Angel Fire East (The Word and the Void Trilogy, Book 3)

Brooks's well-realized and likable cast from the previous books is back, from Nest (now 29) to Ross (haggard as ever) to Pick (still just a few inches tall) and even grown-up versions of Nest's childhood friends from Running, including Bennett, now a junkie with child. Of course, Findo Gask has assembled a creepy little Legion of Doom to harry these nice folks: a giant albino demon; a formless, flesh-eating ur'droch; and a knife-wielding Orphan-Annie-gone-bad named Penny Dreadful. And Angel Fire's main plot thread is even compelling: John Ross has caught a shape-changing, wild-magic creature of enormous power, a gypsy morph, that he and Nest must discover how to turn to the Word before Gask and his crew can capture it for the Void.

But as with Knight of the Word, wooden pacing and unconvincing transitions keep this tale from rising to the level of Brooks's previous masterworks, such as the excellent Shannara and Landover series. If you've read the first two books, it's certainly worth seeing off your old friends in Angel Fire East. But if you're--heaven forbid--new to Terry Brooks, check out his earlier work, or even his very capable novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. --Paul Hughes