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fogisbeautiful's review
4.0
The end of this book felt... unfinished, especially where Ahren and the Elfstones are concerned. This is unusual in my experience of Terry Brooks. I'm anxious to read the next series and see if any of my lingering questions are answered.
lazylys's review against another edition
1.0
Brooks inizia la sua avventura da scrittore copiando platealmente Tolkien e finisce con il copiare se stesso.
Questa trilogia è di quanto peggio da lui scritto che io abbia letto finora.
Tutto si ripete uguale alle prime saghe, stessi nomi, stessi personaggi, stessi trucchi narrativi. In tre libri non c'è nulla di veramente originale e che faccia risvegliare, seppure per un solo attimo, l'attenzione.
Questa trilogia è di quanto peggio da lui scritto che io abbia letto finora.
Tutto si ripete uguale alle prime saghe, stessi nomi, stessi personaggi, stessi trucchi narrativi. In tre libri non c'è nulla di veramente originale e che faccia risvegliare, seppure per un solo attimo, l'attenzione.
hannas_heas47's review
5.0
Final. Finished. What a long ass journey. Even I feel aged by the end of it. Many did not survive, and the books give way to other series in the end. Grianne and Bek really are the heart of this journey, and I was so saddened by the end that I was crying. So for what it's worth the series ended well.
gmvader's review
1.0
There are, in my admittedly limited view of things, four kinds of Western fantasy (disregarding the urban fantasy genre that is so popular lately, I see that as just an extension of the faerie stories that every culture throughout history has created). The four kinds that I am talking about are all Tolkien derivative. None of them is like Tolkien's work but they draw inspiration from it.
There are the fantasy histories like Kate Eliot and Steven Erikson. There are the fantasy journeys like David Eddings, Tad Williams, and Robert Jordan. David Farland and Brandon Sanderson write fantasy that pays homage to Tolkien's work but don't fit an obvious mold.
The fourth is what I call Tolkien fan fiction. These are the books by authors who lacked the ability to create their own worlds and stories so they borrowed them. Sometimes this works okay (Weis and Hickman) because of interesting characters. Sometimes it doesn't work at all (Paolini, Goodkind) because it is lifted whole from other works.
Terry Brooks belongs to the fourth group, mostly.
When I was younger I loved Terry Brooks. I read every one of his novels that I could get my hands on, as many as sixteen of his books. Something changed, either me or him, I don't know which, probably both.
Perhaps I have read too many books by better authors. Maybe I've studied to much about writing.
Whatever the reason I find it hard to get through any of Terry Brooks novels in a timely manner.
Morgawr is the third book of a trilogy called The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara. The first too books I found horribly tedious and only finished them because I was assured that this third volume was significantly better.
It was, but that isn't saying much.
The story focuses on a group of characters who have survived a horrible attack by some kind of ancient computer that happens to use magic as its power source. Despite the improbability of it being able to do ... any of the things it does... it manages to kill off most of the side characters so that the third book can be more focused.
The Ilse Witch, Grianne Ohmsford, has touched the Sword of Shannara which revealed to her the truth about her past. Unable to deal with the bad things she's done she goes semi comatose – she walks around when led but otherwise she is completely unresponsive.
Because of her former nature everybody pretty much wants her dead, except her long lost brother Bek Ohmsford. Her old master, the Morgawr, is among those who wants to kill her, along with everybody else – because he's evil and his friends are lizards.
People fall in love, friends die, shapeshifters never ever change shape and Grianne stares blankly in front of her, all with almost no emotional impact. None of the characters seem different at all. In fact they don't really feel like characters so much as puppets placed in situations so that things can happen to them.
Terry Brooks has, apparently, never heard the old adage 'show, don't tell'. If you want us to believe that a characters is suffering from the effects of PTSD, don't tell us, show us. The story is so consumed with navel gazing and introspective passages explaining that this characters has this emotional turmoil – no really, he does – that the story itself probably takes up a third of the pages.
The writing is also difficult to read because Terry Brooks is quite fond of the passive voice. Every sentence is written in passive voice. The effect of this is that everything feels like events happening to characters rather than characters participating in events.
