Sonderbooks Book Review of Morgawr

*Morgawr

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Book 3

by Terry Brooks

Reviewed October 29, 2002.
Del Rey, New York, 2002. 401 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (F BRO)

I promised not to review books I don’t like, and this one’s borderline. Still, I felt I should review it, since I did review the book that came before, Antrax. This one is said to be the conclusion of the trilogy, even though it also ends with a beginning of a next book. Apparently another series is on its way.

First, let me explain my reservations. I found with the Left Behind series that I don’t particularly like it when several of the good guys get killed. After enough of that, you tend to hold back from caring about the characters. In this series, not only is the body count huge, but some of the main characters die in unspeakably (to me) awful ways. The evil Morgawr, the title character of this book, feeds on people’s souls, and the method he uses is nightmarish.

So why did I finish the book? Well, I had come so far, and I wanted to find out how the whole thing ends. In many ways, this was the most satisfying book of the trilogy, since it did bring the story to a conclusion. I read the original Shannara series in high school, and wanted to hear more about the Four Lands. This series was far darker than that original series, and I wished I had not gotten hooked.

On the good side, it is a gripping story with an intricate plot. Maybe the plot is a little too intricate, since it was hard to stay interested in all the different threads at the beginning. I do think that Terry Brooks’ writing style has improved over the years. I simply felt that the dark spirit of the book was hard for me to see past. Still, if you’ve read so far into the series, you’ll probably want to finish it out. I won’t say much about the plot, since it would give away some surprises in the previous books. The company of the airship Jerle Shannara must try to escape the evil Morgawr and return home.

Reviews of other books by Terry Brooks:
Antrax
Sometimes the Magic Works

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*Morgawr

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Book 3

by Terry Brooks