[Review] The Black Elfstone - Terry Brooks

Titel: The Black Elfstone

Series: The Fall of Shannara #1 (Shannara Universe)

Author/Autor: Terry Brooks

Publisher/Verlag: Del Rey

First Published/Erstveröffentlichung: 13.06.2017
Format: Kindle, 336, english

Synopsis/Inhalt: GoodReads

Review: 4*

TBR/Leseliste: x

  

The first book of the triumphant and epic four-part conclusion to the Shannara series, from one of the all-time masters of fantasy.

Across the Four Lands, peace has reigned for generations. But now, in the far north, an unknown enemy is massing. More troubling than the carnage is the strange and wondrous power wielded by the attackers—a breed of magic unfamiliar even to the Druid order. Fearing the worst, the High Druid dispatches a diplomatic party under the protection of the order’s sworn guardian, Dar Leah, to confront the mysterious, encroaching force and discover its purpose.

But another crucial journey is being undertaken. Exiled onetime High Druid Drisker Arc has been living in quiet seclusion, far from the politics and power struggles of his former life, until two brutal attacks by would-be assassins force him to seek out an infamous murder-for-hire guild—and find the hidden enemy who has marked him for death. At his side is Tarsha Kaynin, a young woman gifted with the wishsong and eager to be schooled in its formidable power by a master. She, too, is pursuing a mission: to locate her wayward brother, whose own magic has driven him to deadly madness and kindled his rage for vengeance . . . against his sister.

In their darkest hours, facing dangerous adversaries, the lives and quests of Dar Leah, Drisker Arc, and Tarsha Kaynin will be inextricably drawn together. And the challenges each confronts will have resounding consequences for the future of the Four Lands.
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 [Overview/Cover]

When I saw this cover while browsing trough NetGalley it instantly caught my attention. To me it screams epic fantasy, as well as some action. So I checked GoodReads and after I saw that it was the first book in a series and read the synopsis, which sounded awesome, I decided to request the book. Once I got approved for it and added it so my shelfs on GoodReads I realized that, while it is the first part in the 'The Fall of Shannara' series, it's like the 100th book in the whole 'Shannara' world/series. After reading about the 'Shannara Chronicles' in general and looking at various diffrent reccommended reading orders I decided to go ahead and read it, even without having read anything else first. 

[This book in relation to the rest of the Shannara World]

So can you read this book without having read anything else in the series first? Well first of, you can obvisously read anything in any order you want, but here is my reccommendation:

If you don't want to read the older books, and simply read this book and the sequels that are planned for it, you totally can. Had I not looked it up before hand, I wouldn't have known there are other books set in this world and I did not feel like I was missing anything.

Should you read this book if you have already started on this world, and plan to continue with it later, or if you haven't yet started, but plan to? I guess it depends on your opinion on spoilers. This book takes place quite a while after all the other books, so you won't be directly spoilerd for a specific plot line, but you could be spoilerd in terms of how this world evolves and maybe even on some plot points, considering some of the characters in this story might be descendants of characters of previous books. As I've not read any of the other books I can't give you a definitive answer to that but in my opinion, if you're really, really, really strict about spoilers you should wait to read this book. If you don't like immidiate spoilers but don't care as much about things that might happen hundreds of years later, you can read this. If you're like me, and don't care about spoilers at all, go for it, this book is amazing!

[My Opinion]

But now, let's get into the book. 

I've never read anything by Terry Brooks before, but I'm definitely going to now. I really enjoyed his writing style and worldbuilding, as it wasn't overwhelmingly detailed, as epic fantasy worlds can often be, but it still was quite descriptive and I could vividly imagine this world and the characters. It was very easy to read and to follow, but in no way boring. 

The pacing was great as well, everything happened in a realistic time frame and Brooks perfectly managed to speed up things that needed speeding up and writing things that were more important in a more detailed fashion. 

The plot was very interesting and kept me glued to the page the whole time. A lot of diffrent things were happening between various characters. I found it very interesting, how this book went in two diffrent directions at once. On one hand was Tarsha in her quest to learn magic from Drisker Arc, as well as the other Druids dealing with an invading force, which is exactly what I hoped for when I picked this book up. Some action-packed fighting scenes, some politicking, some Assasins and a young girl learning to use her incredible powers.

On the other hand was Tarshas brother, who has to deal with the same powers Tarsha has, only they have taken a much darker turn and now he has to deal with mental illness, beeing a prisoner and, probably, rape. I honestly can't speak to the accuracy of the representation of metal illness and sexual abuse, but I felt it gave the story even more depth and I'm very curious to see how this plotline developes in the next few books, as this is nothing I've yet read about in any fantasy books. 

I don't feel like I can say a lot about the characters, because I feel like I didn't really get to know them very well, yet, but I believe that, when the story continues I will grow to like Drisker Arc and Dar Leah quite a bit. I'm not so sure about Tarsha yet, she is a strong young women, trying to do everything to help her brother and learn to use her magic as much, and as fast, as possible. On the other hand she also seems kinda entiteld and selfish.

[Overall]

I really enjoyed this book. I reated it 4 stars and I honestly can't wait for this series to continue, so I can see more of these characters.