Teaser Tuesday 7/10/2018: The “Sword of Shannara” Trilogy

Somehow, despite being both a Child of the 80s and a fairly voracious reader of fantasy literature, I never got around to reading any of Terry Brooks’s classic “Shannara” series. That oversight is now being corrected, as I’m currently reading The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, a massive ebook comprising The Sword of Shannara (1977), The Elfstones of Shannara (1982), and The Wishsong of Shannara (1985).

Since this one book has the entire original trilogy crammed into it, it is a doorstopper of epic proportions. Or, I mean, it would be, if it weren’t an ebook sitting on a tiny little chip in my reader. A reader which, I should note, estimates that it will take me about 31 hours to read the book. I’m pretty sure that’s the longest estimated reading time I’ve ever seen on this thing, and I also used it to read Dune and the Dragonriders of Pern omnibus. A typical estimate is in the 2-4 hour range, so, yeah, this is a big, big, big book, but will it beat Pern‘s record of occupying four straight Teaser Tuesdays? We shall see …

The woods were unusually still, even for early evening, and the wary Valemen walked in uneasy silence through the shrouded gloom of the forest night, the moon a distant beacon that appeared only at brief intervals through the dark boughs overhead. Flick was particularly disturbed by the unnatural silence of the Duln, a silence strange to this huge forest—but uncomfortably familiar to the stocky Valeman. Occasionally, they would pause in the darkness, listening to the deep stillness; then, hearing nothing, they would quickly resume the tiring march, searching for a break in the forest ahead that would open onto the highlands beyond. Flick hated the oppressive silence and once began whistling softly to himself, but was quickly stilled by a warning motion from Shea.

Somewhat unfortunately, that one character’s being named “Flick” has, despite the book’s description of him as kind of tall and kind of stocky, fixed him in my mind as looking like this:

I’m pretty sure poor Flick is going to end up in some serious trouble before the book is over.

And when that happens we’ll all go, “Flick? Flick who?”

Meanwhile, speaking of people getting in serious trouble, I am very close to the end of Father’s Books in ths round of editing, so, naturally, that’s where the characters find themselves. They also find themselves awash in spoilers, making it difficult to select appropriate passages for a Teaser Tuesday, but here’s one that’s not too bad:

As they bounced along the rough, deserted driveway, she felt again as if the forest were watching her, the trees whispering to each other. Look, she’s back! She’s back! Spreading the word, letting the house know. She shifted around in her seat, slumped back a bit. Maybe then the forest wouldn’t be able to see her.

Oh trust me. The forest can still see you.