What do You think about Armageddon's Children (2006)?
Dopo due trilogie di davvero basso profilo, Terry Brooks risolleva in maniera decisa l'infinita saga di Shannara con questo nuovo romanzo che si pone a cavallo tra gli eventi relativi alla "trilogia del Verbo e del Vuoto" e la nascita del mondo di Shannara. In un mondo desolato e devastato dall'inquinamento e dell'incoscienza umana, sopravvivono gli ultimi Cavaliere del Verbo, oltre che sparuti gruppi umani rinchiusi in fortezze ben difese, in continua lotta con demoni ed ex-umani, ormai padroni dell'intera Terra. In mezzo tutto questo sfacelo, Brooks ci conduce verso la sofferta nascita del mondo di Shannara, una sorta di reset del mondo attuale, avviato in maniera tale da riportare in equilibro il continuo scontro tra il verbo ed il vuoto. In questo primo libro conosciamo i due ultimi cavalieri rimasti, Logan Tom e Angela Perez, incaricati di compiere alcune missioni delicate, la piccola banda degli Spettri, giovani adolescenti che si sono ricostruiti una loro vita nella decadente Seattle, oltre che a vecchie conoscenze quali Findo Gask e Due Orsi. Un buon libro che ho divorato in una sola settimana, e che spero vivamente che Brooks non rovini trasformandolo nel classico gioco dell'oca, che tanto ha rovinato diversi dei suoi precedenti libri.
—Karmakosmik
Having never read Terry Brooks before, I was not sure what to expect from this book. It begins in a post apocolyptic world, where humans are shutting themselves into compounds to save themselves from a world run amok by demons, mutants, and something called once-men, who seek only to destroy and follow orders from the demons not caring if they live or die. The book follows three separate people with the promise that they will all be brought together. (However, they are not, you got to go to the next book I guess.) Two of them are called Knights of the Word, a mystic order following the "Lady" to try to save humanity. The third is a boy named Hawk, probably somewhere in his teens, who is the leader of a bunch of street kids who call themselves Ghosts. I enjoyed the character development, sometimes told in flashbacks, and the pacing is steady. My only disappointment is its cliffhanger ending. The bookjacket sounded like this would be a stand alone type of read- even recommending it for someone who has never read Terry Brooks before, but I guess all fantasy novelists write in trilogies (and then some.) There is also a trilogy that is obviously a prequel to this book, mentioning the Knights of the Word and Hawk's mother, Nest Freemark. It does make sense even if you aren't familiar with any of Brooks' works, but I really don't want to have to read 3 or more books to get to the end of a story. So that is probably why I rated it four stars instead of five.
—Andrea Yargeau
This is the book that finally links the Word and the Void series with the Shannara books and WOW does it do it in style. The book is about a post apocalyptic world where the demons have won and mankind is splintered into groups of survivors that seem only to be awaiting their own end. The Bearers of the Black staff here, Knights of the Word, are Logan Tom and Angel Perez, and for this book they follow separate roads which take them to different places. The book's main characters, however, are a bunch of street kids, and these too are well rounded out and very realistic people. 5 stars does not cover how highly I recommend this book
—Simon
