This second book in Terry Brook's Sword of Shannara series is really enjoyable. The content of the story is great; however, I feel that the story telling is at times poor. The beginning of the book is really good, but once you get about 3/4ths of the way through the author begins to 'fill pages' in order to create a longer novel. This is mostly accomplished through redundant phrases or long explanations that could easily be left out of the story. Although this book has its rough spots, due to the dragging on effect of page-filing, I think it deserves 4 out of 5 stars since the story behind the book is so great. I am looking forward to seeing what Terry Brooks has to offer in the last installment of this series.