Terry Brooks has been writing in this world for over thirty years. I expected somebody with that much experience to think things out more clearly. His monsters are all huge and have lots of teeth and razor sharp claws. Or they are given ambiguous names that mean nothing. Magic has no description whatsoever. Magic users 'lash out' and 'strike' and 'trace down lines of power' without any indication what any of that means. Elves are just humans with pointed ears. They don't have any different culture, or different views. They don't live longer than humans or think differently, they only exist because Tolkien had elves in his books. (Never mind that Tolkiens elves are immortal and kind of creepy and alien and arrogant and different. Immortality changes ones views.) Dwarves are all grumpy and use axes in battle. Shapeshifters are prevalent but they never bother to change shape – maybe there were budget cuts in the special effects department. Anything that looks reptilian is evil, always.
Grianne Ohmsford spends six months in a catatonic state and never in all that time has to be fed, given water, changed or bathed. She actually sits in a chair all that time and when she does finally wake up she gets up and goes out to do battle with no stiff muscles or signs of atrophy from six months sitting in a chair. Maybe it was the lack of food that kept her fit.
Some characters survive simply because they happened to have hidden things previously that the reader was never told about (Redden Alt Mer just happened to have a single wing glider stowed on his old air ship) or just by plain design from the author (Quentin Leah 'swims' with the rock fall and comes out with only bumps and bruises, while a big animal falls on him later and nearly kills him – so that Grianne and Bek can be the heroes in the end – Quentin was obviously too capable).
Terry Brooks still sells a lot of books so there must be something that somebody likes in his writing. A lot of somebodies, apparently. I, however, have given him an honest try. The last four of his books that I read I had to force myself to get through. I enjoy my Calculus books more than these.
Whether I have changed as a reader or Terry Brooks has changed as a writer I just can't punish myself with this any longer. I am through with Terry Brooks.
(1/10)
There are the fantasy histories like Kate Eliot and Steven Erikson. There are the fantasy journeys like David Eddings, Tad Williams, and Robert Jordan. David Farland and Brandon Sanderson write fantasy that pays homage to Tolkien's work but don't fit an obvious mold.
The fourth is what I call Tolkien fan fiction. These are the books by authors who lacked the ability to create their own worlds and stories so they borrowed them. Sometimes this works okay (Weis and Hickman) because of interesting characters. Sometimes it doesn't work at all (Paolini, Goodkind) because it is lifted whole from other works.
Terry Brooks belongs to the fourth group, mostly.
When I was younger I loved Terry Brooks. I read every one of his novels that I could get my hands on, as many as sixteen of his books. Something changed, either me or him, I don't know which, probably both.
Perhaps I have read too many books by better authors. Maybe I've studied to much about writing.
Whatever the reason I find it hard to get through any of Terry Brooks novels in a timely manner.
Morgawr is the third book of a trilogy called The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara. The first too books I found horribly tedious and only finished them because I was assured that this third volume was significantly better.
It was, but that isn't saying much.
The story focuses on a group of characters who have survived a horrible attack by some kind of ancient computer that happens to use magic as its power source. Despite the improbability of it being able to do ... any of the things it does... it manages to kill off most of the side characters so that the third book can be more focused.
The Ilse Witch, Grianne Ohmsford, has touched the Sword of Shannara which revealed to her the truth about her past. Unable to deal with the bad things she's done she goes semi comatose – she walks around when led but otherwise she is completely unresponsive.
Because of her former nature everybody pretty much wants her dead, except her long lost brother Bek Ohmsford. Her old master, the Morgawr, is among those who wants to kill her, along with everybody else – because he's evil and his friends are lizards.
People fall in love, friends die, shapeshifters never ever change shape and Grianne stares blankly in front of her, all with almost no emotional impact. None of the characters seem different at all. In fact they don't really feel like characters so much as puppets placed in situations so that things can happen to them.
Terry Brooks has, apparently, never heard the old adage 'show, don't tell'. If you want us to believe that a characters is suffering from the effects of PTSD, don't tell us, show us. The story is so consumed with navel gazing and introspective passages explaining that this characters has this emotional turmoil – no really, he does – that the story itself probably takes up a third of the pages.
The writing is also difficult to read because Terry Brooks is quite fond of the passive voice. Every sentence is written in passive voice. The effect of this is that everything feels like events happening to characters rather than characters participating in events.
