BOOK INFORMATION Â
Title: The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara
Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Ballantine
Price: $26.95
Pages: 454
Rating: 7
By Leila Mobayen
Daily Bruin Contributor
It’s got witches, druids, and elves; secret powers,
uncharted lands, and airships. With his latest novel, author Terry
Brooks confirms that he has indeed mastered the genre of fantasy
novels.
“The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Isle Witch,”
takes readers back into the mystical land of Shannara, the series
for which the author is most well-known.
The novel goes beyond playful fantasy, however, and delves into
issues such as redemption, resolution, and deception, issues that
are present in everyone’s daily life.
Except that instead of having an unfair professor screwing you
over, it’s a shadowy Morgawr in an ill-lit cave under the
crystal blue water falls in the distant land of Aborlon, across the
Blue Divide”¦
You get the picture.
The author takes everyday, ordinary scenarios and puts an exotic
twist on them that makes them sparkle with his flawless imagery,
giving readers a chance to forget about their troubles for awhile.
No matter how bad midterm stress gets, at least you’re not
being engulfed by pools of flames and 40-foot long eels on a
deserted island, right?
The tale begins with Hunter Predd, a Wing Rider (a patroller of
the seas) stumbling upon a castaway elf named Kael Elessedil, a
long-lost member of the elven royal family who has been missing for
over thirty years, presumed dead after never returning from a
crusade to uncover a mysterious treasure from a far-off land.
When Elessedil is discovered, he is on the verge of death, with
his eyes gauged out and his tongue removed. On his body Predd finds
a map, the discovery of which leads to the formation of a group of
voyagers who set out on an expedition to find the same treasure
that eluded Elessedil over 30 years ago. This group, led by the
wise Druid, Walker Boh, embarks upon a perilous voyage, hoping that
the treasure will be the key to finding a harmony between all the
lands of the Shannara world.
But, there is a ship on their tail with the dark intention of
destroying the ship and taking the treasure themselves. The
treasure is a new form of magic which will give unbridled power to
whoever gets to it first, as long as they can get to it in one
piece.
So begins the plot of this novel, laying the groundwork for the
next four books in this series, which will be released once a year
for the next four years.
Much of this first book involves establishing the characters of
the different members of the voyage, each with a different personal
interest in joining the endeavor.
The story, despite consisting of mostly introductory
explanations, actually remains interesting throughout. Brooks has a
way of taking the trials and tribulations of characters such as a
150-year-old, one-armed hermit, and making them relatable to a
nineteen-year old college student.
The essential ingredient of the novel is the character of Bek
Rowe. As a young man and virtual outsider to the worlds of magic
and travel, the discoveries made by this character resemble what an
ordinary person would feel in the same situation.
Bek Rowe becomes the middle ground between the reader and the
fantasy world of the book, making sure that the enchanting
doesn’t become just plain ludicrous.
If the novel has one disconcerting factor, it is that the ending
does not bring any kind of conclusion to the story. Nevertheless,
the reader should be forewarned: If you are one of those people who
enjoys having some sense of closure after completing a 500-page
novel, then maybe it would be a better idea to wait five years
until after the whole series has been released. The conclusion of
this first novel is a real cliffhanger.
Besides the lack of closure, the only other drawback to the book
is that the beginning of the book is a bit slow. It’s also
very difficult to follow, for a reader who is unfamiliar with the
context of the series. It’s worth it to stick out the
beginning, however, since the storyline is captivating, the
characters colorful, and the imagery outstanding.
Whether you’re a hardcore fan of the series, or just a
curious reader looking for something to read that is a little more
interesting than that 500-pound physics book, “The Voyage of
the Jerle Shannara: Isle Witch,” is a great book to read as
an escape from everyday life.