The Gypsy Morph (Thorndike Press Large Print Core Series)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Terry Brooks won instant acclaim with his phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Sword of Shannara. Its sequels earned Brooks legendary status. Then his darkly enthralling The Word and the Void trilogy revealed new depths and vistas to his mastery of epic fantasy. Armageddon’s Children and The Elves of Cintra took Brooks’s remarkable mythos to a breathtaking new level by delving deep into the history of Shannara. And now, The Gypsy Morph rounds out–with an adventure of unforgettably imaginative scope–the first phase of a new chapter in this classic series.

Eighty years into the future, the United States is a no-man’s-land: its landscape blighted by chemical warfare, pollution, and plague; its government collapsed; its citizens adrift, desperate, fighting to stay alive. In fortified compounds, survivors hold the line against wandering predators, rogue militias, and hideous mutations spawned from the toxic environment, while against them all stands an enemy neither mortal nor merciful: demons and their minions bent on slaughtering and subjugating the last of humankind.

But from around the country, allies of good unite to challenge the rampaging evil. Logan Tom, wielding the magic staff of a Knight of the Word, has a promise to keep–protecting the world’s only hope of salvation–and a score to settle with the demon that massacred his family. Angel Perez, Logan’s fellow Knight, has risked her life to aid the elvish race, whose peaceful, hidden realm is marked for extermination by the forces of the Void. Kirisin Belloruus, a young elf entrusted with an ancient magic, must deliver his entire civilization from a monstrous army. And Hawk, the rootless boy who is nothing less than destiny’s instrument, must lead the last of humanity to a latter-day promised land before the final darkness falls.

The Gypsy Morph is an epic saga of a world in flux as the mortal realm yields to a magical one; as the champions of the Word and the Void clash for the last time to decide what will be and what must cease; and as, from the remnants of a doomed age, something altogether extraordinary rises.

Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

I have read the Word and banished the Void.... for now September 2, 2008
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I have been reading Terry Brooks books for years and would tend to recommend his fiction just based on past performance. 'Sword of Shannara' and the related books are on just about any fantasy fan's top ten list.

I first read 'Running With the Demon' (Book one of The Word and the Void trilogy) back in 1998. I was fascinated by the concept and the writing was superb. I eagerly read the next two books and was just as impressed. I assumed that Brooks was going into a genre of writing similar to Charles De Lint (urban fantasy). What I did "not" get from any of those books at the time, was the tie-in to Shannara. As the next trilogy (The Genesis of Shannara) unfolded, I had to smack myself in the forehead for not realizing that these two trilogies were prequels to the original Shannara series.

Imagine that a writer can take a lion's portion of his works and tie them all together in such a neat package three decades down the road. It boggles my mind!!

Not much need for me to repeat the story line - others have outlined that in far more detail then I really care for. What I would like to add is that while you do not need to read all of the various Shanarra books to get into this one, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not starting back at 'Running With the Demon' and working through all ive previous books beore starting 'The Gypsy Morph'. I strongly believe it to be worth the effort!! Brooks does a marvelous job of wrapping up the major story lines (he admits at lectures and on-line that he leaves a few small threads open just to allow readers some leeway)

If you decide to read - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

All the best,

Jay

2 out of 5 stars

Could have been so much more... falls short. September 5, 2008
12 out of 18 found this review helpful

I can only give this book (and series) a solid 2 stars. Its keeps you on the edge of your seat at times but it could have been SO much more. Terry has attempted to join his 2 successful series (Knight of the Word & the Shannara series) together to tell the epic story of the Great Wars - the wars that sundered the planet and ended civilization as we know it and gave rise to the world of the Shannara books. The problem is it doesn't feel very epic. I have been reading Terry's books since the first ever Sword of Shannara release - thats a long time ago! My kids are older than I was when I first read that book!