Terry Brooks has been writing in this world for over thirty years. I expected somebody with that much experience to think things out more clearly. His monsters are all huge and have lots of teeth and razor sharp claws. Or they are given ambiguous names that mean nothing. Magic has no description whatsoever. Magic users 'lash out' and 'strike' and 'trace down lines of power' without any indication what any of that means. Elves are just humans with pointed ears. They don't have any different culture, or different views. They don't live longer than humans or think differently, they only exist because Tolkien had elves in his books. (Never mind that Tolkiens elves are immortal and kind of creepy and alien and arrogant and different. Immortality changes ones views.) Dwarves are all grumpy and use axes in battle. Shapeshifters are prevalent but they never bother to change shape – maybe there were budget cuts in the special effects department. Anything that looks reptilian is evil, always.
Grianne Ohmsford spends six months in a catatonic state and never in all that time has to be fed, given water, changed or bathed. She actually sits in a chair all that time and when she does finally wake up she gets up and goes out to do battle with no stiff muscles or signs of atrophy from six months sitting in a chair. Maybe it was the lack of food that kept her fit.
Some characters survive simply because they happened to have hidden things previously that the reader was never told about (Redden Alt Mer just happened to have a single wing glider stowed on his old air ship) or just by plain design from the author (Quentin Leah 'swims' with the rock fall and comes out with only bumps and bruises, while a big animal falls on him later and nearly kills him – so that Grianne and Bek can be the heroes in the end – Quentin was obviously too capable).
Terry Brooks still sells a lot of books so there must be something that somebody likes in his writing. A lot of somebodies, apparently. I, however, have given him an honest try. The last four of his books that I read I had to force myself to get through. I enjoy my Calculus books more than these.
Whether I have changed as a reader or Terry Brooks has changed as a writer I just can't punish myself with this any longer. I am through with Terry Brooks.
(1/10)
nesskempton's review
5.0
Oh, MAN! What a fantastic conclusion to a fabulous trilogy. I could never have guessed what was going to happen. On the edge of my seat, quite literally, those last few chapters. The characters were so real. There is a set up for another series of books but this story was completely resolved. My faith in Terry Brooks' Shannara has been renewed.
jasmyn9's review
4.0
An interesting ending to the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Morgawr is full of some unusual twists and turns. While the actual journey seems to have been gotten them nowhere, there are some good things to come about from the voyage. But it isn't over yet. The crew still needs to find their way back home.
Bek really comes into his own in the book. He has learned to stand his ground for what he believes in and fully commits to "fixing" his sister. I found the Ohmsford siblings to be a great pair. Many times they resembled yin and yang. As one was thriving, the other was not. As one did good, the other supported evil. Finally, they both seem to be on the same page and I was very excited to see what they would be able to accomplish together.
The voyage home seems to have a couple different meanings in Morgawr. While the crew of the Jerle Shannara struggle to stay ahead of their pursuers and return to more familiar land, the Ilse Witch is also experiencing the same journey and running from the same pursuer - but for different reasons. When the time comes and everyone is forced to face the Morgawr, the battle is epic in meaning, but not necessarily in scale.
The Morwawr is one of the few books that has left me with the feeling of reading more than one story at once. The themes and journeys were overlaid in such a great way that they all flowed naturally together and the symbolism and metaphor, while very apparent, didn't get in the way. It was a great ending to a series, but there's still some work for the characters to do. I hope to see them again as I continue the overall series of Shannara books.
Bek really comes into his own in the book. He has learned to stand his ground for what he believes in and fully commits to "fixing" his sister. I found the Ohmsford siblings to be a great pair. Many times they resembled yin and yang. As one was thriving, the other was not. As one did good, the other supported evil. Finally, they both seem to be on the same page and I was very excited to see what they would be able to accomplish together.
The voyage home seems to have a couple different meanings in Morgawr. While the crew of the Jerle Shannara struggle to stay ahead of their pursuers and return to more familiar land, the Ilse Witch is also experiencing the same journey and running from the same pursuer - but for different reasons. When the time comes and everyone is forced to face the Morgawr, the battle is epic in meaning, but not necessarily in scale.
The Morwawr is one of the few books that has left me with the feeling of reading more than one story at once. The themes and journeys were overlaid in such a great way that they all flowed naturally together and the symbolism and metaphor, while very apparent, didn't get in the way. It was a great ending to a series, but there's still some work for the characters to do. I hope to see them again as I continue the overall series of Shannara books.
hotsake's review against another edition
5.0
A great finale for one of my favorite stories of the Shannara series so far. This book was surprising given how much I enjoyed it when so little actually happens.
the_bee_writes's review
3.0
The Morgawr is the third book of the trilogy "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara": 30 years ago a expedition of elves tried to follow the dream of a seer: To find the fabled "magic" of Parkasia a far away island never visit from anyone from Shannara before. The expedition never returned. The only one found is the battered body of Allardon Elessedil's brother. This triggers a new expedition with Druid Walker Boh as leader.
