Armageddon's Children

Armageddon's Children

By Terry Brooks; Read by Dick Hill
12 CDs - Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1423322568
Themes: Fantasy/ post-apocalyptic/ Shannara/ demons/ elves

The first entry in Terry Brooks' new Genesis of Shannara trilogy, Armageddon's Children starts things off brilliantly. It is immediately engrossing, capturing the listener's attention from the first minute clear through its cliffhanger ending.

Set in an Earth where civilization has been mostly destroyed by war, diseases, and by demonic entities. It is a world of mutants and demons, with elves and humans hiding from an unavoidable end. Post-apocalyptic fantasy is an odd sub-genre but Brooks pulls it off well, mostly combining the feel of post-apocalyptic fiction with the trappings of fantasy.

Like many stories of this size, there is more than one main character. Armageddon's Children has four. Logan Tom, a Knight of the Word is the first main character. Here he is given a mission to find a mysterious "gypsy morph" and lead it and a few human survivors to salvation. He, like most of the main characters here, must overcome self-doubts and accomplish his mission if humanity is to be saved. Another main character, Angel Perez is also a Knight of the Word. She is sent with a tatterdemalion to find, and help save the elves. The other main characters are Hawk, a street child who leads a small group of children in this broken world, and Kirisin, an Elf who is one of the chosen who must tend the Ellcrys, a sentient tree from the original Shannara series. The fates of all these characters are intertwined and each must succeed if humanity and elfkind are to survive the inevitable destruction of the Earth.

Simply put I loved this one and can't wait for the next in the series. Though the audiobook builds upon characters and ideas from earlier Brooks stories, it stands on its own quite well. I haven't heard or read many of them, yet I never felt as I were missing anything while I was listening here. The story is great and is what one might expect from Brooks and Dick Hill is one of the better readers that I have heard. Indeed, the only complaint I have, and a very minor one at that, is about the marketing. It is annoying that Shannara is not mentioned on the cover of the audiobook, while it is the third largest word on the paperback cover. And since that's the worst complaint I have, I am very glad I listened to this one.