Elf Queen of Shannara, The by Terry Brooks

This story was shockingly weak for Brooks. All of his other stories have had great plots and surprising twists, but this one was just boring. Elf Queen had too many elements from every other Shannara story: the elf with no past learning they are in the King's/ Queen's bloodline (Shea in Sword), using the Elfstones to fight Demons (Elfstone), a small, brave group unites to complete a quest (Sword, Wishsong, Druid), the route they take has several plot designed perils to overcome and conveniently kill off characters (Elfstones, Wishsong) and finally, what is up naming the Queen Ellenroh? I mean one letter off of the witch sister Mellenroh from Elfstones, how lame...

Boring. The only storylines I enjoyed were the ones referencing the other characters (Walker Boh and Col). This story did not have Brooks' usual intensity.

I felt that this book was by far the weakest of the Heritage Series, and all of the Shannara series for that matter. In the beggining, I was intruiged by the unknown about what happened to the elves. Then, when she arrived at the demonic island of Morrowindl, I was even more curious as to where the elves were. I met the Owl, my favorite character in the book by far, and was interested to see how the plot would develop from there. When she got into the city, the only character we met that I relatively liked was Triss, but he was not a major character. Then on the journey, my Owl died to save the queen, who I didn't like anyway. Shortly after this, I seriously considered putting the book down, but the only thing that kept me going was to see if the character of Triss would further develop. 3/4ths of the way through the book, after many deaths (too many if you ask me) the only thing that kept me going was that I wanted to get to the Talismans of Shannara without missing any thing, and Triss. He was the only not corny character left, and he kept me reading to find out mare about him. I was dissappointed that nothing much happened with him, and in the end, the only thing I can say that I truly like about this book are Triss and the Owl. Wren was too wimpy, even though she tried to be tough, there were too many deaths, and it was simply not engaging. I love Triss and Owl in the end!

The Elf Queen of Shannara is definately my favorite out of all the Shannara books! While it does take you away from the Four Lands a bit, I think it made it all the better. You got to experience a new place and new characters and creatures. I think it was very well put together and very interesting. Wren is not my favorite character at all. In fact, I really didn't like her, but that changes nothing of the books quality. A must read for anyone, this book is great!