The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara

Terry Brooks' new Shannara epic The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara kicks off its first volume Ilse Witch with the discovery of a mad Elf drifting on wreckage miles out at sea with his tongue and eyes removed, and a map secreted among his possessions. It rapidly emerges that he is a lost prince who set out decades earlier to find old magic on another continent. Walker the Druid persuades the Elf King that both vengeance and prudence dictate a second expedition and assembles the usual crew of talented misfits to travel by airship into unknown territory. The forces of evil are on their way as well--the shadowy figure known as the Ilse Witch and the lizard-like mercenaries forced on her by her untrustworthy ally the Morgawr are closing in too, with acquisition and murder in their hearts.

Fans of Terry Brooks will know precisely what to expect from him: undemanding sword--and--sorcery adventure with touches of the gloomily mysterious and of the more complex emotions. This is Brooks at his best and this novel is the least dependent on earlier models as it becomes clear that in this sequence the relationship between good and evil is more complicated than usual. --Roz Kaveney

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Start of the best seris. - Rated
After the Talisman of Shannara I couldnt wait to see what would come next.

150 years have past in the 4 lands and an elf is found in the blue divide with a mysterious map of a strange land. In this book we see how event have changed in the 4 lands the was still rages with the free born and the federation.

I liked the new air of mystery that this book produces and also the continued struggles that Walker faces in is new role as a Druid as well the host of new characters - the rovers in particular in really liked.

If you liked the progression of the history of the Shannara seris you will like this one as well as being an excellent read.

Not quite up to par - Rated
I was disappointed in this book. Once again the druids take part in the lives of the Leah and Ohmsford families. Of course, they are the only ones with the necessary magic to save the world. I thoroughly enjoyed the Heritage of Shannara series and compared with those this did not meet my expectations. This is after the second reading, though.

My first time through I loved these three books. But now they had become stale. A book should be good enough that the second reading is at least as enjoyable as the first one. Sadly, this was not the case here.

The FSFH Book Review says: - Rated
The first book of the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy.

Brooks manages to revitalise the Shannara series here, avoiding most of the tired cliches and overly-familiar battle scenes that had begun to stagnate the series.

The premise combines the classic quest-style storyline, in which Walker Boh assembles a group of people with various talents and magics for a journey into the unknown, with the equally classic adventure stories wherein a small group of people set sail to explore a distant land. This combination, although not entirely original, makes for a good story that is essentially fun to read. As well as continuing Walker's development, Brooks also creates some of his best ever new characters. Truls Rohlk and the Ilse Witch are excellent examples of these new characters, both having a great dichotomy to them, and even the standard Shea/Wil/Par clone, Bek, manages to be somewhat less irritating that his predecessors. Sadly, the latest Leah, Quentin, is woefully generic.

Ultimately, the combination of interesting new characters and a storyline beyond some new Dark Lord or other makes this one of Brooks' most enjoyable books.

very good but well wait a sec...... - Rated
quite a small book compared to brooks' usuals. very slow to unfold like all his books but gets better as you go along. but as usual theres another neglected unsure of himself kid, (oh man when will it stop) whos got mystical powers, but the journey this time isnt on foot, its in a ship, nope not any ship, a flying shipe (heh look i spelt it wrong, im not gonna correct it cos i think it looks funny and it sounds scottish). the action is limited though, what i mean to say is, theres no sword fighting or spell casting, but its the adventure that kinda made up for it, c'mon terry you can do better... one more thing, good characters, they all seem unique well they're meant to do that but anyway.

Shannara revisited - again! - Rated
In the voyage of Jerle Shannara we once again revisit the mysterious lands of Terry Brooks famous Shannara books. For those of you who got enchanted with the long since published Shannara series, and the follow-on “The Heritage of Shannara” it might be a natural thing to pick up this series from your local book-store or Amazon.com. However; maybe it is just me who is becomming “old” and cynical but; I do not find this book to be of the quality which I usually got to expect from the previous books from Terry Brooks. Maybe it might appeal more to younger readers; as for me most of the book has a rather thin plot-line, and not too developed new characters. No grand surprises and with few expections the book is rather bland reading. To my mind the book itself reminds me more of a good old Dungeons and Dragons (TM) module than a well developed fantasy book; and in fact the entire story, and plotline might possibly have been better off as “role-playing” material than a fully developed book. However; as with many things --- maybe the next book in the series will get better and might even surprise me and other readers. Score 2/5; and even here I might feel that I have been nice ;-).