The Rebirth of a Series

Terry Brooks' Running with the Demon represents in its entirety a rebirth of a world he began with the publishing of The Sword of Shannara in 1977. Two decades after the publishing of the original, Brooks' finally answers the questions that had dogged readers minds for ages, the idea of, "what came before?" All throughout the series, references to a "great conflict" appear quite frequently. Running with the Demon represents the beginning of a new trilogy that seeks to answer that very question. Unlike the Shannara novels that took place in a fantasy world, Brooks' series now takes place in a carbon copy of our world, with a light sprinkling of magic to go along with, and tie it with the older books. The central conflict of the book revolves around the discovery a teenage girl named Nest Freemark, who possesses a knack for wild magic. She becomes the central figure in a conflict between the "Word" who represent the forces of good, and the "Void" who represent the forces of darkness. Throughout the novel, it becomes increasingly clear that things are much more complex than they seem. With the publishing of Running with the Demon, Brooks took an almost ended series and breathed into it new life. It is a fantastic book, and should be read by anyone who considers themselves a lover of epic fantasy.