Demon Sword (Demon Days Book 1)

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For new readers to read? I bought these, not thinking it wasn't about Shannara and I just got them and saw theyre not about the shannara world. Linnea Kroeger "The Knight of the Word" trilogy does have to do with the "Shannara" books but you don't see how until you read "The Genesis of Shannara" which …more "The Knight of the Word" trilogy does have to do with the "Shannara" books but you don't see how until you read "The Genesis of Shannara" which include: See all 4 questions about Running with the Demon…. Lists with This Book.

Nov 03, Anne rated it liked it Shelves: While the plot was pretty interesting, there was just too much in the way of nonsense descriptions about the landscape and history of the town, which had no bearing on the story, for me to pay attention to every word. I just don't do well with stuff like that.

But once you scraped off all the useless information, this was a fairly neat take on the tale of the Battle Between Good and Evil. The young girl in this coming of age story has a power inside of her that can be used to save I skimmed. The young girl in this coming of age story has a power inside of her that can be used to save the world The other problem I had besides all the boring wah, wah, wah descriptions was that all the adults in her life kept her in the dark about all the things she needed to know.

And there was NO reason for it, other than to drive the mystery of her parentage, and set her up to potentially be so blindsided by everything that she might fail to make the right choice. It's quickly becoming my top pet peeve in books.

I did for the most part end up enjoying this far more than I expected. I'd recommend this one to those of you who really love the Dark vs Light sort of storylines. View all 24 comments. View all 4 comments. Not the correct edition. It was the unabridged one, but since I also have the paperback shelved, I can't seem to get this to switch to the correct audio edition. Actually, it's kind of a neat idea, but the execution was horribly flawed.

Listening to it was pretty torturous, though. Overall, there are some good messages. I like the idea that The End isn't one big thing, but a lot of little things all adding up together. A very subtle game was going to be played with unsuspecting people. Unfortunately, he fumbled in the execution. He did everything possible to alienate her while using all his subtle charms on secondary players.

It made no sense no matter how much I tried to excuse it. But the worst offense was Stupid Secrets. If there is any logic there, it completely escaped me. The magic is sketchy. I have raised 3 teenagers. Untutored, she had enough control to wake up her friend, Jared, from a coma? And Gran gave up all her magic to change Wraith. It never came back? Without magic, how did she kill the boy friend with the vision? Wraith's appearances had no logic to them. Pick can suddenly send telepathic messages? In a phone conversation, we find this gem, "There was an audible sigh of relief.

OK, that one is minor, but the sheer number of similar instances drove me to distraction. Pick was described so many times that I was ready to rip his mossy beard off. View all 8 comments. Now that was just what I needed. After reading a pretentious spewing of literary "greatness", I needed something that I could actually enjoy.

And enjoy it I did, more than I expected to. I've been reading Brooks for years. I remember liking it a lot and being really annoyed that he didn't have anymore books out. When Elfstones of Shannara came out a few years later, I was enthralled; it was even better.

I got side-t Now that was just what I needed. I got side-tracked awhile later and fell behind, but in recent years my stepdaughter has helped me get back on track. She's a huge Brooks fan, devouring each new book as it comes out. So I've borrowed some of her books and worked on getting caught up. I was actually surprised at how much I liked it.

I was wanting to find my comfort zone, and knew that Brooks was safe. That is, I'd enjoy the book and feel normal again, reading a book with enjoyable story and not something that some haughty author is trying to impress me with. But this book exceeded my expectations. It was like Elfstones , only set in the modern world. I love the blending of majic and reality and I don't want to spoil anything, as the discovery was half the enjoyment.

So next up, without question, is A Knight of the Word. Mar 04, Sara rated it really liked it Shelves: What do a fourteen year old girl, a wanderer with a wicked limp, and a calculating demon have in common? The answer is three-fold. Hopewell, Indiana is your typical small town where everyone knows everyone else, it's economy reliant on a single industry - in this case it's the now quiet steel mill as the strike grinds into it's third month.

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It is also the home of Nest Freemark, growing up under the watchful eyes of her grandparents, a sylvan, a magical dog, and the knowledge that she has a powerf What do a fourteen year old girl, a wanderer with a wicked limp, and a calculating demon have in common? It is also the home of Nest Freemark, growing up under the watchful eyes of her grandparents, a sylvan, a magical dog, and the knowledge that she has a powerful magic. Stranger John Ross drifts into town on a Greyhound bus, and insinuates himself into the life of the Freemark family, claiming that he knew Nest's mother, Caitlin, back in college, before she killed herself.

And then there is the demon, focused and determined to destroy not just our way of life, but life itself. They are bound by Hopewell. They are bound by deep secrets. They are bound by magic. Terry Brooks is one of my favorite fantasy authors, but I'll admit it, I had not plan to read this or any of the other books in The Word and The Void series. Urban fantasy just didn't appeal to me, despite how popular these books became.

