A review by a_ghostintheroom
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks

4.0

I don't often read adult fiction, but I decided to give this a go since MTV made this into a show I found myself really enjoying that. The book, however, was wholly different (unsurprisingly) in a lot of plot lines even though Terry Brooks himself helped produce the show. I initially had trouble reading this, as I'm used to the quick-paced way YA is written but I got used to his slow cantor and extremely detailed style. His fantasy world was well formed and with the maps (I love maps!) I could picture the heroes as they moved through the westlands. My biggest disappointment was in Brooks inability to write a female character. Both Amberle and Eretria were flat and unrelatable. After Amberle sacrifices herself, Wil basically takes Eretria home with him because, well, the other one is essentially dead, so.... Strangely enough it was MTV's strong female development that had encouraged me to try to read this in the first place, so it mostly ruined my reading experience to not have Eretria kicking so much ass or Amberle having close to zero interaction with Eretria when MTV had put them in one-on-one scenarios that showed sides of them they couldn't have depicted with Wil in the picture. So, my once in a blue moon opinion is the show was better, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but MTV did it right by the female characters. It should be said though, I did really enjoy the book, Terry Brooks is a great writer and had I not been expecting Eretria to dupe Wil over and over, or for Eretria to be used as the key for the blood fire (thereby making her character valid in a way Brooks failed to do) I would have possibly called this a five-star review.