The second book describes the discovery of Parkasia and all its dangers. It also shows the pursuit of the expedition by the Ilse Witch who tries to destroy Walker Boh and gain the magic of Parkasia. She does not succeed but got changed through the power of the Sword of Shannara while Walker dies. Unknown to all of them the Morgawr the former mentor of the Ilse Witch and a sorcerer of great power has followed them too. He wants to destroy the Ilse Witch as she has become his equal and wants to gain the magic of Parkasia. What he does not take into consideration is her change which gives her allies. Even though she is traumatised by knowing the truth about herself and has retreated into her own mind she helps the expedition to get away and destroy the Morgawr. She will become the successor of Walker Boh and create a new Druid council.
The Morgawr is a solid Terry Brooks novel but for some strange reason I could not get as close to the characters as I did with the "Heritage of Shannara" Characters Coll and Par Ohmsford, Wren Elessedil and Morgan Leah. Of course there is Walker still which I found the most interesting character in both trilogies as he struggles so much with his heritage of being a Druid. It is a bit disappointing that he had to become what he once despised: A Druid who seems to play with the lives of those who follow him for the sake of saving the world. But this was expected somehow and at least he found some peace in the end.
With the whole Trilogy of the "Voyage of the Sherle Shannara" I was disappointed as well because it was a whole new story and did not show how the lives of the characters of the trilogy before went on. That was why I wanted to read "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara". Maybe that was the reason why I skipped a lot of the book just to find out how it ends. The end I like though :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Morgawr ist das dritte Buch der Trilogie "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara": 30 Jahre zuvor war eine Expedition von Elfen dem Traum einer Seherin gefolgt, um die fabelhafte Magie der Insel Parkasia. die noch von niemanden von Shannara besucht wurde, zu finden. Die Expedition kehrte nie zurueck. Nur der geschundene Koerper des Bruders des Elf Koenigs Allardon Elessedil wurde gefunden. Dieser Fund fuehrt zu einer weiteren Expedition dieses mal gefuert von Walker Boh.
Das zweite Buch beschreibt die Entdeckung Parkasias und all ihrer Gefahren. Es zeigt auch die Verfolgung der Expedition durch die Ilse Witch, die Walker Boh zerstoeren und die "Magie" Parkasias an sich reissen will. Sie ist nicht erfolgreich wird jedoch durch die Macht des Schwertes von Shannara zum Guten gewandelt beim Tode Walker Boh's. Unbekannt fuer alle hat auch der Morgawr, der Mentor der Ilse Witch und ein maechtiger Zauberer, die Verfolgung aufgenommen. Er will sie zerstoeren, da sie ihm ebenbuertig geworden ist, und so die Macht ueber die Magie Parkasia's an sich reissen. Was er nicht bedenkt ist die Tatsache, dass sie sich veraendert hat und damit Verbuendete gefunden hat. Obwohl sie durch die Wahrheit ueber sich selber traumatisiert wurde und sich in ihren eigenen Geist zurueck gezogen hat, hilft sie der Expedition, zu fliehen und zerstoert den Morgawr am Ende. Sie wird die Nachfolgerin Walker Boh's und wird den neuen Rat der Druiden gruenden.
"The Morgawr" ist ein solides Terry Brooks Buch aber komischerweise konnte ich den Figuren nicht so nahe kommen, wie denen in "The Heritage of Shannara": Coll und Par Ohmsford, Wren Elessedil und Morgan Leah. Natuerlich ist da immer noch Walker Boh, den ich immer als die interessanteste Figur in beiden Trilogie angesehen habe, da er so sehr mit seinem Erbe, ein Druide zu werden, zu kaempfen hat. Es ist ein wenig enttaeuschend, dass er so wird, wie die Druiden, die er immer verachtet hat. Aber irgendwie war das zu erwarten. Am Ende zu mindest findet er etwas Frieden.
