First of all, I'm a huge Terry Brook's fan. But so far I've found The Word & the Void series off the beaten path from the Shannara series. The first book seemed excessively descriptive and without as much action as Terry usually packs in. Then I started reading this one...and my, oh my, is it preachy! Conversation after conversation of homelessness, its various causes, society's reaction, and on and on. It reads like a philosophical debate on society's problems, centering on homelessness but including our self-destruction. A thin story line is interwoven into the debate, but you have to earn it to get it. The self-destructive line is understandable, given that the end of this world preceeds the Shannara world, but the rest of it is wearing me down. I like to read fiction books to escape the specifics of real world problems. So far, there's no escape here. It's a reminder of all the problems waiting for me when I put the book down, all the unfortunate possibilities that the current economic state could present us with. As overwhelming as real life feels these days, this book just reinforces those feelings.

The second volume of the Word and the Void series, is as much of a standalone novel as the first one (Running with the Demon) was, and it features many of the same characters. The main story line this time is that John Ross has decided to forsake the side of the Word and quit his role as A Knight of the Word. Unfortunately, quitting is not allowed in this world and so a battle begins for his soul between the two sides. Ross is being courted and seduced by a demon who is working as hard as it can to make sure that Ross becomes an ally of the Void. The Word is not sitting idly by either. The Lady sends emissary after emissary to him trying to get him to stay in the fold - or actually, to return to her service. The initial emissaries are the normal dream sequences - but Ross ignores them; so then she sends her other servants culminating in the recruitment of Nest Freemark who is now a 19 year old woman attending college.

The main problem I have with this whole concept is that it seems to me that there is no reason for anyone to want to take on the mantle of fighting for the good side - the Word. Look at Ross for instance, as soon as he is admitted to the fold, he is permanently disabled and bound to the staff. We are told that this is to remind him every day of his service. Also, he is haunted every night by nightmares that show him how the world will end if he screws up. Oh, these dreams eventually yield clues that allow him to redirect events and resolve things to the side of the good, but why would anyone want to do this? What are the rewards of service? If you read these two books attentively you notice that there are no rewards - only more and more demands.

In Ross's case, he makes a mistake and does not foresee all the possibilities for wrongdoing in one case and consequently he fails - which results in a massacre in which 14 young kids die. Ross is understandably upset by this setback and one would think, nay hope, that the Lady would come to his aid - but she does not do so. Instead she spurns him and does not appear to him to bolster his morale. Noticing this, the dark side dispatches one of its most feared demons to work on subverting Ross. So, what does the Lady do? She sends a few more emissaries, but also dispatches one of her assassins to be ready to kill Ross in case he deteriorates further! Why would you serve these people willingly?

As far as the story goes, it rolls along in a semi-believable fashion as we witness the battle from Nest's perspective. She is not sure why she is being asked to help, and put aside her own worldly concerns, but she eventually does. As she finds Ross, and works out all the mysteries and swirls of magic around him, she begins to unravel the plot that is ensnaring Ross and points the way out to him. Ross for some reason believes her, while not believing in all the previous emissaries, and consequently is ready for the final battle in the nick of time - a battle that introduces us to a new twist of the magic that resides within Nest!

The demon that is working on Ross is obvious from miles away. About one third of the way through the book, I figured out who it was. The author does his best to cloak this and to sow doubt at the end, but those plot twists do not really work. Also, the whole story is a vehicle for the author to present his very dark vision of current American humanity and to expound on his political views of how the world and our society have turned their backs on unfortunate people - which will ultimately cause us immense pain and destruction.

I am not sure what bothered me more: the preachiness of the book? The obvious plot? Or the utter disregard that the supposedly good side has for its own people. For all of these reasons, I rate this book as a mere two. One final note, what was the illustrator thinking about when preparing the cover? Whose house is that? It is certainly not a part of either of the first two books in this series. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

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 - the token of his Knighthood - in order to walk, but he no longer utilizes it for anything else but a walking staff. He meets the woman of his dreams - a stunningly beautiful woman named Stefanie Winslow - and together they move to Seattle and begin to work for a man called Simon Lawrence - a man of extraordinary vision who works to help homeless women and children - and a man who, according to the only dream John still has, John is fated to kill.

But the Word is not so willing to give John up; despite the fact that he has renounced his place as a Knight, he still holds the magic of the Word and if a demon can twist that magic to the use of the Void, that would be a giant blow struck in the war against the Word. Nest is contacted by O'olish Amaneh - the last of the Sinnissippi - and asked to go and try to get John to take up his part as a Knight of the Word, to try to get him to believe that he is up close and personal with a demon, because one is already close to turning him to the Void's purposes.

Although the identity of the demon didn't come as much of a surprise to me - having figured it out fairly early - it was nonetheless revealed in a rather startling manner. Watching John Ross go through what he did in this book was painful in the extreme, because it is easy to understand the isolation and loneliness that he underwent as a Knight of the Word as compared to the happy life he had built for himself in Seattle, where he had a job he loved, a girlfriend he loved and a thriving social network. To watch all that come apart under the machinations of a demon AND the Word - it was quite painful. And to watch his determination to make things right anyway was somewhat awe-inspiring.

Terry Brooks can break your heart over and over and you still keep coming back because his characters speak to you in so many ways. This story was about growing up, in more ways than one. I highly recommend it.

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.

Nest 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 do much more navel gazing. Perhaps the contrast in settings affects the story; while "Running with the Demon" was set in a small town, "A Knight of the Word" is set in the city. I did enjoy the chase scene between a demon and one of the characters . . . pretty intense.

If you liked "Running with the Demon" you'll like "A Knight of the Word" but just expect something different. Sometimes change is good.