The Gypsy Morph (The Genesis of Shannara, Book 3)

this is a very good book but I think mr. brooks should return to the landover series. we have a new novelist MR. CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI WHO AT A VERY YOUNG AGE HAS CREATED A SERIES OF BOOKS. not unlike mr. brooks. whom I BELIEVE at some point he has read I have every book that mr. brooks has produced and I look to his next book lets go back to landover SIR.

I've long been a Terry Brooks fan and have really enjoyed his books. The Genesis of Shannara, however, really took off into religious realms that is unlike any of his previous works. There were way to many references to Saviors, Chosen One, Promised Land and the like.
If I want to read about Saviors and Promised Lands, I'll read the Bible. I'm not sure why Brooks suddenly went off on such a religious path, but I actually found it disappointing. The first two books of the trilogy didn't do this, only the third book. I can't explain this fully, only Brooks knows why. Sufficed to say I still really enjoy Brooks, I just hope his future books aren't religious-based.

This is the last of the new trilogy that shows how the Word & Void stories morph into the Shannara world setting. This is a very satisfying conclusion to a three book series, and one of his best books since The First King of Shannara. It tells the story of how the boy Hawk leads a group of children, and others, along with Kristen who holds the elf city within a lodestone, to a safe haven to wait out the end of the world. And that's pretty much it, as all the preparatory stories have been told in the first two books so this was just a "road trip" of sorts where everyone is fleeing the demons and trying to make it to safety with Hawk, who is The Gypsy Morph.

The ending makes sense, closes all the threads for each character, and leaves us in a place where we are satisfied until he can get back to the series again down the road. His last book in this series was good, and this is even better. This book is one of Terry's better accomplishments, imo.

Terrorism, war, environmental irresponsibility, and strange diseases are bringing Earth to its end. The elves, in their mountain cities, watch helpless as humans destroy the earth and mutate into bestial, or demonic forms. One young man, the so-called Gypsy Morph, is given responsibility to bring a band of children and their caregivers into the Rocky Mountains where, somehow and impossibly, a new world will be created--or found. The elves are supposed to join him, but they have their own issues and their level of trust is low--especially as demons have infiltrated their city.

Two Knights of the Word, Angel and Logan Tom have been given the responsibility of protecting both the Morph and the elvish city. Two knights, a few elvish scouts, and a band of frightened children seem like helpless prey to the army of demons and not-men stalking them. Especially as both knights have been injured and are emotionally damaged. And the band of children, like the Israelites being led out of Egypt, have their own conflicts and concerns as they flee from what seemed like relative safety into ever-increasing danger, led by a boy who doesn't understand where he's leading them and can act only on faith.

Author Terry Brooks continues his GENESIS OF SHANNARA series with a fast-paced adventure. Logan Tom finally comes face-to-face with the demon who destroyed his family, Hawk, the Gypsy Morph, learns his girlfriend's secret, and struggles with the responsibilities he's been given--and with the limits of his own power. And Earth itself, brutalized by humanity's abuse of the environment, suffers one last horrible blow. Still, with the entire planet disrupted, what hope can the band of children have?

Brooks focusses on three primary characters--the two Knights and the Morph, but occasionally takes time out to look into more minor characters--such as the always complaining but somehow likable Panther, as well as the elf-boy Kirisin, wielder of the elfstones. A preface, with a lone soldier deep beneath the mountains in a nuclear launch site, adds to the atmosphere of current doom accompanied by future hope. Fans of Brooks's SHANNARA stories will definitely want to learn how SHANNARA evolved out of earth. GENESIS OF SHANNARA, of which THE GYPSY MORPH forms the concluding chapter, is a major work of synthesis between SF and fantasy.

I have read through the reviews on here and what I do not understand is the negative reviews? Seems like some people haven't read all three books. Gypsy Morph answered my questions easily and I enjoyed it throroughly. The only complaint I have is that it ended too soon. I muss the days of long novels like Sword of Shannara. (Also wish First King was a little longer.)

I have been reading Brooks for over 25 years now and recently went back and re-read all the Shannara books including Word & Void. If you are new to the Shannara series, I suggest you start with Word & Void and move forward. If you are a fantasy buff, just stick with it through Word & Void (which is more demon based) and through the Genesis series (kind of a mix between demons and introducing the elves) and the trolls and dwarves will come into play starting with First King of Shannara;)

This trilogy helped to tie in his entire line and let us know how the world ended, how Lizards and Spiders came to be and how some of the races survived. But now I am axious for Brooks to carry us through to First King of Shannara. It would be nice to know what happened all those years in-between; what happened to the Knights of the Word, when did trolls and dwaves come into the scene, etc... Heck, I'd even like to know what happened in the lives of some of the charachters of the Genesis series such as Hawk, Panther & Kat, and Logan Tom & Simaralin.

So, although the triligoy explains a lot of the past history of the original Shannara series, there is still much left unseen...But we all know that it was probably Terry's plan to leave something more to be written about.