The Shannara series of books have been in my reading lists ever since I was a young teenager. I always loved how each trilogy were connected through the characters over different spans of time, using some of the same relics. This newest trilogy, "The Defenders of Shannara" has not dropped that love of this history.

Needless to say, I jumped on this book in a hurry when I found out I was approved for an ARC. I probably should have posted a review much sooner, but had to take some time to process my feelings about the characters. I don't want to throw out spoilers, but it just took me some time to process. Obviously being a third book, it concludes the storyline for this part of the series. Though it had a truly realistic ending, it just didn't fit what seemingly happens in 'fairy-tale' stories. I felt a bit like I was left to hang. Sometimes that is good though, as it leaves a space for the author to come back and fill ... hopefully soon.

Overall the story is one of Brooks typical Shannara tales, filled with quite a bit of action, self-discovery, and changes to the world. I look forward to the next peek into the world of Shannara Brooks brings about, and hope the new television series doesn't take all of his attention away from writing.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review from the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Del Rey, through Netgalley.com. ( )

Really good, one of the few books I've read lately where I wanted it to be longer. I think Brooks is probably waiting for a grander scale in the final series coming up. It's too bad, the characters definitely warrant it and I did appreciate the smaller scope of these stories, particularly the Sorcerer's Daughter.

A much stronger offering than the Darkling Child, it's pure fantasy fun. I liked the focus on the newer characters, the Murk Sink witch was a terrifically vile character, Imric the shape-shifter was far more interesting than I anticipated and the Federation/Druid mishap was awesome.

If anything, the story petered out a bit too quickly and I wanted more, particularly a more fulfilling final showdown between Arcannen Rai and Paxon Leah since the entire trilogy did a great job building him up.

Shannara remains comfort food and I'm really looking forward to finishing out the series I started as an 11 year old kid in the GNS library. ( )

Nice addition to the Shannara saga ( )

Nice addition to the Shannara saga ( )

Whilst it is part of a set of stand alone books, it was pretty dull compared to the second book. There are no Ohmsfords or Elessedil's present, so the book lacks the magic of previous books. I did not find Paxton Leah or his sister, descendants of the Ohmsford's interesting at all...maybe it was the family name Leah. As for the Sorcerers daughter, her new partner and father, again created no spark in this book. Sorry to say the whole thing was as distant from Shannara as it could get. I sincerely hope Brook's brings back the Ohmsford's and Elessidil's in his final trilogy, as the Shannara books are not the same without them