboard (except for the well-crafted Gran), the story is flat and predictable. Good v evil is sooooo very tired. The teenagers are laughable. Brooks, how many teenagers do you know who talk like these stiffs? Give it a pass.

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Summary: Terry Brooks never fails to enchant !
Review: Terry Brooks has outdone himself with this latest book "Running with the Demon - A Novel of Good and Evil"
Nest's magic abilities, inherited from her mother and Gran, are awesome to see. Her relationship with Pick, the sylvan, and Wraith, the wolf/dog/magic protector, is complex and wonderful to behold.
The style reminds me very much of Robert R. McKammon's works. Terry Brooks remains my very favorite author!
This review refers to the hardcover copy of the book.

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Summary: A MUST READ
Review: Man, this one kept me up all night. I'm a big fan of the author, and I leaped out of my seat as soon as I heard his new book was out. THIS BOOK SIMPLY RULES! I'd recommend it to everybody.

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Summary: Been There-Done That
Review: Is it that difficult to break the mold?? Well, it shouldn't be. Sorry, but I get angry when an author assumes that the audience is so dim witted as to not recognize the same basic story over and over and over again. I think I must be dim witted though, because I bought this book and now I have Mr. Brooks and many of his compatriots to blame for my condition!

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Summary: A well-written yarn
Review: This novel has many of the same elements as past Brooks' books and is very well written. The characters are intriguing, and the plot is well thought out. However, the novel does not deliver many surprises. It had many dark elements that made it standout from his other novels, but he didn't go totally through with it. After Brooks got me engrossed in the novel, I was hoping it would continue to have a dark plotline and ending. I believe that Brooks did not want to scare off his readers in his first book that is not a Shannara or a Landover novel. I expect his next novel to be even darker with more surprises. Brooks is just getting warmed up

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Summary: A great new mythos
Review: Brook's portraits of his characters here are superb. Especially wonderfully drawn is the Knight, which shatters any other book's misconceptions about who and what a Knight could be. Wonderful

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Summary: Terry Brooks is amazing
Review: Without a doubt, this is the best writing that Terry Brooks has done. While keeping his familiar themes intact, he takes them to new levels in this book. The small town and its wonderful cast of characters make this a great reading experience. You feel like Nest and the others are real people. My only nitpick is I wanted their to be less dark fantasy elements and more passages about the characters. If you are thinking about reading this book, I recommend it highly, whether you have read Terry Brooks before or not. I would easily rank this with Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Thanks, Mr. Brooks, for surprising me with another great reading experience

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Summary: New, yet familiar novel
Review: Upon learning that the new Terry Brooks novel was not about Shannara or Landover, I had certain doubts. Then I started reading it. I commend Brooks wholeheartedly for starting out on a new venture and using contemporary America as a setting. Although I love fantasy, it is sometimes difficult to embrace an entirely fiction world. Not so with Running with the Demon. These characters are ones we know, and perhaps even us. The inclusion of Pick, Wraith, John Ross, the feeders, the maentwrog, and the demon, give just enough fantasy for us who have grown with Brooks ever since the first Shannara came out.

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Summary: Love to hear more feedback on the new Terry Brooks
Review: RUNNING WITH THE DEMON is Terry Brooks' most ambitious novel since SWORD OF SHANNARA and his attempt to bring new fans into the fantasy genre. I'm very curious to know what you think of it so please post your comments here at Amazon.com, I'll be checking in daily. Finally, look at this space for an interview w/t Terry Brooks on Amazon.com! Kuo-Yu Liang Associate Publisher, Del Rey

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Summary: This book got me started in Urban Fantasy
Review: I was a devoted Shannara fan seeing Brooks for the first time when he was publicizing "Running with the Demon" at Powells Books. I got a signed copy, of course, but told him urban fantasy was not my bag.

Brooks told me, "Just keep the book. You'll need it eventually."

He was right. One night, I needed something different and there was "Running with the Demon."

Nest Freemark, one of the two protagonists, is a teenager. She spends her free time with companion Pick, trying to avoid the Demon and Feeders that inhabit Sinnissippi Park. John Ross is a Knight of the Word drawn to Hopewell to combat Evil.

As the plot unfolds, we discover that the Demon has influenced one of Nest's classmates to harass her and also some irritated steelworkers to set off a bomb at a July 4 picnic. Plotting is smart-paced as Freemark and Ross fight to figure out what's happening and stop it.

Great tale--you will find it hard to put down.