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Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 Edition: 1st Format: Kindle Book Label: Ballantine Books Manufacturer: Ballantine Books Number Of Pages: 309 Publication Date: January 18, 2001 Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: January 18, 2001 Studio: Ballantine Books Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: John Ross, the tortured, conflicted Knight of the Word from Terry Brooks's Running with the Demon, finally gets a good night's sleep in the sequel. He buys this moment's peace at the cost of his sacred oath to be a champion of the Word, renouncing that pledge after failing to prevent the slaughter of a group of schoolchildren. Duty and destiny are difficult to elude, though, and soon his former charge Nest Freemark, now a college student and Olympic hopeful, arrives to warn him of his imminent destruction, or, worse, his unwitting fall into the service of the Void. The story winds lazily through sleepy, wet Seattle like a tour bus, steadily building. Everything eventually converges on the homeless shelter where John works with his new sweetie Stefanie Winslow for über-activist Simon Lawrence, a man his dreams tell him he is fated to kill. A thin mystery clouds the identity of the demon conspiring to deliver John unto evil, but the book's real focus is John's fitful, foot-dragging attempts to fulfill his destiny. Knight doesn't provide the suspenseful energy of Running, a book that followed Nest through the dramatic loss of her childhood, but it rejoins her as she assumes the responsibilities of young adulthood and--like that period in life--still manages to deliver satisfying, if more subtle, rewards. --Paul Hughes Product Description: Eight centuries ago the first Knight of the Word was commissioned to combat the demonic evil of the Void. Now that daunting legacy has passed to John Ross--along with powerful magic and the knowledge that his actions are all that stand between a living hell and humanity's future. Then, after decades of service to the Word, an unspeakable act of violence shatters John Ross's weary faith. Haunted by guilt, he turns his back on his dread gift, settling down to build a normal life, untroubled by demons and nightmares. But a fallen Knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, which could bend the Knight's magic to its own evil ends. And once the demons on Ross's trail track him to Seattle, neither he nor anyone close to him will be safe. His only hope is Nest Freemark, a college student who wields an extraordinary magic all her own. Five years earlier, Ross had aided Nest when the future of humanity rested upon her choice between Word and Void. Now Nest must return the favor. She must restore Ross's faith, or his life--and hers--will be forfeit . . . Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Is there an escape from fate? Or are we trapped by destiny?Fate and destiny intertwine to trap John Ross in this, the second book of the Word and the Void trilogy. Devastated by his failure to completely prevent a tragedy at a grammar school, John decides he is not able to continue as a Knight of the Word and stops. Stops using his magic, stops following his nightmarish dreams of the future ... and eventually - seemingly - the dreams go away, eventually his link to the magic appears to go away. He is still crippled, he still requires his black staff ... Read More Rating:  - A Knight of the WordI 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. Rating: - Different from "Running" but still enjoyableNest Freemark and John Ross return in the second installment of the series called "The Word and Void Trilogy." John Ross has forsaken his duties as a Knight of the Word and the Lady has assigned Nest to convince him to get his act back together. While I found the story entertaining, I did not find it as gripping as the first book "Running with the Demon." Not to say I didn't like it, but we are talking apples and oranges here. Brooks slows down the pace considerably here and the characters ... Read More Rating: - Not as good as Running with the DemonI agree with most reviewers that this is not nearly as good as Running with the Demon, but I'm still giving it 4 stars because it was really fun to read! Yeah, the story is a bit soap opera-ish and predictable (I knew right away who the demon was, why the Shelter was set on fire, etc.) Probably what made this book very worthwhile is, once again, the presence of Nest. She is just the coolest character I've ever read in a novel! And, poor John Ross, can't he ever get a break? Rating:  - Mediocre and guilty of the no-twist twist sinThis is the second book in the Word/Void trilogy, which reads like a quasi-spiritualist Judeo-Christian moralization of modern society. That sounds like a criticism, but actually I find it pretty compelling. The first book of the series, in fact, sets these issues out fairly succinctly and interestingly but without too much preachiness, verbosity, or judgmentalism. I haven't read the third book in the series yet but I imagine it will continue, as this one did, in the interesting concept he's come up ... Read More |
