the Elfstones of Shannara   by Terry Brooks

March 2004     on loan from my colleague's boyfriend, Tobias.

Magic, elves, demons, and a quest to save the world. Fantasy all the way. The writing, characterisation, and world were competently done. The "bit with the tree" was pleasing to read: The idea of a millennium old magical tree, keeping the evil out of the world, was quite appealing to me.

The long battle scenes were not overly long, thankfully. And the magic was not too abused, as a solution when there was a dilemma to got the heroes out of. Some of the creatures and beings... were too much: not in and of themselves, but the way that they were "discovered" all on this one quest, and were unknown to the world previously.

Overall... it was satisfactory entertainment. I would read more by this author -if I was handed a book of his, and had nothing better to read at the time.