Rating: 
Summary: Bic Disposable Rangers
Review: The first couple hundred pages of this novel are spent gathering characters that even once the journey is started, we barely feel we know. Sure, one of them might get turned into a human robot, but we hardly knew anything about the guy beforehand.Have you ever watched Star Trek and noticed that the security officers tend to get killed? The 20 or so elven rangers in this book keep getting picked off one by one in various mishaps because they are expendable, meaningless characters. If they are not needed, why are they there in the first place? I certainly got tired of the "They all got away from its grasping tentacles except one of the elven rangers. He didn't even have a chance to scream before he was ripped into pieces and the other members of the group didn't especially care." These rangers that die so easily are supposedly expert woodsmen and warriors while the same cannot be said of all the other members who make it out alive every time. The journey was terribly slow because each time they land on a new island, they wonder if there's any bad dudes there as if to keep me in suspense. Of course there's bad dudes there! Especially with all those extras to kill. The new Ohmsford character was *gasp* the standard issue boy scout goody goody kid. C'mon, just cause they share a common lineage doesn't mean they all have to be clones. One of the few redemptive qualities was the character of Truhls Rohk, whose mysteriousness intrigued me. I enjoyed his presence throughout the series. Oh, yes. There was an awful lot of talk about the mechanics of skyships. For some reason, even the best radian draw lines have a way of snapping ALL THE TIME. There were some parts where when I almost put this book down and only continued with the series at the recommendation of a friend. The other two books, especially Antrax, are much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: (NO SPOILERS SECTION)
I am torn at how to rate this book. The first 2/3 of this book was some of the most boring reading I have witnessed. The final 1/3 of this book was excellent. When that happens, how do you rate it? The plot is a quest for magic. There is no backdrop of a huge war of races ongoing. The world is generally a quiet place. A map and clues are found. The Druid Walker Boh decides to start a quest. He spends the first 2/3 of the book gathering members for the quest. That's right, the quest for the magic does not begin until after you've read some 250+ pages. The time spent on this preparation is extremely boring as little to no action occurs and the characters are not interesting enough to keep us engaged. The closest thing you get to excitement is when people are arguing over who should get to go on the journey and who should not. Yawn. It took me two months to get myself to soldier through the first two thirds of this book. I can't make this point enough: NOTHING happens. And the fact of the matter is, you don't even know what the magical treasure is. It is not revealed by Walker or anyone else. Not much to help keep you going there. The group is finally convened and they strike out on an airship. If you are a Shannara purist you may bristle at the thought of the adventurers on an airship. There's also some content that is more sci-fi and less Shannara fantasy. Be fair warned. Finally I crested the wave of boredom and came to the final 1/3. This last third of the book took me two days to read. The excitement is more intense and involves the characters more personally. They are fighting to protect other members they care about, while others are fighting to find the truth about themselves. The quest for the truth of oneself is typical fare in Shannara, but it is what we love and the reason we return to these books. Brooks handles "the truth of oneself" with master's hands as he always does. Some of the elements you love from past books will make reappearances (spoilers are below but not in this section of my review). As always, the Druid knows many of the answers but shares few. In this story, the main character seizes his destiny by taking action to seek the truth. I like this approach instead of waiting patiently for the Druid to unfold everything. The friction between the Druid and the one he would keep ignorant is compelling. One last caveat I have for you is: this book has a cliffhanger ending. Nothing is resolved and the action is frozen in time for the next book. If you're looking to read this book as a stand alone, you may be disappointed. For those looking to continue on in the series, this finale does a fair job of making you want to continue on to the next book, called Antrax. So in summary, I liked:
+ the challenges facing the characters in the last 1/3 of the book are really engaging
+ the quest tilts to become a quest for "the truth in oneself" and is something we all love about the Shannara stories, and it is well done here. I disliked:
- the first 2/3 of the book! You could literally start reading on page 300 and not miss anything.
- with no ongoing war of the races, the world seems a pretty boring place
- the characters are not interesting enough to make you read 300 pages of preparation for the quest
- some may dislike the inclusion of sci-fi fare like airships and metal robots My recommendation: Fans should read it, those new to Shannara should start elsewhere (Sword of... or Scions of...),and everyone should skip the first 300 pages! (SPOILERS BELOW!) I write these reviews mostly to myself as a journal of what I have read. That being the case, I will need to review the cliffhanger ending before reading Antrax. The questions at the forefront are these: What will happen as Bek and Grianne face-off for the first time as adult brother and sister? Will the Sword of Shannara come out?
What of the Jerle Shannara ship and its occupants as they drift towards the crushing jaws of the Squirm?
Walker forced his way into the Obelisk, which seems to be a computer control room, but then he was swallowed by a trap door. What is his fate?
What of the romance between Bek and Little Red?
I really like the concept that the Castledown setting is an ancient and extinct civilization, yet it is similar to the one we live in today. It is a battle between the technology of today and the magic of the barren future (faerie past?). What sorts of "truths" will we learn about the Castledown civilization, and could they apply to our civilization today?
Rating: 
Summary: Lost the magic.
Review: I have been reading the Shannara books since I was 12. Having read the latest offering all I can say is that it is probably about time for Terry Brooks to retire. The story is old, the characters have been done. Let us remember you for the great author you once were, instead of the hack you have become.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as Good
Review: The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Ilse Witch being the first, is not nearly as good as Brooks' previous Shannara books. The characters are one dimensional at best, the story badly plotted, and there is very little about the "voyage" that makes one want to invest time and energy into the story. If you're a die-hard Shannara fan, then buy and read them; otherwise, check them out from your local library.
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