The Wishsong of Shannara [Mass Market Paperback]

1. An ancient evil (quite a lot like something in Lord Of The Rings) threatens the lands. Choose from
a. Wraiths
b. Sorcerer Lord
c. Demon Army
2. Allanon the druid (who's a bit like Gandalf) seeks out a placid peacful living half-elf (a bit like a hobbit) descended from the line of the Ohmsford family (a bit like the Baggins family) in the quiet town of Shady Vale (which is kind of like The Shire).
3. He asks them to seek out something from the following list:
a. Sword
b. Mystic Fire
c. Book
4. 7 pages explain why Allanon is not to be trusted.
5. Despite the previous 7 pages, the Ohmsford decides to go on the perilous quest with the following:
a. No Map
b. No weapons (maybe, just maybe a small dagger that will
never get used)
c. Enough supplies for two meals on a seven day journey.
d. One or more companions (preferably descended from other
lines of families - Ellesedil, Leah etc)
6. They eat some stew, cheese nuts and berries.
7. They get into a scrape where only a one-legged blind leprechaun can save them from certain death.
8. A one-legged blind leprechaun shows up and saves them from certain death.
9. They eat some beef stew and some bread and cheese.
11. The Ohmsford gets into another scrape near the Silver River where they are facing certain death. The King Of The Silver River resuces them in a floaty white light.
12. Allanon disappears.
13. They eat a small meal of stew and cheese.
14. Allanon re-appears where they learn he has been withholding information and lying about the nature of the quest. Doh! If only they'd listened to:
a. Uncle Flick
b. Great Uncle Flick
c. Great Great Uncle Flick
16. Oops! Someone lost the Elfstones.
17. Phew! Someone found them again.
18. The adventurers eat a hearty meal of berries, nuts and cheese before facing some evil, and finding the artefact which is not quite what was expected.
19. There's a final conflict where Allanon does such a fantastic job of fighting off the evil armies/wraiths etc with blue fire that the whole quest starts to seem like a totally uneccessary waste of everyone's time.
20. Somebody from the quest group dies.
22. Peace is restored.
23. They celebrate witha hearty meal of cheese, nuts and berries.

However, copying the basic outline of your former plots is like making re-fried re-fried beans! (Yes, I meant to type re-fried twice!) The Ohmsford family is being called on AGAIN by, who else, the last Druid Allanon whom everyone still mistrusts, and AGAIN, they must go on a hopeless quest into the depths of the evil kingdom and AGAIN fight dark, hooded, evil creatures with only glowing points of light for eyes. It gets tiresome to do the same thing all over again with different characters!!! Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong, all are elven magic used to make something impossible happen. When one considers JUST the basic plot, one finds that all three books of the trilogy are IDENTICAL.

But, as I said, I did like this one the best. After rewriting his story three times, Brooks came up with some very original things! I mean, imagine being able to sing and make trees explode, poison rise from a dying body, and control a large cat! I also like that this book involves Brin and Jair, the children of Wil and Eretria. I didn't like how Elfstones jumped from Shea to his grandson, I was happy to see, at least briefly, some characters I was familiar with. Also, Allanon was not completely dark, angry and mistrusted this time. Brin felt a sort of kinship with him and he treated her very gently and kindly at times, there was an understanding between them I liked and for the first time I saw how Allanon's life must be very lonely and thankless. Plus, I liked the new characters better. Slanter, Helt and Garet Jax were more believable, trusting and they all worked together, there wasn't so much mistrust in this book. The characters were more multi-dimensional than ever before.

Brooks at this point was beginning to come into his own more as an author. His dialogue was better too. And, we can see Brooks' improvement throughout. For example, I liked the end of the Sword of Shannara better than the beginning, the beginning of Elfstones better than the end of Sword, the end of Elfstones better than the beginning, the beginning of Wishsong better than the end of Elfstones and the end of Wishsong better than the beginning!!! So, Brooks' improvement is visible. In fact, I'd say this book could almost stand alone without the preceding two.

There were moments of brilliance as well: "The past carries forward and becomes what is to be" as the King of Silver River said. I'm glad we finally got to meet him too. As I have said before, Brooks does have some good points, he tells that if people don't unite to destroy evil, the evil will overwhelm them and they cannot hide. This rings true even today. Also, this trilogy is full of the truth that if we do not change our dependence on chemicals, fuels and nuclear weapons and energy, we are doomed to fall into a near non-existence and lose everything and more we have gained.

Brooks is not an idiot, he definitely has some knowledge of the practical world. I'm going to keep reading his works, possibly start on the Heritage of Shannara or The Voyage of Jerle Shannara next. I believe those books will be better than this trilogy, I saw his improvement throughout this series and am sure he will continue to get better. I just hope he stops with the endless hopeless quests, it is a TOTALLY overused theme! But, don't give up on him yet!