John Ross, a Knight of the Word, has continued his struggle against the demons that serve for Void for another ten years. But now he faces his greatest challenge. He has been charged by the Word to capture and protect a Gypsy Morph. The Morph is a rare blending of magics that occurs spontaneously. If developed properly, the Morph can become a powerful tool in the fight against the Void. Unfortunately, for Ross, the Void is painfully aware of these facts and has dispatched legions of demons to destroy Ross and turn the Morph to their own evil purposes. Lead by Findo Gask, the oldest and strongest of all of the Void's minions, the demons hound Ross relentlessly.

Ross turns once again to Nest Freemark, inheritor of a strange magic passed down for generations in her family. Nest last saw Ross ten years before in Seattle when she helped him recover his faith when he attempted to quit being a Knight of the Word. Now Nest must help Ross discover the secrets of the Morph while holding the demons at bay. Nest and Ross continue to make extremely painful personal sacrifices to achieve the goals of the Word. However, since the entire fate of humanity hangs in the balance, is any price paid too high?

Brooks adopts the same style that he did in the first two novels in this series. All the events are compressed into a few days of real time while details are filled in through flashbacks. Brooks keeps the action moving fairly well and comes up with an offbeat ending which I did not see coming. All in all, this is superior to A Knight of the Word but still inferior to Running With the Demon. Brooks just was unable to recapture the feeling of suspense that he expertly developed in Running. Still, it is a satisfying conclusion (for now) to this series.

Brooks is allegedly done with this series for now and will be developing another five books in the Shannara series. However, the ending of this book left plenty of room for sequels, so don't be too surprised if he continues this series at a later date.

If like me, you've read "Running with the Demon" and "Knight of the Word," you'll want to know what happens to John Ross and Nest Freemark. Character is what this book is about.

In this final volume of the trilogy, Nest is 29 and living back in Hopewell, Illinois. John Ross, once more a Knight of the Word, has come back to try and claim a potentially powerful entity--a newly born Gypsy Moth--for the Word.

Findo Gask, a demon, wearing an "Elmer Gantry" like face, has assembled his own odd crew of fighters aiming to take the moth for the Void. The results of this battle could change the balance substantially.

While I still love Ross and Freemark, it almost feels like some of this story is templated--particularly the fight scenes. I'm glad to have read the book. It's good to know what happened to two characters I value, but this is a lackluster end to what I consider a staller beginning.

If you're interested in Terry Brooks and want to read this series, start at the beginning with "Running with the Demon" but understand it 'runs downhill' from there.

"Angel Fire East" is the third book in the "Word and the Void" trilogy that began with "Running with the Demon" and continued with "A Knight of the Word." The gap between this book and the last is even longer than that between the previous two; ten years have passed since our two protagonists John Ross and Nest Freemark last met, and once again their reunion heralds another upheaval in the war between the benevolent Word and the chaotic Void.

"Angel Fire" is better than "Knight", but "Running" is still the best, and the only one in the trilogy that I would seriously recommend. The second two just don't seem to have the same characterisation or sense of all the plot threads drawing together in a master plan like "Running" did. But if you're determined to see Nest and Ross's story out to the end, then here we go again...

John Ross is a knight working on behalf of the Word who has managed to capture a strange magical creature - a gypsy morph that is made of leftover magics and (because of its capacity for either good or evil) is a much coveted prize for both sides of the battle. It has finally settled on the shape of a young boy, and since then the only word it has uttered has been the name "Nest".

Nest is now twenty-nine years old, a divorcee, and a retired Olympian runner - in other words, she's not really feeling fulfilled in her life, especially due to the unwanted attentions of the local sheriff Larry Spence. Then two arrivals appear: a demon named Findo Gask shows up on her doorstep inquiring after John Ross, and Bennett Scott, the young woman that Nest once saved, who is now a drug addict with a daughter of her own - Harper. Eventually John himself arrives, complete with the morph/boy they dub "Little John".

In the three days before Christmas, Nest and Ross come together again, trying to solve the riddle of the gypsy morph whilst shielding it from the control of Gask and his trio of demon henchmen. This mission is especially important to Ross due to the promise that the Lady has given him: if he completes this task, then his service as a Knight will be over.

