Straken - by Terry Brooks

This is the third and final volume in the High Druid Of Shannara series by Terry Brooks and it finishes off the tale begun in Jarka Ruus and continued in Tanequil. Here's a brief summary of the storyline…

Grianne Ohmsford is stranded in the demon world of the Forbidding and her only thread of hope is the prophecy, told to her by the shade of the Warlock Lord, that a boy will come to her rescue. It's a thin hope but it's all she has, that and the unlikely companionship of one of the denizens of this dire realm, who sees her a means of escaping with her to the Four Lands.

Pen Ohmsford has succeeded in obtaining the darkwand from the Tanequil but at a price he didn't bank on paying. Now his only means of getting his aunt back is to return to Paranor and use the darkwand to enter the Forbidding but to do that he must enter the lair of those that would see all of the Ohmsfords dead - Shadea a'Ru and the rebel Druids.

Meanwhile the shape-shifting demon called the Moric that tranferred over when Grianne was transported into the Forbidding, furthers its plans to bring down the barrier holding back the Forbidding and releasing demonkind back upon the world by destroying the Ellcrys, the sacred tree of the elves.

It's always sad to get to the end of what has been a pretty entertaining series of books and this is no different. The story follows on at much the same pace and mastery of writing as the first two installments and I enjoyed it. As before, Brooks weaves the multi-threaded storylines of Grianne, Pen, Bek and Rhu, the trolls, the Druids and the war on the Prekkendoran together very well and leads them all into a climactic conclusion.

The only thing that niggles me about it is the feeling that the ending was a bit rushed and there were a few loose ends not tied off. I don't want to include any spoilers here so you'll only see what I mean by reading the entire three books.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Science-Fiction.
ISBN: 0-7434-8396-0
My Rating: 7/10