But then he had to go and link this series to Shannara, my gateway drug into the realm of fantasy. If I didn't read these books, I would never be able to fully understand the foundations of those books. I added them to my stack of books to be read, but still I hesitated, putting book after book in front of them. Running with the Demon is a dark and complex story of the battle between good and evil.

This is not Lord of the Rings or even Shannara. It is something completely different and it hooked me right from the start. If you think you know fantasy, if you think it's all wizards and swords, you're wrong. What I want to do is go right out and read all of the other books in this series and then jump headfirst into the Genesis of Shannara. Terry Brooks has a way of making me feel like that. He has since the first time I picked up The Sword of Shannara.

But I will be patient, I will savor these books. I will allow myself to fully enjoy them and I will say to anyone who has debated reading them because they aren't Shannara, to quit debating and start reading today. Evil It is a common theme throughout literature, and the struggle between the two sides can become cliche, but when it is done well, with a realistic setting, unforgettable characters, and an absolutely riveting plot then a reader can be given a small glimpse of humanity and life. That is exactly what Terry Brooks gifts to his readers in Running With The Demon , which is an extremely well-written novel.

I have heard Brooks say more than once, that he considers this to be one of his best n Good vs. I have heard Brooks say more than once, that he considers this to be one of his best novels, and I can say I wholeheartedly agree with that. In Running With The Demon , there is a struggle of good vs. Fourteen year-old, Nest Freemark, lives in Hopewell with her grandparents, Bob and Evelyn Freemark, and little does she know, that the battle between the Word and Void hinges on her.

Running With The Demon invokes the idea that evil is constantly changing, and evolving, constantly attacking the moral fiber in the world, while opposing it, good is perpetually there, unchanging, but always attempting to stand firm against the ever changing threat of evil. As I said previously in this review, when the theme of good vs. I'm writing this review in light of the tragedy of the attacks in the German Christmas market, so the theme of good vs.

Void is very palpable in the world today. Many prayers go out to those people in Germany and throughout the world who are dealing with evil. I hope that they know that good always triumphs. Sorry to get "soap boxy". View all 3 comments.

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Nov 19, StoryTellerShannon rated it it was amazing Shelves: Story opens with a prologue where we gather insights into the dark dreams that John Ross, a Knight of the Word, must always have; every evening; every time he sleeps. It then opens with Nest Freemark, 13 and talking with a faerie pixie creature in a small town, racing to rescue a child from the dark creatures. Nest is sort of a guardian for people against the Feeders, who feed on the fears and negative emotions of humans, and does her best to keep them all safe.

But larger events are in progress. A demon has arrived and knows that Hopewell, Illinois will be the powder keg for the big blow up. Amist her adolescence, Nest must help Jon Ross, as well as her sylvan friend, stop the demon from setting off this little town, which will result in overall chaos and darkness in the world.

The genre appeals to some readers especially with the success of Neil Gaiman's works. As far as Brook fans go, this would appeal to dark urban fantasy types; it's well written and deals with good vs evil at an epic level in a small urban town. Not a huge story like Shannara I think the big epic scale fantasies of good vs evil are the bestselling stories in fantasy novels.

This is where Brooks really hit the mark. There's a bittersweet quality to Nest's adolescence. True, she has all these magical powers, which ward off the evil Feeders, but she has little control over the dysfunctional families of her friends i. Jared, for instance nor can she do much to help with the crumbling relationship of her grandparents.

Hopewell is also an ideal, idyllic little town. Everyone knows everyone and there's more of a community to it. That was one of the major reasons I enjoyed reading it, since it's never a community I knew or experienced. The loss of Nest's mother, which has wounded Nest and especially her grandmother which is tearing apart at her relationship with Nest's grandfather was heart breaking. A year-old girl, who is descended from a line of females who have been chosen to aid a sylvan in protecting a park in Hopewell, Illinois, is forced to confront the mysteries surrounding her family.

A crippled drifter bearing an intricately-carved walking stick, arrives in Hopewell, on the trail of a demon who is set on reclaiming what is his and ushering in the end of our world. And Terry Brooks, the mastermind behind the internationally best-selling fantasy The Sword of Shannara series, begins a new brilliantly realized saga that will culminate in the myth of Shannara.

So I stopped reading Brooks. And, now at 50, I am challenging myself to catch up on all things Shannara. This first volume of The Word and the Void trilogy is fast-paced and exciting. Brooks introduces the reader to a breathtaking world-with-in-a-world that is the elemental stuff of myth and legend brought into the modern era.

His characters are well-drawn and quite believable. While this tale seems light and breezy, Brooks' urban fantasy is really quite dark and delves in the realm of horror and suspense quite often. All-in-all, Running with the Demon is a terrific start to to what I hope will be a memorable triology. I have previously only read Brooks' original Shannara series and The First King of Shannara , but I was intrigued by his allusions to the world before Shannara --which had automobiles and aircraft and other technologies.

