Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara Mass Market Paperback – June 25, 2013

Bloodfire Quest continues the storyline in The Dark Legacy of Shannara trilogy. This novel, as an intermediate one, has a lot less that goes on than the previous book. It seems to be dedicated to info-dumps and to setting up the plot threads for the third and final book, Witch Wraith.As the story begins, the heroes are scattered and nearly decimated from the events of the first book, the Druids are utterly defeated, and worse yet, the Ellcrys is now failing. The Ellcrys is, by the by, the sentient tree that acts a seal on the dimensional gap that keeps the evil creatures from the time of Faerie sealed in the dark, parallel dimension called the Forbidding.That is where the story begins, as the way is prepared for the epic battles and other conclusions to come. I know I just repeated myself, but that is how I can best describe it. With the exception of the fate of Khyber Elessedil, the Ard Rhys of the Druid Order, not much happens.There are some observations that folks have made of the trilogy, relating to the character of Mirai Leah. The first is praise of just how strong a female character Mirai Leah is, and the second is criticism that she doesn't wield the magical Sword of Leah. To be honest, the first didn't surprise me, and the second didn't upset me. Both made sense. The dynamic that has been in place since the original Shannara novel, The Sword of Shannara, is that the two families, the Leahs and the Ohmsfords, are linked by centuries of history of their members being close friends. In this is always the idea that the Leahs support the Ohmsfords, and usually they do so by constantly saving the Ohmsfords' tails and being the leader and warrior of whatever joint expedition they are on.Mirai fits this role. Of course, a major difference is that she is a woman and so has to deal with the attentions of the boys crushing on her. She isn't as strong or I.mposing physically, but she has incredible aim and speed, which makes her quite formidable. But, unlike the previous generations of Leahs, she isn't a ruler, or a woodsman, or other occupations such as this. No, she is a tradeswoman who is in an era on the cusp of new scientific breakthroughs. She respects her family's traditions and legends, but isn't the same as her forebears. She can be a truly badass fighter, but is not the valiant warrior. Nor does she want to be.The best part for me of this book was that, with the exception of one part, this novel was a lot less dark and edgy than the first one. I appreciated it as truly great epic fantasy that didn't fall into the trap of being like the insanely dark and "kill 'em all" attitude of some other writers. Some characters die, to be sure, as some characters have always died in the books in this franchise. The difference is whether the deaths had a purpose or not, and whether the story is, at heart, hopeful or hopeless. Brooks' tales tend to be hopeful, and each death to have a purpose, which is what makes it superior to this "dark and edgy" crap that so many other authors peddle these days.My only complaint was that the relationship between two of the villains was a tad, well, squicky. But then again, given who is involved in the relationship and the dynamics of it, you wouldn't expect it to be healthy. So it works to show just how creepy and awful these people are.This book was much better than the first one, and more in line with Brooks' history of hopeful stories.Highly Recommended.

I love,this,author's work! His story telling and character development are excellent. However he ends his books abruptly. In an effort to lead to the,next book.

At the end of "Wards of Faerie", it is discovered that Arling Elessedil was touched by the dying Ellcrys and given the task of taking the Ellcrys seed to the Bloodfire, immersing it, and bringing it back. But, there's more: Arling must take the place of the dying Ellcrys herself, for if the Ellcrys should die, the Forbidding would fail, and all of the creatures trapped within would invade the Four Lands. In "Bloodfire Quest", Terry Brooks continues with the excellent Dark Legacy series.Aside from Arling's situation with the Ellcrys, there are other events happening as well. Khyber Elessedil and her companions are still searching for the missing elfstones, but they have become trapped within the Forbidding and now must face off against the evil Straken Lord, who has mistaken Khyber for Grianne Ohmsford, who was herself imprisoned there a century earlier. Many members of the expedition have been killed and soon, only Khyber and Redden Ohmsford are left to confront the Straken Lord.Railing Ohmsford, Woostra, and Mirai have returned to Paranor to search the druid histories concerning the disappearance of Grianne Ohmsford and have set out to search for her to see if she is still alive. Their hope is to bring her into the Forbidding to help defeat the Straken Lord.Arling, Aphen, and Cymrian have set off in search of the Bloodfire, but the Federation is tracking them as well. Soon, Arling ends up in the hands of the Federation, being whisked away from her friends.I've read all of Terry Brooks' previous books, and I am really enjoying the Dark Legacy series. The characters are well-developed and the action is fast-paced throughout. I enjoy reading epic fantasy series, and Terry Brooks is at the top of the list.I recommend this book and series very highly. If you enjoy good books about conflicts between good and evil, then don't miss "Bloodfire Quest".

Brooks has been described as several things, but two descriptions that plague him regularly are "One-Trick Pony" and "...that guy who writes soft fantasy" in description of his seeming inability to write bittersweet endings. With The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara he proved that he can do bittersweet, but with this new novel he proves he can do brutal.Between heads on spikes, underlying sexual tones, and a Straken Lord wanting to kidnap a former witch, turn her into his slave queen, and sire heirs on her with or without her permission with a very rape-y vibe this is Brooks writing for adults. The plot is more complicated, the characters are a shade darker in terms of personality, and the story itself contains just enough light-hearted and familiar elements pertaining to older Brooks novels that its recognizable as his work.Some elements of this one would be off putting to fans of his former work (the implied rape above is one of them, the brutality of the heads on spikes is also something that is slightly farther than he's gone before) and his style (that requires a lot of former world knowledge and reading) would be off putting to new fans, but in the end this is simply Brooks writing for himself and you can tell he's having more fun than he's had in awhile. He has latched on to a specific set of characters (Grianne Ohmsford in particular) who have dominated the last few stories in this era and he's still in love with them enough to make them shine.Buy it after buying the first one, you won't be disappointed.