The setting is thankfully back in Hopewell and the park, and Pick the sylvan is given more to do in this book than in the last, as does Wraith, Nest's inner guardian in the form of a giant wolfhound. The return of Bennett is a nice touch, if a little sad, Robert Heppler is still around - now with a wife and child of his own, and Two Bears again has a cameo appearance - perhaps the best one of the three books. Larry Spence is rather irritating, though I suppose he was supposed to be - but by the end of the novel I felt rather sorry for his kids - Brooks does nothing to explain what will now happen to them. Findo Gask makes a scary villain, calm, organised and collected in the visage of a country preacher with a Book of Names on all the people he has killed, and is backed up nicely by the slightly crazed Penny Dreadful. However, the other two demons' presence is somewhat unnecessary - the ur'droch remains an enigma, and Twitch's existence is entirely unjustified (he doesn't do anything except back up an unfortunate stereotype against albinos - they don't have pink eyes!)

The story itself suffers too - although the premise is interesting, there are plot holes and inconsistencies large enough to drive a truck through, plus an awkwardness in reconciling the fantasy and the `real world' stories that wasn't present in the previous books. The plot seems somewhat cobbled together quickly, switching back and forth between scenarios that don't really fit together - the demons' actions and motivations in particular are somewhat confusing, choosing elaborate schemes and disguises to watch the protagonists instead of simply going in and getting what they want. For evil creatures, they fluff around an awful lot, and spend too much time manipulating Larry Spence and Bennett when there isn't really much reason to. Likewise, the characterisations of Ross and Nest suffer too - even knowing what's at cost, they make some extremely unwise decisions. I question Nest's very intelligence at leaving Bennett and Harper alone in the house on the same day a demon came to call, and later letting Bennett go out alone after a near fatal accident. Furthermore, they don't neglect their social lives during the life or death situation - Nest goes to a Christmas party and Ross visits an old flame, seemingly believing that they'll be safe amongst other people when its been shown again and again that this is never the case. With Gask waiting too long to make his move, Nest waiting too long to ask for a basic warding spell around her house, and a lot of time wasted on a lengthy and unnecessary death scene on a frozen lake, the story just felt to patchy and hacked together.

Which is unfortunate given that it's the last book - some people may feel a little short-changed at the resolution, though it does end on a conclusion that suggests more books might be coming; Brooks certainly leaves himself with enough material to keep the franchise open, and I myself would dearly love to see Nest's old friend Brianna and Jared once again. As "Knight" centred on the theme of homelessness, here Brooks explores the evils of drug abuse. Thankfully the message was not so heavy handed as it was in the previous book, but it still comes across loud and clear: Don't Do Drugs.

All in all, a reasonable end to an interesting trilogy, but it always felt as though Brooks was skimming the surface of something much larger and more intricate that was only really explored in "Running with the Demon".

"Running With the Demon" and "A Knight of the Word" established characters that I cared for and hoped to read more about. While it was sad that my wish was met in the final installment of the series, I did like this book best out of the three. I got to see what became of many of the characters mentioned in "Running". Certainly, not all the endings were happy. This is something I've always loved about Terry Brooks writing: as in real life, the good guys don't always come out on top. Nonetheless, I was still very content with how things played out.

There were some loose ends, and ends that I wished had been otherwise, even though they worked well with the story. Overall, I found this to be a satisfying read.

The third book of The Word and the Void series does not disappoint. Taking place ten years after the Knight of the Word, we find Nest, a former Olymic gold medalist and recent divorcee back in her hometown of Hopewell, Illinois. Which is fine by this reviewer since Brooks gave us a wonderfully vivid impression of it in his last two books. He describes Hopewell with as much care and compassion as he does with Shady Vale.

Nest is approached and harrased by a demon named Findo Gask who is a preacher of the Void. He is looking for, who else, John Ross. John apparantly has been given the task by the Lady of capturing a Gypsy Morph, a being of great magic, and Gask wants it.

The authors strength here is not actually the premise but the characters in the series. However the payoff at the end is very much worth it. Most of the supporting characters that were in the first book pop up in one way or another here. Bennet Scott, the little girl that nest saves at the very beginning of the series, being a prime example. The demons (yes that's plural)in this book are particularly exceptional. Gask being the most formidable. Two Bears, whom I'm not normally a fan of, also makes his best cameo yet.

One admirable aspect of these novels is they take place over a span of twenty years, but the author is very carefull not to date the books with, well, by giving dates and telling current events or technology. Interesting sidenote, thought it was worth mentioning. Anyway....

Anyone who thinks that this is the last installment to a trilogy will be pleasantly surprised. Brooks leaves a lot open at the end of this story.
Highly recommended. Fans do not worry. My second favorite after "Demon"