Terry spends a lot of time inside his character's head on trivial details that aren't relevant to the epic end of the world story this should be. We have 10 pages on Panther's emerging feelings for the half breed Kat and 2 pages about Findo Gast - the antagonist of the entire series! We get a lot of pages with useless, irrelevant dialogues like this:

"Panther stands at edge of the campfire and stops when he sees the plate of food. How had it gotten there? Who had left it? Was it for him? Surely he was hungry, having been on scout patrol all day. But something seemed odd. This food seemed to appear out of nowhere, or had he simply not noticed before in his weariness. He approached the food cautiously. Maybe if Kat were here she could tell him what to do. He missed her, more and more. In a swift move, he picks up the plate of food and eats it down. It tastes good, really good. "Man this is good food, really good", he says to no one in particular. But then he comes to a stunning realization - though he has eaten the food - he will need more tomorrow!"

So, now to be fair I made that sample up (grins) - but there are hundreds of pages of that encompassing that level of minutiae - and honestly - do we care? I want to know about the demons, the elves, the elcrys, the lady of the word, the end of the world - but we get page after page of this. Its like Terry was having problems thinking of what to say and needed to stretch it out. At times its like reading a juvenile fiction book. The demons are barely covered and we barely get to see Findo in this book at all.

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Terry really misses the opportunity to blend these 2 series together better. It feels more like a TV episode where a guest star from 1 series that stops by on another series - interesting - but incongruous. Its like Kramer from Seinfeld stopping by on Friends and doing his Kramer thing and then leaving. Example: We have 2 sets of demons - the elves' fantasy genre demons that are locked away in the Forbidding. These are the more fantasy demons that want to rule the world and such. Then we have the human form demons from the Word & the Void series - but they don't mix well. In fact we don't even address why they are separate? I thought maybe we'd learn that the human form demons were minions of those in the Forbidding - here to push the human into destroying the world. But no, sadly we are left with 2 separate races of demons that seem to have similar goals but don't see to have anything to do with other.

Then we have the Lady of the Word and the Elcrys - I thought surely we'd discover they were one & the same. They are both semi-relgious, mystical figures that personify themselves as female to their chosen ones and ask them to carry out vague and dangerous quests. Surely I thought when the elven city was restored Logan would stand before the Elcrys and realize this was the Lady he served. It makes sense? The elcrys presents herself as a human woman to her human chosen so they would accept her more? And she has done this as she needs help from the humans to save the elves & life in general. But no - the elcrys and the lady are just 2 entirely separate semi-relgious, mystical figures that personify themselves as female to their chosen ones and ask them to carry out vague and dangerous quests. What a waste of an opportunity.

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Last note: the book just ends. Yes the children and elves and few adults do arrive safely at the happy valley and are shielded from the nuclear destruction of the rest of the world. But we never get to see the elves receive their thanks from the Elcrys. The Knights of the Word never receive their pardon & thanks from the Lady. Its just over. I guess they stay in the valley for a few hundred years while the radiation subsides? This isn't really a Genesis of Shannara - there is no mention on anything Shannara - related. I thought we'd find out that Logan and Cimarlin would marry and their bloodline would produce the Shannara lineage - the combination of elfstone magic and the magic of the word but no. There is no real connection between these books and the Shannara books other than the omnipresent elf stones & the king of the silver river.

I guess we'll get another book series soon picking up where this one stopped abruptly. I don't mean to be so critical but for a series that chronicles events that Terry has eluded to for over 20 years, it falls pretty short where it could have soared.

5 out of 5 stars

enchanting August 26, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful

The world as we know it is long gone. The pendulum for evil has sung forward and demons have come into the open preying on humans. Those people who allied with the demons have become not-men; more predatory beast than human. The bombs fell and plagues followed. Finally the demons destroyed the compounds where mankind tried to survive. The toxic atmosphere led to mutations turning people into monsters. However in this dark dismal planet called earth there remains a small feeble light of survivors of the Word trying to keep humanity from extinction.

