Morgawr (Book 3 of The Voyage Of The Jerle Shannara series) by Terry Brooks

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Morgawr (Book 3 of The Voyage Of The Jerle Shannara series) by Terry Brooks
Pub: Earthlight/Simon and Schuster. 401 page hardback. Price: Ł17.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-6109-6

check out website: www.earthlight.co.uk

The Morgawr, a reptilian warlock, procures a fleet of airships so he can pursue the Ilse Witch whom he believes has betrayed him. The Ilse Witch was his protégé but after being tricked into invoking the power of the Sword of Shannara, she is shown the truth about her past and evil deeds.

Redden Alt Mer and his crew, onboard the Jerle Shannara airship, are desperately trying to get to Antrax where their companions went to retrieve some magic books and to stop the Ilse Witch. The Morgawr’s fleet, not able to shake them off no matter what they try, pursues them relentlessly.

Meanwhile, in Antrax castle with the destruction of its magic the whole place is coming apart, Bek Ohmsford desperately searches for his sister Grianne, the Ilse Witch, before his companion can kill her. He is the only one who believes she can be saved.

Morgawr (Book 3 of The Voyage Of The Jerle Shannara series) by Terry Brooks When they find her and the Druid Walker there has obviously been an epic battle. Walker lies dying and the Ilse Witch has a hold of the Sword of Shannara but is unable to break free.

The sword shows her the lies the Morgawr told her when he stole her as a child, the evilness of the path he set her on. Unable to accept her own evil she retreats to a far corner of her mind leaving her in a catatonic state.

After persuading his companion not to kill his sister, Bek releases her from the sword but Walker, who was their leader, is near death.

The Druid tells them to take him to an underground lake where the ghost of his greatest ancestor comes to claim him. Before he goes, he makes Bek and his companion, Truls Rohk, promise to care for the Ilse Witch and make sure the Morgawr does not get her. With the death of Walker and the Morgawr upon them, they flee into the mountains in the hopes to find more of their companions who are scattered throughout Casteldown where Antrax sits.

The Elf Prince Ahren Elessedil has survived along with the seer Ryen but are soon captured by the Morgawr. Ahren believes Ryen has betrayed him by helping the Morgawr not realising it is the only way to keep them alive. The Morgawr uses Ryen’s visions to try and find the Ilse Witch but she deliberately leads him astray. In order to prevent Ahren’s death, she helps him escape but is then tortured and killed herself.

Bek’s cousin, Quentin Leah, has also survived into the mountains with Panax the dwarf and some of the local villagers but they are chased by some of the Morgawr’s horrific mutations. Unable to escape, Quentin decides to make a last stand so the others can escape. He almost makes it back to his friends who have set a trap for their enemies but is too slow and gets caught in the landslide as well.

Injured and close to death, he staggers away into the woods where he sees a spirit that he feels compelled to follow. Just as he is close to collapse, he meets up with Bek and his sister. Unfortunately Bek’s companion, Truls, had been killed in protecting them from the creatures that had also pursued them.

In another stroke of luck, they are picked up by the Jerle Shannara but are saddened to see that nearly three-quarters of the people who started the mission are now dead. Deciding to go home, they fly as fast as they can away from the Morgawr but are cornered on an island.

Realising the Morgawr wants to kill his sister, Bek uses his magic to bring her back out of her catatonic state so she can fight for herself. While the Ilse Witch and the Morgawr battle it out, Redden Alt Mer decides to take out his fleet so they can’t pursue them afterwards.

The third book in the series has a lot happening in it with most of the book hopping between the different groups of characters before they finally meet up near the end. Although you can get the gist of what has been happening, I think it would be best to read the first two books in the series. There is a lot of reference to past characters and events that have happened throughout their journey.

The characters’ names can be a bit much sometimes, especially since Brooks uses the full names a lot of the time even when talking about dead characters from the previous books! Most of them seem to have first, middle and last names like Redden Alt Mer and Ryen Ord Starr.

This wasn’t a particularly cheery book with very little going the good guys’ way! The Morgawr in particular was a nasty villain who had a thing for sticking his hand into the back of peoples’ skulls and stealing their souls.

I do like Brooks and have read all his other series’ but the guy loves his descriptions! Whole pages can be written on something that would normally take a paragraph! His earlier work was very much influenced by Tolkien but he definitely has a style all his own and some very original ideas.

Jacqueline Kirk

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