Skip to main content

The Platypus of Shannara: The Platypus Reads Part CII

Ending off the Rover episode-

The appearance of the monster that attacks the camp is carefully handled.  Brooks does a good job of building up our sense of foreboding with the rumors about a demon and then the "coughs" in the dark leading up to the attack.  The creature he describes kept reminding me of the slug beast in Doug TenNapel's "Creature Tech," but maybe that's because I'm reading through it right now.  Once again, Terry Brooks is an adept at narrating action sequences.  Every time there's a fight or a chase, I know exactly what's going on without having to pause or reread.  Wil's use of the Elfstones feels a bit perfunctory, but if we've read "The Sword of Shannara," we know that these things work and will respond to Wil in his hour of need.  Cephelo's reaction to the whole incident is spot-on as is Amberle's.  Eretria's flirty insistence on throwing herself at Wil's head baffles me.  She should be running away screaming after that or at least be in shock.

The road trip that follows gives us a chance to settle down a bit and gather our energy before the next frantic chase to the boarder of the elven kingdom.  We also get a chance for Amberle to be a little more endearing.  She seems to be settling down into "sweet but spoiled teenage girl."  One wonders how she managed to survive on her own for months.  Brooks continually points us to her ability to find food in the wilderness, but that's only one part of the equation.  The reappearance of the Dagda Mor is too reminiscent of a Nazgul, but otherwise the chase scene excellent; especially since we don't see the demon wolves this time.  Allanon shows up and serves as a good explanation for how Wil and Amberle escape without having to do any more fire-flinging.  That shows good restraint on the authors part.  He's varying his episodes to avoid redundancy.  Allanon cuts Amberle more slack than he's usually willing to give.  Again, if we've been following Brooks up to this point, we should realize that it's because he sees some similarity between himself and Amberle and pities her, even in the middle of a full teenage meltdown.  Wil's reaction is spot on.  Knowing a bit more about how the series goes, it seems clear to me that the author has the process of becoming a druid in mind already and is writing in light of it.  Even if Brook's world is "thin" and pulpy, he still creates an underlying cohesion that sustains it and should pass an increasingly added interest to each successive volume.

As an afterthought, teenagers seem to replace hobbits in the world of Shannara.  Maybe Brooks just knows his audience.

...and that bring us up to page 177.    

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Platypus Reads Part XXVII

Thoughts after reading the "Iliad" to prepare a Greece unit for my students: -Hector is a jerk until he's dead. He even advocates the exposure of Achaean corpses and then has the cheek to turn around and ask Achilles to spare his. He rudely ignores Polydamas' prophecies and fights outside the gate to save his pride knowing full well what it will cost his family and city. After he's dead, he becomes a martyr for the cause. -Agamemnon has several moments of true leadership to balance out his pettiness. In this way, he's a haunting foil to Achilles: the two men are more alike than they want to acknowledge. -We see that Achilles is the better man at the funeral games of Patroclos. His lordliness, tact, and generosity there give us a window into Achilles before his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroclos consumed him. -Nestor is a boring, rambling, old man who's better days are far behind him, and yet every Achaean treats him with the upmo...

SNES as Money Well Spent: Platypus Nostalgia

I got my Super Nintendo Entertainment System when I was eleven years old.  That's a couple years after it first came out.  The occasion was a little dramatic: to celebrate the end of a two-and-a-half year course of treatment for cancer.  I had no idea that it would be waiting for me at home after the final doctors visit.  It was a nice spring day, the trees were waving gently in the breeze outside the bay windows.  With a cup of tea resting on the coffee table, I set down to play.  What was that first game?  It was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past .  Around twenty years later, my SNES still works as does that Zelda cartridge.  It's been a long way from boyhood in Southern Connecticut to manhood in North Houston, but I'm still playing. Why am I still playing?  There were stretches when I didn't.  Many times, I've just been too busy.  There were also seasons when it felt embarrassing to still be playing video games....

Under the Moon: The Platypus Reads Part LXVI

My wife and I were discussing our favorite books from the Chronicles of Narnia on our way back from lunch.  My wife, true to her sunny personality, is a staunch fan of "The Voyage of the Dawntreader."  I can't argue with that choice but, when push comes to shove, "The Silver Chair" has always been my favorite. I have a bit of a theory.  I think "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" is Lewis' grail legend.  If that's so, then I'd hazard a guess and say that "The Silver Chair" is his "Pilgrim's Progress." -just think about the shape of Puddleglum's hat and the fact that he lives in the Fen Country and you'll see what got me thinking down this line. That brings me to why I like "The Silver Chair" so much.  When I was little, we had a children's version of "Pilgrim's Progress" that my mom used to read to me.  I lived in New England and the Christianity I was raised with had a heavy tin...