Brooks's well-realized and likable cast from the previous books is back, from Nest (now 29) to Ross (haggard as ever) to Pick (still just a few inches tall) and even grown-up versions of Nest's childhood friends from Running, including Bennett, now a junkie with child. Of course, Findo Gask has assembled a creepy little Legion of Doom to harry these nice folks: a giant albino demon; a formless, flesh-eating ur'droch; and a knife-wielding Orphan-Annie-gone-bad named Penny Dreadful. And Angel Fire's main plot thread is even compelling: John Ross has caught a shape-changing, wild-magic creature of enormous power, a gypsy morph, that he and Nest must discover how to turn to the Word before Gask and his crew can capture it for the Void.

But as with Knight of the Word, wooden pacing and unconvincing transitions keep this tale from rising to the level of Brooks's previous masterworks, such as the excellent Shannara and Landover series. If you've read the first two books, it's certainly worth seeing off your old friends in Angel Fire East. But if you're--heaven forbid--new to Terry Brooks, check out his earlier work, or even his very capable novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. --Paul Hughes

Product Description
As a Knight of the Word, John Ross has struggled against the dark forces of the Void and his minions for twenty-five years.The grim future he dreams each night-- a world reduced to blood and ashes--will come true, unless he can stop them now, in the present.

The birth of a gypsy morph, a rare and dangerous creature that could be an invaluable weapon in his fight against the Void, brings John Ross and Nest Freemark together again. Twice before, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the lives of Ross and Nest have intersected. Together, they have prevailed.But now they will face an ancient evil beyond anything they have ever encountered, a demon of ruthless intelligence and feral cunning.As a firestorm of evil erupts, threatening to consume lives and shatter dreams, they have but a single chance to solve the mystery of the Gypsy morph--and their own profound connection.

"Angel Fire East"'s plot is slow and meandering, even going to the point of taking up nearly two pages of Nest and Pick bickering over nothing at all. And that's what the book felt like: nothing at all. The villains were unconvincing, the writing was lackluster, and even the scenery was off--one of my pet peeves from the first book, admittedly. (I've driven on the real Lincoln Highway mentioned in the book, and I have no idea where a steel mill would be, let alone the cliffs.)

The mystery of the gypsy morph gets drawn out and over-dramatized to the point where, by the end of the book, I just didn't care. The end scene with Nest and Gask both disgusted me and made me want to laugh--I never thought Nest would take a demon's word at face value, but I guess I was wrong, since it was the only way the writer could contrive the ending.

There are some good parts to the story, but in my opinion, the ending heavily destroys what good he'd built up, that he hadn't already destroyed himself. Please give this one a pass--you won't miss it.


Fast reading, but disappointing   December 4, 1999
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

Having worshipped the other two books in this series, I bought AFE the first day it came out and had it finished two days after that. Being slighty upset with it, I waited a few months and read it again, figuring that I'd give it time to digest. Unfortunately, my opinions stayed the same. Nest is a cool character in the books, don't get me wrong, but Ross is, to me, the reason I read the series. He's a cool version of a Paladin, and I can't wait for him to fight the next demon. However, he's severly underused in this book, and his ultimate resolution is terrible...almost as if Brooks was rushing to finish the book. As for the rest of it, Brooks has an annoying tendency of cheating his way through mysteries--you wonder what's going on, what something could mean, and then once its explained you realize its just that you didn't know something about the magic. An explanation that has to be applicable simply because it can't be tested suddenly pops up, i.e. Wraith in basically every sense. The bad guys in this one aren't very good either, and though it reads quickly, I think that can be attributed more to me wanting more of Ross than liking the story...it was fairly slow throughout. All in all though, this series is definitely worth reading, especially the first two. It looses steam at the end, but Brooks still manages to haven enough cool stuff to keep his readers interested.


Angel Fire East   February 17, 2000
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

As a big fan of Terry Brooks' effortless way of keeping you in suspense awaiting the next installment, I throughly enjoyed this book. It tied up many loose ends and left the reader wondering what would continue in the footprints left by the story's conclusion. For those who have read and followed the Magic Kingdom and Shannara series, both of which left me wanting more(a new series, character, or idea), this series continues the tradition. I feel it is worth reading more than once, as I certainly will.


Good except for......   April 1, 2000
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Excellent book in my opinion. While others say that it was a bit long winded in spots and is boring to read through all of his descriptions, I look forward to the great detail. He builds the characters from the ground up and makes you feel everything they are feeling... if you take the time to read all of the detail that is. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. He wound the book up in 4-5 pages and it just didn't sit well with me. 50 pages of wonderful fight scenes as only Brooks can do was completely ruined by a quickie ending. Wish he's spent 10-15 more pages explaining what happened to the characters afterwards.


Brooks Casts A Spell   June 8, 2000
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The incomparable Terry Brooks is in top form with "Angel Fire East," the third installment of the "Running With The Demon" series. In this one, Knight of the Word John Ross, compelled by his relentless dreams, is on a quest to locate a creature, born of magic, he knows only as a "Gypsy Morph." Once he finds it, he knows he will have but a short time to unravel its secret if it is to become the powerful ally he needs in the ongoing struggle against the Void. Then something happens that takes him back to the town of Hopewell, Illinois, and his old friend, Nest Freemark, who he has not seen in ten years. There's a connection, it seems, between Nest and the Morph; but it's as much a mystery to Nest as it is to Ross. Now it's up to Nest, as well as Ross, to figure it out before it's too late, all the while fending off the demon who would have the morph for his own sinister purposes. Brooks weaves his own magic here with a narrative alive with tension and suspense. There is a sense of urgency to the story, over which the menace of the darkest demon Brooks has yet created, one Findo Gask, hangs like a pall. Along the way we meet Pick, the little Sylvan caretaker of Sinnissippi Park; the Indian O'olish Amaneh, also know as "Two Bears"; Nest's friend, Bennett Scott; all of whom are more than just characters in a book; these are people you get to know, care about, and want to spend some time with. And then there's the malevolent trio of demons under Gask's command: Penny Dreadful (whose name says it all), the hulking Twitch, and a creature of shadow, known as the Ur'droch. Long after you've finished the last chapter, you're going to remember all of them. It's all a part of the spell Brooks casts, and I promise you, it will leave you wanting more of the same.