I Read Your Book: "The Measure of Magic: Legends of Shannara" by Terry Brooks

Yup, I read shit with titles like that.  I'm so cool.

Plot: "Measure of Magic" tells the story of a young boy, Panterra Qu, forced to take up the black staff and become the new last Knight of the Word, making him the last, best, and only defense humanity has against a world ravaged by a demonic apocalypse.  It falls to Panterra and his motley crew of pals to protect the last vestige of civilization is under siege by an army of ferocious trolls and demon set on destroying the bearer of the black staff.  Oh man I can hear the women lining up to talk to me.

If you've read Brooks before, you know what's coming: rescues by the King of the Silver River, missing elf stones, and magic that isn't much fun because its use always comes with a price.  Things progress in a slow, orderly fashion; cuts between perspective are surprisingly rare and well-timed given the number of characters involved.  But it all feels rather anti-climactic; nothing about the situation in the valley changes.  The demon goes through the trouble of killing a shit ton of people to attract Panterra into an ambush...but Panterra was all ready kind of heading that direction anyway, so what was the point?  The subplot involving the treacherous elven queen was cleaned up a little too easily.  Score: 6

Characters: It's not even worth listing them.  You want static characters with almost zero back story?  You got 'em.  No one in this story grows or changes.  Most of the protagonists are indecipherable from each other; they're all cut out of the same cloth.  They're plucky and courageous and they do what they have to do when they have to do it.  What could've been an interesting love triangle between Panterra and the two main heroines never comes to fruition.  The death of one character seems completely unnecessary.

The only saving grace here is the demon.  The large chunk of the story told from his evil, obsessive perspective is the one place where Brooks really shines.  Score: 5

Setting: If there's another book in the series, this is what will make me grudgingly decide to read it.  The last bits of humanity and elven(ity?) have been sequestered in a magically protected valley for 500 years as the rest of the world degenerated into a wasteland ravaged both by demons and nuclear and chemical weapons.  The wards have come down, and now it's time to reenter the world at large.  Or what's left of it.  I would've liked to have seen more.  Score: 8

Ending: Blah.  I didn't care enough about any of the characters to feel anything about the end, and things progressed pretty much the way I thought they would.  Bleh.  Score: 5

Add 'em all up, bust out some division, and we get a 6.  That pains me; Brooks is an old favorite.  I had high hopes for this one because I really enjoyed the previous trilogy.  The great setting gives the series a chance for a big comeback...but maybe it's time for Brooks to try something new.

Bests: The demon; the setting.
"Bests:" Leading a dragon around with a magic beam of light like it's a cat chasing a laser pointer.
Worsts: Who the fuck are these people and why the fuck should I care; don't even bother trying to read this if you haven't read the others.

Is it better than Scott Colby's forthcoming novel, "Shotgun?"  No way.  Brooks's elves are getting a bit boring and long in the tooth; mine are ridiculous assholes.  I win.