I suppose that this is a glimpse of that world. But having had that glimpse, I want to glimpse more. It was boring, there were no goals that I could determine a defined quest might have helped , and little hope. The setting is a big problem for me. We find ourselves in modern-day Washington State. There's very little magic. Nothing to rouse a trace of nostalgia for the Shannara series that you think you're supposed to be reading. There's just an apocalyptic war between good and evil going on that almost no one is aware of, and evil is winning.

The servants of good have no hope and never seem to get a break. This is simply too far away from the world of Shannara for me. It was like a bleak history lesson that I just had to get through, and I couldn't even find the connection.

The next trilogy Genesis of Shannara is a little better. Things start to move away from the world as we know it, and by the end of it, we're starting to get back into truer fantasy territory. I imagine you'd only slog through that many books to get back to Shannara if you're truly hopeful in spirit, but I am generally an optimist. Aug 22, Sarah Lau rated it it was amazing. First and most importantly, any book written by Terry Brooks is worth reading. His unique and detailed style of description is what I aspire to achieve in my writing.

What I believe is most incredible about his novels is that the majority of them are interlinked. She had come to him while he was milking Bossie. Terrible things will happen if you get into a fight today. Whatever she thought the hob had said, it had upset her greatly. Next week at the Glen Games, yes.

Then he would have to defend his title, if any man wanted to contest it. He had been thinking of an honest match, of course, man to man, which was not what Vik had in mind. They had turned to stare disapprovingly at the drama, and he was going to pass right by them. Without slowing his stride, Toby doffed his bonnet to the women. His fast-moving feet took him past them and on toward Neal and Willie like a leaf in a stream. He could see the cart outside, already loaded. That was where he was headed. Neal and Willie unfolded their arms and sauntered across to block his path.

Half the population of Tyndrum must be watching. He was bareknuckle champion of the glen, but boxing was not what was planned. Terrible things sounded more like gouged eyes than just broken bones. The pretense was over. There was no use trying a smile and a cheery greeting to Neal and Willie--not with the expressions they wore or the way they stood across his path.

Toby marched straight at them and then made a quick feint to the right. They jumped to block him and he spun around in a swirl of plaid to confront Vik Tanner. That was a sickening shock. If it was just to be fists, Toby would take on any two of them and probably enjoy himself. All together they could certainly beat him, although he would do some damage. But it would not be only fists. There would be holding, and no time out when a man went down. There would be feet. There might even be blades, although the Sassenachs hanged any Highlander they caught wearing as much as a dirk.

Fat Vik was very nearly as tall as he was. His arms were thick and furry, but the meat on them was flab, not muscle.

Demon Days

He looked dangerous on the outside and had nothing inside. Bryce and Rae were born followers, and still just gangly kids. Today they were two of six and could afford their excited, nervy smiles. Colin was older; twenty or more. Colin was wrong in the head, the one who killed sheep at full moon. Now he was leering at Toby, eyes and mouth twitching eerily. He had both hands behind his back. If Vik had given Crazy Colin a knife, then there was murder in the air.

Six of them in a circle, the traitor in the center. The climactic fight was superbly spun, in fact chapters five through eight of part eight all made for very tense reading. I feel confident to say we're established and ready for further adventures, although exactly what the overall picture is as yet remains unclear to me. I feel as if I've missed something, thinking back, but I can't quite put my finger on what.

Demon Sword

Ahead with book 2! Ken Hood is actually Dave Duncan writing under a pseudonym I believe at the time he was writing faster than his publisher was willing to release books. So if you like Dave Duncan you'll have a pretty good idea what to expect here - an enjoyable albeit relatively lightweight fantasy set in an imaginative world. Good for those times when you just want a light read without having to think too much. Feb 01, Lorena rated it liked it Shelves: Also published under the author name "Ken Hood.

Michael rated it really liked it Apr 04, Lee rated it really liked it Dec 01, Pete rated it really liked it Jun 06, Nick rated it liked it Dec 10, Soukyan Blackwood rated it liked it Feb 07, Schmehl rated it liked it Feb 10, Jason rated it it was ok Oct 21, AMS16 rated it liked it Aug 12, Aaron Humphrey rated it liked it Jun 22, EIK Mittendorf rated it really liked it Jun 25, Rebecca Ferare rated it really liked it May 04, Seth Levine rated it really liked it Mar 06, Matthew rated it liked it May 13, Joy Shafer rated it it was amazing Jun 20, Nadine rated it liked it Feb 03, Susan Hersey rated it liked it Sep 14, The best sword and sorcery Dave Duncan at his grown-up best.

Read the series, its great fun with complex themes.

Plus he knows plenty about Scotland and let's ye know it a wee bit at a time which leads one,in this case-me-feel like I know a lot and so a comfortable and happy journey ensues. Jim Mansfield rated it it was amazing Sep 05,