The Lady tasks Knight of the Word Logan Tom (not the great volleyball player) to protect the Gypsy Moth, a being born of wild magic. Hawk's magic is going to lead the rest of humanity and the elves to a land where everyone can live in harmony. Elf Kirisin Belloruus is entrusted with the Elfstone to lead and protect his people from the demon horde and their monstrous allies. Hawk agrees to lead the caravan, which picks up travelers on the road as all seek a haven.

The last book in the Genesis of Shannara saga is as magical and enchanting as the entire Brooks mythos is with recurring characters and new protagonists banding together in a last ditch effort to save humanity. All the major questions from the previous fantasy tomes (see THE ELVES OF CINTRA and ARMAGEDDON'S CHILDREN) are answered with no loose ends that matter and an incredible climatic revelation. Though not a stand alone, Terry brooks delivers an outstanding finish with action, intrigue, battles, species that seem real in a time when mankind's time is ticking away.

Harriet Klausner

4 out of 5 stars

Pretty Good September 2, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

I would like to start by saying I think Terry Brooks is a great Author and one of my favorites. I have enjoyed every one of his books.

I just think the ending to this book could have gone a bit better. The demise of a certain bad guy was very predictable early on. I think what this series needed was another book to further tie in the old world to the new world.

3 out of 5 stars

I have to agree with S. Banks. Under standard. September 6, 2008
4 out of 10 found this review helpful

I've been a Brooks fan since I was like 6 years old. I've read every book he has except World (which isn't really a "book"). I got this one with eager anticipation.

For those that don't know, this is the third book of the "Genesis" series from Brooks. I reviewed Armageddon's Children, and warned people to read Word and Void series first. Well, now I'm saying that even if you read Armageddon's Children, this book will lose you.

What?

Let me start off by saying...this book confused me to no end. Brooks is all over the place with the writing, and as S. Banks mentioned, there are way too many "in my head" details put in the book. Obviously Brooks wants us to feel and think what the characters are feeling and thinking, but there is such a thing as overkill, and this book is it. A lot of IMO unnecessary descriptive context really detracts from the focus of the story and in truth, makes the book probably 50 pages longer than it really needed to be.

Additionally, characters are interjected, emphasized, then tossed aside with little remorse or consideration. Then they're reintroduced with no consistent flow. For example, a key character in Elves of Cintra (the predecessor) is incapacitated in this book by what is described as being similar to a Vulcan neck pinch by an Elf. What? Mind you, this character is supposedly a magic-imbued being who has protections against attacks and the ability to fight and defend themselves, yet a female version of Spock comes along and does a pinch and all of a sudden the character is knocked out for at least 3 chapters. O....kay.

Then we have another character who, while not directly important in this story, was quite unique and interesting in Elves of Cintra...and in this story, is taken out with one sentence in the book by a tentacle out of nowhere, not detected by aforementioned mystical character. Mind you, this unique character is blind and supposedly has enhanced awareness against danger, since they've survived alone in the mountains all this time. Yeah, okay.

Then the book jerks back to a group of people with bird names, and that's when it just falls apart. I won't even go into explicit details, but I mean you've got vehicles with lizards who are allegedly the previous owner, kids that die and are revived with no real explanation, and then of course, the subtitle of the book (who is such a lithe staple through the book that you almost forget about it) is a character that it's hard to care about, because it doesn't do anything.

I really wish Brooks would focus back on Shannara. The REAL Shannara, not a bastardization of Word/Void and Shannara. Elves of Cintra was well written, but it's really unappealing overall as a series. I want to see Brooks write about the first war, the development of the magic, the creation of the Forbidding, the first voyage to Safehold for the Bloodfire, the creation of the Ellcrys, the start of the Druids, the conversion of Brona, etc etc...

I just can't recommend this story unless you're sick of Shannara, really. If you're not really a fan you might like this, but reading Elves of Cintra and Armageddon's Children is a prerequisite.

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