Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am halfway through my second reading of this. My copy is a book club edition from the Science Fiction Book Club when you could get six books for next to nothing with a membership. That tells you how long it has been since I read it. At the time I thought this with Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East was a good stand alone trilogy (Mr. Brooks loves writing trilogies). Now I know better. It’s time to plow through the rest and on into the Genesis of Shannara.
Running With the Demon is definitely in the top third of all the Terry Brooks books I have read (I have four more to go before the end of Shannara). I wonder if MTV will ttry again with this one (I think it didn’t do to well with either the Elfstones or Wishsong of Shannara). It is a gripping story as well as an powerful reflection on what is currently happening to mankind. I find it fascinating that Mr. Brooks delved into this so eruditely back in the mid to late 1990s.
To shift fantasies, I think Gandalf would agree with Mr. Brooks about what it really takes to hold back the darkness: “I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” Whether it is Nest Freemark, Bilbo Baggins, or Reader Joe — we need you right now.
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