Rating: 
Summary: a little too plodding
Review: First off, this is a good story overall. However, if you look at a high level to determine what happened, you find that the tale could have been better told in a more direct and less plodding manner. As I read through it, I discovered that Mr. Brooks essentially repeated the same descriptions and sentiments multiple times while the story was in Eldwhist. I felt that the added description just for description's sake did nothing to further the plot or enhance the characters development. That being said I still recommend this book. The Heritage of Shannara series is better than the original trilogy and you will not be disappointed if you read them all. You have to read this book to understand what goes on later on.
Rating:
Summary: Good but predictable
Review: When taken on it's own, this book is a revised retelling of the Elfstones of Shannara. The same overall motivations and plot events occur and there is roughly the same event. At times, Terry Brooks seems lost in the plot events. Adding characters late in the story, then wrapping up their parts of the story much too quickly. It was almost as if he wrote himself into a corner and looked for a quick way out. When put into the context of the entire Heritage of Shannara story, this was great. Too big to be just a few chapters and too small to be a stand alone story; this book fits nicely into the overall conspiracy of the Shadowen and the Heritage of Shannara story. Overall, I would say the Heritage stories are a more polished and entertaining version of the original Shannara trilogy. They are fast moving and exciting with none of the long winded intorspective tangents of the original books.
Rating:
Summary: The Impact of Nature
Review: All the Shannara books are good reads and very entertaining, but this is one of, if not my favorite. The story of Walker Boh has so many dark nuances, so much internal conflict, that to read it is almost refreshing. The story isn't simple, there isn't just a hero, there is confusion and anger and irony. It truly is a great book, and as always, Brooks has created an almost tangible world for the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book, can't put it down
Review: Come on people the book is incredible. it leaves just enough to your imagination to captivate you and make it hard to stop reading. the storyline is great, twists and turns many. albeit predictable sometimes but not always. He's constructed a written world in which the characters of the story are not the only players - the world goes on outside the focus of the story and you see it happening as you go along. certain people that enter and leave the story before you realize they were probably a very complex being. overall i think the book had great depth and i think some have underrated it.
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