Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks (Orbit Books)

Terry Brooks is an author who does not require any introduction of sorts. His books are widely read, and he is probably best known for his ‘Shannara’ series. He mainly writes books that one could define as ‘high fantasy’, however his latest series titled ‘The Genesis of Shannara’ can be described as dark urban fantasy novels. This latest series is also unique in another way, namely it bridges the apocalyptic Word/Void world with the Shannara world. Armageddon’s Children is the first of the Genesis of Shannara installments. Also, I should point out that this series will consist of three books, the second and upcoming novel titled ‘Elves of Cintra’. Now before we take a closer look at this effort by Brooks, I would like to point out that this the first Terry Brook novel that I have read. Thus I can state that I started reading without any real expectations or opinions about either the author or his works. I had no prejudice for that matter too. To me that’s always one of most exciting moments in reading, picking up a book of an author that is completely unknown to me, and just enter the world he created for you. So let us just to that.

As the books starts off, we are plunged in a post-apocalyptic world. The world as we (the readers) know it, has been covered with ash of the fallen. Whole cities are deserted, buildings collapsed, life is back to its basics, survival of the fittest. Even more, once-men (mutated humans) and pure-breed demons (the Void) populate the remnants. Most of the remaining sane population of the earth has locked itself up in so-called compounds in what appear to be the last bastions of civilization. These bastions are under continuous attack of demons. There are however still people living outside these compounds, most significantly Knights of the Word who have taken up the task to fight back the tide of evil that has swept over the United States. Two of the protagonists Logan Tom and Angel Perez are Knights of the Word. On the west coast, living in the city of Seattle, we also find a tribe of teens ‘the Ghosts’ who formed up in order to survive in the rough conditions. This tribe of children are the ‘Armageddon’s Children’ the title refers to. The leader of this tribe is Hawk, is gifted with exceptionally good hearing and survival instincts. Half way through the book in the woods of Oregon we also discover the hideout of the ancient Elves that inhabit this world, but just as the humans all around them their little, precious world is also in danger. Erisha, daughter of the Elven king and her cousin, Kirisin are charged with task of seeking an elf-stone in which they can transport their holy tree, the Ellcrys to a safer haven and to lead their people away from destruction.

Well, where to start? First off, the good. Terry Brooks has managed to pull off a good job in creating the setting as realistic as it is. This is partly because of the use of real place names, you can easily follow the route some of the characters travel and partly because of his eye for details. Brooks certainly took time to work the background for the story, every bit of surrounding feels pretty fleshed out. You can see Brooks feel at home writing in such setting and this is improving his prose in a way too. The choice of words he used while writing, was not particular difficult to understand but suits the novel nonetheless. Personally, his style is hard to define, it is kind of indiscernible, but pleasant to read. I found the concepts of the compounds and tribes of children living on the outside especially interesting ones, and at first a welcome change for all the high fantasy that I’ve read during the last few months.

Yet, when the time has come to steer the book and even the series in the general direction where Brooks wants it to go, things start to slide downhill. This leads us to the second part, the bad. As I said, things start to slide downhill, not so much in quality of the prose, it is pretty consistent overall, but mainly in characterization and originality. To say I was put off by the lack of characterization and originality in the novel, would be an understatement. I am pretty much convinced it ruined the whole novel, and since Brooks seems to be wiling to continue the story in linear fashion to the end, the series for me. The storyline it turns about the be, is your typical, overused and standard boy/hero saves mankind type of plot. And not once, but twice the same type of storyline! This lack of originality also shows through in the characterization, we have a Knight of the Word who does not seem to be able to come to terms with his past, we have a boy who appears to be quite normal, a street kid, but is of course much more than that. Demons, once-human all are evil, twisted beings and the stereotype. Even the humans who decided to live in their compounds, fearing the outside world, are all the same, with same sort of emotional reaction. All these characters that inhabit this world of Word and Void are exactly as lifeless as the world surrounding them. That is frustrating to read, after three hundred pages in I wanted to tear the hair out of my head purely because of this. But I have not finished yet, the worst has yet to come. The elves, featured in this book, were ripped off Tolkien’s in a shameless way. Terry Brooks did not even bother to describe them in a different way, they were just all blond, lean and when they move it seems like they are almost flying. Speaking of Tolkien, I did read some terrible description of a demon watching the destruction of a compound. He wore a gray cloak and was shadowed by a slouched-brimmed hat and Brooks actually managed to describe him as a Gandalf by looks, but added that the demon did not know about Middle-Earth and would not have cared for the One-Ring anyway. I think it was actually hilarious in a horrendous way, but it does illustrate the point I am trying to make. Also, the author was not afraid to use a Deus-ex-machina when a terrible event and tearjearking moment was taking place. The people who have read my Reaper’s Gale review can tell that I am not a big fan of the use of this ‘plot device’, and I think it should be avoided as much as possible. It certainly should not be used in dramatic event causing an anti-climax. What should not be used either, were the flashbacks or should I call them, the info dumps? The thing was, they were intended to serve as background for the characters, but only resulted in slowing down the pace of the story. They did not add any emotional depth to the character who was reliving the memories. In fact switching to tenses, as these flashbacks were written in present tense, was just tiresome.

In the end, after reading this book for about seven to ten hours, I am left feeling disappointed. Mostly because of the fact there is with the setting so much potential to develop the story in an unique way, but this potential is (sadly) just not executed in the right fashion. The lack of originality did nag me too. Therefore I can safely conclude that I will not pick up The Elves of Cintra, I just do not have any inclination to. I would rate this effort:

Four out of Ten