It’s December and the New Year is just around the corner. What better time than this to look back at some of this year’s best books, as well as some of next year’s most anticipated titles?
For the next few weeks, we at Suvudu will be sharing some of our favorites from 2011. After that, we’ll focus on what we think is going to make 2012 a great year for reading.
Today’s choice for Best of 2011:
The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks.
Terry is best known by fantasy fans for The Sword of Shannara and his original trilogy of novels, but he has a catalog that consists of over thirty novels. Every once in a while, I see fantasy blogs and fans on forums believing that Terry is no longer relevant, a gateway author for young adults into the genre and nothing more. But since 1997’s Running with the Demon, Terry has become far more literary, producing some of the best commentary I’ve read on our world through his writing.
Terry did this with the Legends of Shannara duology. In Bearers of the Black Staff and this year’s concluding volume The Measure of the Magic, he told of sacrifice, where a valley of the world closed off from the apocalypse is returned—to dangerous consequence. To up the stakes, Terry introduced a demon named the Ragpicker, who eventually inserts himself as the leader of a religious group called the Children of the Hawk and subjugates them for his own evil purposes.
Here is a bit more about the book:
After more than three decades of captivating epic fantasy readers, the storytelling magic of New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks’s Shannara saga continues to enthrall. Now the fascinating chronicle of Shannara’s prehistory reaches a thrilling new peak in the sequel to Bearers of the Black Staff.
For five hundred years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the blighted and dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, the borders have been breached by predators, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and its profound power, devoted his life to protecting the valley and its inhabitants—and, in his final moments, gave stewardship of the black staff to the young tracker Panterra Qu. Now the newly anointed Knight of the Word must take up the battle against evil wherever it threatens: from without, where an army of bloodthirsty trolls is massing for invasion; and from within, where the Elf king of Arborlon has been murdered, his daughter, Princess Phryne Amarantyne, stands accused, and a heinous conspiracy is poised to subjugate the kingdom. But even these will pale beside the most harrowing menace Panterra is destined to confront—a nameless, merciless figure who wanders the devastated land on a relentless mission: to claim the last black staff . . . and the life of he who wields it.
From a literary point of view, The Measure of the Magic forces readers to examine the evil that can be spawned by people in power, people who are charismatic, people who use faith to their own gain. It also serves to remind people not to follow blindly, to question authority, and trust their instincts.
All aspects found in our current political and religious world.
The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks is one of the Best in 2011 for how it challenges people to think on their own. And not only that, but it features the great characters, magic, and twists we’ve come to expect from a Terry Brooks book.
Honestly, The Measure of Magic has to go down as the most disappointing book I read this year. Especially given how good Bearers of the Black Staff was. I think the biggest disappointment was the lack of closure with the transition from word/void to Shannara – these past five books were supposed to explain everything, but in the end The Measure of Magic reverted back to the “coming of age” story we see in every Shannara series.
It wasn’t all disappointment though, the ragpicker was one of the best Brooks villains yet, and the elf twins were two of the best Brooks heroes yet. But neither the ragpicker nor the twins got enough air time.
Hopefully Terry goes back to trying new things in his post-high druid series, seeing the same old tropes return every series is becoming quite tiring.