Mit der ganzen Triologie "Voyage of the Sherle Shannara" war ich auch enttaeuscht, da sie kaum etwas vom Leben der Charaktere aus der vorherigen Trilogie zeigt. Das war es, warum ich "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" lesen wollte. Vielleicht war das der Grund warum ich grosse Teile des Buches einfach ueberlesen habe, um das Ende herauszufinden. Das Ende hat mir jedoch gefallen :-)
The second book describes the discovery of Parkasia and all its dangers. It also shows the pursuit of the expedition by the Ilse Witch who tries to destroy Walker Boh and gain the magic of Parkasia. She does not succeed but got changed through the power of the Sword of Shannara while Walker dies. Unknown to all of them the Morgawr the former mentor of the Ilse Witch and a sorcerer of great power has followed them too. He wants to destroy the Ilse Witch as she has become his equal and wants to gain the magic of Parkasia. What he does not take into consideration is her change which gives her allies. Even though she is traumatised by knowing the truth about herself and has retreated into her own mind she helps the expedition to get away and destroy the Morgawr. She will become the successor of Walker Boh and create a new Druid council.
The Morgawr is a solid Terry Brooks novel but for some strange reason I could not get as close to the characters as I did with the "Heritage of Shannara" Characters Coll and Par Ohmsford, Wren Elessedil and Morgan Leah. Of course there is Walker still which I found the most interesting character in both trilogies as he struggles so much with his heritage of being a Druid. It is a bit disappointing that he had to become what he once despised: A Druid who seems to play with the lives of those who follow him for the sake of saving the world. But this was expected somehow and at least he found some peace in the end.
With the whole Trilogy of the "Voyage of the Sherle Shannara" I was disappointed as well because it was a whole new story and did not show how the lives of the characters of the trilogy before went on. That was why I wanted to read "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara". Maybe that was the reason why I skipped a lot of the book just to find out how it ends. The end I like though :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Morgawr ist das dritte Buch der Trilogie "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara": 30 Jahre zuvor war eine Expedition von Elfen dem Traum einer Seherin gefolgt, um die fabelhafte Magie der Insel Parkasia. die noch von niemanden von Shannara besucht wurde, zu finden. Die Expedition kehrte nie zurueck. Nur der geschundene Koerper des Bruders des Elf Koenigs Allardon Elessedil wurde gefunden. Dieser Fund fuehrt zu einer weiteren Expedition dieses mal gefuert von Walker Boh.
Das zweite Buch beschreibt die Entdeckung Parkasias und all ihrer Gefahren. Es zeigt auch die Verfolgung der Expedition durch die Ilse Witch, die Walker Boh zerstoeren und die "Magie" Parkasias an sich reissen will. Sie ist nicht erfolgreich wird jedoch durch die Macht des Schwertes von Shannara zum Guten gewandelt beim Tode Walker Boh's. Unbekannt fuer alle hat auch der Morgawr, der Mentor der Ilse Witch und ein maechtiger Zauberer, die Verfolgung aufgenommen. Er will sie zerstoeren, da sie ihm ebenbuertig geworden ist, und so die Macht ueber die Magie Parkasia's an sich reissen. Was er nicht bedenkt ist die Tatsache, dass sie sich veraendert hat und damit Verbuendete gefunden hat. Obwohl sie durch die Wahrheit ueber sich selber traumatisiert wurde und sich in ihren eigenen Geist zurueck gezogen hat, hilft sie der Expedition, zu fliehen und zerstoert den Morgawr am Ende. Sie wird die Nachfolgerin Walker Boh's und wird den neuen Rat der Druiden gruenden.
"The Morgawr" ist ein solides Terry Brooks Buch aber komischerweise konnte ich den Figuren nicht so nahe kommen, wie denen in "The Heritage of Shannara": Coll und Par Ohmsford, Wren Elessedil und Morgan Leah. Natuerlich ist da immer noch Walker Boh, den ich immer als die interessanteste Figur in beiden Trilogie angesehen habe, da er so sehr mit seinem Erbe, ein Druide zu werden, zu kaempfen hat. Es ist ein wenig enttaeuschend, dass er so wird, wie die Druiden, die er immer verachtet hat. Aber irgendwie war das zu erwarten. Am Ende zu mindest findet er etwas Frieden.
Mit der ganzen Triologie "Voyage of the Sherle Shannara" war ich auch enttaeuscht, da sie kaum etwas vom Leben der Charaktere aus der vorherigen Trilogie zeigt. Das war es, warum ich "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" lesen wollte. Vielleicht war das der Grund warum ich grosse Teile des Buches einfach ueberlesen habe, um das Ende herauszufinden. Das Ende hat mir jedoch gefallen :-)
tarana's review
5.0
While I could guess how this book would play out, there was still a lot of suspense. Very satisfying to the end.