The talismans of Shannara Book

The Talismans of Shannara, by Terry Brooks, is the fourth and final book in The Heritage of Shannara quartet of novels. All of the threads of the previous three novels are now coming to fruition, as the Elves lead by Wren Ohmsford Elessedil, the Druids resurrected by Walker Boh, and the Sword of Shannara, found by Par Ohmsford, are all converging on a final battle with the Shadowen-controlled Federation.

Of course, this is not even the most critical factor in the heroes' success. That distinction probably goes to their friend and ally Morgan Leah, and his weapon, the enchanted Sword of Leah. The family heirloom, blessed by long-dead Druid Allanon to help Morgan's ancestor, Rone Leah, protect Brin Ohmsford, during the events of the novel The Wishsong of Shannara, is a powerful artifact. It can cleave through nearly any magic.

On top of his sword's abilities, it seems Morgan has a natural penchant for conceiving of, and executing, plans on short notice. Even the more ridiculous ideas can somehow be made to work once the young highlander gets started with them.

Rounding out the group of heroes are Padishar Creel, leader of the Freeborn movement, his daughter, Dhamson Rhee, a young resistance leader named Matty Roh, and Coll Ohmsford, Par's brother. Coll is an interesting case, as he is arguably just as much the hero as Par is, because Par can not do anything without Coll first doing his part.

This story was really enjoyable. Some of the more annoying philosophizing and soap-boxing of the previous Heritage volumes was toned down, and when it was there, it was only what was necessary to advance the plot. Had the first three books been this discreet with the wordy navel-gazing from the characters, the books would have been about 50 pages shorter each one.

Another improvement over the first trilogy was in the area of romances. Mostly Par and Dhamson, but also Morgan and Matty, had far more believable romances, for instance, than that of Morgan's ancestor Menion Leah and his eventual wife, Shirl, from the book The Sword of Shannara. What's more, instead of just being told they love each other, Brooks actually showed us that these couples love each other, and why.

I did have some problems, of course, with how dark the story was. Yes, the good guys won, but my goodness gracious were they ever put through the ringer first. They suffer again, and again, and again. That said, there was a real satisfaction when you see the characters triumphant, except for poor Wren, who I wished had more happy moments, given how much more she suffered than the others.

In general, this was an excellent conclusion to the series. I just would have preferred a more unambiguously happy ending. Though I will give Brooks kudos for giving us more of a conclusion. Instead of the five page ending at the most of the first three books, he gave us a proper ending with "what happened to them afterward" accounts of the characters. That was one major complaint of mine that I am pleased to say that Brooks improved on eventually.

Despite the wordiness, annoying soap-boxing, and sometimes overly dark atmosphere, this was a really great epic fantasy of good triumphing over evil. Read this book and the first three as well. You won't regret picking up this story. The Heritage of Shannara was top-notch storytelling.

Highly Recommended.