Not-So-Grand Finale

Yesterday, Straken -- the newest book by Terry Brooks -- was released. I finished reading it tonight. I've been a fan of his books for many, many years now, hungrily devouring each new one he releases -- like clockwork, once a year, which is more than I can say for just about any author I enjoy. This new book was the third and final volume in a trilogy that kicked off in 2003. I re-read volumes one and two over the last week, enjoying them all over again, and eagerly looking forward to this one.

And so, with all that background, you may understand how much it pains me to say that I didn't think this new book was very good.

After a clever and interesting struggle was set up in book one, and escalated in book two, it was ended all too easily in book three. Compared to the sacrifices made by characters just to survive and eke out even the smallest successes in the first two books, everything just fell into their laps in book three.

A major adversary, hinted at in the first book and brought frighteningly to the forefront in book two, does not even appear in the final book. Though this adversary imprisoned and tortured one of the heroes all throughout book two, said hero manages to escape with help early on in book three. And in her flight, she never comes to face the adversary again. It's as though a major, epic showdown all-but-promised in book two just plain never happens.

Just as bad, a few contrivances find their way into the plot of book three. This is totally unlike Terry Brooks. A meticulous outliner, most of his other series have contained neat foreshadowing and interconnectivity between the volumes. But in the climax of this series, characters discover they have capabilities that weren't adaquately hinted at in the preceding books. Perhaps this is indeed what the author planned all along, but it was handled with such a shocking lack of his usual skill, it all comes across like a deus ex machina.

So now I'm really disappointed. It's worse than just reading any book and not liking it. It's basically reading a book by your favorite author (whoever that might be in your case) and not liking it.

Well, at least it will only be one year until Terry Brooks releases his next book, and has a chance to redeem himself in my eyes.