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Title: Running With the Demon (The Word and the Void Trilogy | Book 1) |
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Review of Running With the Demon (The Word and the Void Trilogy, Book 1)
- In a sleepy steel-mill town, the ultimate battle between Good and Evil is about to begin . . .
Sinnissippi Park, in Hopewell, Illinois, has long hidden a mysterious evil, locked away from humankind by powers greater than most could even imagine. But now the malevolent creatures that normally skulk in the shadows of the park grow bolder, and old secrets hint at a violent explosion.
The brewing conflict draws John Ross to Hopewell. A Knight of the Word, Ross is plagued by nightmares that tell him someone evil is coming to unleash an ancient horror upon the world. Caught between them is fourteen-year-old Nest Freemark, who senses that something is terribly wrong but has not yet learned to wield the budding power that sets her apart from her friends.
Now the future of humanity depends upon a man haunted by his dreams and a gifted young girl--two souls who will discover what survives when hope and innocence are shattered forever . . .
Product Description
- Terry Brooks's Running with the Demon is billed as "A Novel of Good and Evil," but he could've called it "A Novel of Here and Now." The fantasy master behind the Shannara series switches his focus from neo-Tolkien jungles to the woebegone steel town of Hopewell, Illinois. Though Illinois teenager Nest Freemark (where does he get these names?) looks like your average kid, she spends her free time in the woods asking her 6-inch pal Pick for advice in dodging the Demon and his creepy Feeders, spirits who gobble the souls of humans. Nest is also being tailed by John Ross, a shining Knight of the Word who wants to keep her from the Feeders' jaws.
Meanwhile, in the real world that dominates the novel, Nest Freemark is being stalked by a handsome, evil classmate who she has rejected, and a pack of surly, insurgent striking steelworkers plot a bombing at the company's Fourth of July picnic. The boy and the bombers are unaware that they're being subconsciously manipulated by the Demon. The book's matter-of-fact take on the uncanny is a bit like The X-Files. (And if you want to compare the two, check out Ted Edwards's X-Files Confidential: The Unauthorized X-Philes Compendium.)
Brooks's plot has more strands than a plate of pasta, yet his mind is logical to a fault--he used to be a lawyer. There's something for everyone: gory monster attacks, a dread family secret, magical mind-game duels, even a (rather flat) teen-romance subplot. The setting has real grit and the countdown to the Independence Day bombing peps up the tale. Brooks sometimes prosaically explains things a better literary stylist would dramatize, and his minatory visions of environmental apocalypse are more fun than the obvious, nagging, don't-be-a-litterbug message they exist to convey. Brooks will never be as deep as Tolkien, and many readers will find him less awesome as their adolescence recedes. Still, he's the genuine article, and with this book, he raises the stakes he's playing for.
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Comments for Running With the Demon (The Word and the Void Trilogy | Book 1)
- Posted on 2008-03-04
Running with the Demons
I am a huge Terry Brooks fan. This book does not disappoint. I have introduced my grandson to Terry Brooks, and he enjoyed this book as much as I did.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-03-02
Opening Gambit - pulls no punches
I had forgotten ... it had been so long, I had forgotten what it is like reading a book by Terry Brooks. I had forgotten that he creates worlds that hold such dark things; that he isn't afraid to kill characters, traumatize characters, forge them into weapons in the hottest fires of testing. I had forgotten what a ... almost tactile experience it could be reading a book by Terry Brooks, who describes things in such detail, in such living color, that it is like you are THERE.
When Nest saves Bennett Scott from the Feeders one night in the park, it seems pretty normal - she's been a Caretaker of the park ever since she was old enough to understand that she carried the magic inside her to do so - the 5th of her family's women in a line to do so - and was paired with Pick, a Sylvan, who only those with the magic can see. However, she can't help but notice that the Feeders are becoming more bold, and there are more of them than ever. Pick tells her the balance is off, that something seems to be going on, but he doesn't know what.
Meanwhile, her grandfather meets with former co-employees who are currently on strike from MidCon, the area's largest employer - the strike has gone on for a long time now, and tempers are getting high; especially since scabs are being brought in, and managers are working the lines themselves in order to keep the plant operational. Derry and Junior, two of the men affected by the strike, are becoming especially upset about it, and swear they will "do something about it," leaving the meeting in a huff. A mysterious man, who Old Bob (Nest's grandfather) can't quite place but is quite sure he knows, leaves as well.
