Skip to main content

First King of Shannara (Cont.): The Platypus Reads Part CCXXVIII

This post will cover chapters XIX through XXII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara.  Those who have not read the book and wish to remain spoiler free should not read on.


*Spoiling Schtuff*



Chapter XIX brings us back to Risca and the dwarves' attempts to delay the army of the Warlock Lord.  This chapter is "merely competent" in execution and might serve as a symbol of much of the book.  The fight scenes are well-narrated in simple, readable language.  The pace is fast without sacrificing coherence.  The problem is that it's all generic material that we've seen dozens of times before.  Raybur, Risca, and company are as soul-less and cardboard as the enemy hordes they face.  The setting and the action itself also fail to be evocative enough to supply what the characters lack.  The chapter, like so much of the book, is "merely competent" lacking the necessary flair to capture the imagination.

Chapter XX fairs little better than chapter XIX as we turn back to the elves and their crippled kingship.  Jerle is a defined character, but he isn't particularly likable.  Preia is too objectified by the narrator to be quite real and Vree Erreden is only interesting enough to pull his own weight.  In addition, Brooks' monarchs are entirely too democratic to entrance us with the pomp of royalty.  This chapter could have been saved (like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) by less stilted romance and more sweeping political pageantry.  The figure whose name dominates the entire cycle is about to be crowned king!

After finishing the previous two chapters I was seriously considering writing the book off as a failure.  Chapters XI and XII saved the day.  Dechtera, future capital of the Federation, pops to life in the first paragraph.  Instantly, we're back in the kind of imaginative setting that has always fueled the series.  My mind started to go back to the fantastic industrial landscapes of Final Fantasy VI and VII.  In short, I was ready to read again.  That readiness was repaid as Brooks carefully deploys his most developed characters (Bremen, Kinson, and Mareth) and returns to the main quest: forging the sword of Shannara.  This combination of setting and characters turns two rather static chapters into interesting reading.  Brooks actually makes Kinson's little trip to the sword shop work!  Mareth and Bremen are established enough that finally finding out why the one has sought out the other engages and satisfies.  Bremen as both teacher and grandfather figure charts his own territory: neither Allanon or Gandalf.  Mareth, the teenager who wants to find herself, should be a tired old trope, but Brooks has put enough time into developing her that she complements Bremen and enhances his character while also growing and developing on her own.

So there you have it.  I'm re-invigorated and ready for Chapter XXIII which should get us down to the sticky business of actually forging that magical sword.       

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...