Nest's grandmother, shattered by the death of Nest's mother, Caitlin, but nonetheless holding herself responsible for Nest's training in magic, spends her days drinking and smoking. Nest believes that there is something that Gran isn't telling her, but she cannot figure out exactly what it is. It seems to revolve around her mysterious father, of whom no one will speak.
A mysterious Native American named Two Bears arrives out of nowhere - Nest befriends him and joins him when he calls up the spirits of his ancestors, the ancient tribe of the Sinnissippi people, of whom he is the last. What she learns further strains her relations with Gran.
The final piece of the puzzle arrives in town when John Ross, a Knight of the Word, shows up. He receives dark dreams of the future, of what it will hold if he fails in his duties to the Word, if he fails to stop the Void from destroying humankind.
I have this book as part of an omnibus, containing all three titles. It doesn't look particularly thick but through some trick of the paper and binding they have fit a large number of pages within a fairly small book, and you can feel the weight when you hold it. It reminds you of the weighty topic of the story itself. The story takes place in our world - or, at least, a world not so very much different from our own - and even if you do not believe in magic, demons, Knights and such, you should believe in the fact that we, are Humans, are on the brink of wiping ourselves out. There is a lesson to be learned here, I believe, if you look deeply enough.
Definitely a recommend from me for this extremely thought-provoking story.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-02-16
I'm confused
I don't understand this book. John Ross dreams about a horrible future every time he falls asleep, a future that will happen if he doesn't stop it from happening. He's suppose to stop the Demon from getting to 14 year old Nest Freemark. But the Demon was never going to get to Nest because her grandmother had already taken care of things. The horrific, end-of-the-world future was never going to happen in the first place because of grandma! This book would have turned out EXACTLY the same without John Ross. Such a wimpy hero!!! I'm just surprised that more people don't find this fact really annoying.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2007-11-29
The best of Brooks
This is my favorite Terry Brooks novel. The Magic Kindgom for Sale was a close second, but Running is the book I keep coming back to read over and over. And, I have read ALL of Brooks' Shannara books. This book is perfect. It wreaks of nostalgic Americana, yet the evil is ancient and powerful. The characters are some of the greatest ever created for a novel. The tender, bittersweet relationship between Evelyn and Old Bob. A group of kids from disfunctional families who stay srong and support each other. The mistreated Josie. The pillar-like Two Bears. The tortured John Ross. And finally Nest, probably the most perfect female character ever written. She is strong, intelligent, yet warm and caring. I really missed them in Armageddon's Children. I love the Shannara books too, but they are sometimes hard to follow, perhaps because of the vast variety of foreign names and places.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-11-08
Terry Brooks: Knight of the Written Word
"Running with the Demon" is a brilliant novel centered around Nest Freemark, a fourteen year old grappling with her magical abilities that set her apart from her friends. She must protect the park in Hopewell from feeders and other monsters that lurk in its dark recesses that lay invisible to others. The novel also centers on, John Ross, a knight of the word that suffers from haunting dreams of a destroyed Hopewell, a city caked in ruins, people roaming about it like ghostly aparrations starved and decrepit and the smoke from its ruin rising about the air, like ink. He must prevent the possible future of his dream from occuring.
The story intricately intertwines these two stories, these two lives. Terry Brooks flawlessly describes the city of Hopewell, the park and such to the extent that I am there, lost in the vivid colors so creatively and lyrically painted.
Also, I have never read a novel that draws the characters so intricately, so dynamicly, emotionally that I really feel for them. This novel is truly a masterpiece that delves into rich fantasy and into deep carefully constructed characters.
I really feel as if I know Nest, John Ross, Oolish Amaneh, Nest's grandfather and grandmother and her friends. It is as if I could hop on a plane, take the next flight out to Hopewell and meet them. It is a fantasy that so deeply embeds itself in reality, it takes a while after I close the book, to feel it leave me, for reality to sink in. It is a dizzying plummet into a great work of art.
This book is amazing, I highly recommend it to any and everyone!
Score: 5