Tanequil

High Druid of Shannara, Book 2

By: Terry Brooks

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Dark magic has opened a gateway to the Forbidding and trapped within it Grianne Ohmsford, rightful High Druid of Shannara. Rescuing Grianne will be merely the beginning of the effort to return the Four Lands to some semblance of peace. Only her young nephew, Penderrin, has any hope of returning her to power. But to breach the Forbidding and bring Grianne back to the natural world, Pen must find the fabled Tanequil...and the talisman it alone can provide.

That means journeying into the Inkrim - a dreaded region thick with shadows and haunted by harrowing legends. And there, Pen will strike a bargain more dire than he could ever imagine.

©2004 Terry Brooks (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Brooks' efficient pacing, skillful characterizations, and suspenseful plotting all bode well for the trilogy's conclusion." (Publishers Weekly)

“A great storyteller, Terry Brooks creates rich epics filled with mystery, magic, and memorable characters. If you haven’t read Terry Brooks, you haven’t read fantasy.” (Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon)

“[The] Shannara books make up the most important contribution to fantasy literature since The Lord of the Rings.” (Rocky Mountain News)

“Nonstop action [and] well-honed characterizations...will certainly satisfy his devoted following.” (Booklist)

Good book, adequate narration

As always, Terry Brooks has managed to build new pieces into a world both dark and inviting, pieces that add to the world's magic and mystery in a way that few can. The events story as it exists has become so far removed by time and events from the first story that they're barely recognizable as being the same, but still believable as the same world nonetheless.
That said, I found the narration to be disjointed and distracting. The speaker made poor attempts at distinguishing one voice from another, and at times would shift "voices" amidst a sentence, making dialog more difficult to distinguish from the rest. He has the voice and stylings of one well-suited to children's stories, of which this is definitely not one.

Adequate narrator but no Scott Bricks

I wish that Scott Bricks had continued this series. His voice and expertise pulled me into the world of audiobooks. I agree with the previous reviews that Paul Boehmer does not sound as good as Scott Bricks but he is no slouch either... Having heard a few samples from other books (some of the sherlock holmes come to mind) I would have to say he does a fairly decent job. It would have been even better if the sequence of readers had been switched going from Paul and finishing with Scott.

One tree is as good as another

If you don't like Paul, get over it or read it yourself. As for the story, it is a typical Brooks tale that succeeds in keeping me hanging around to see how it all comes out. But I can't imagine it being the center of a book club discussion about what it all means or about the elegance of style. Having said that, between Jarka Ruus and Tanequil, I did a detour through MZ Bradley's Avalon series, and now we can have a discussion about how incredibly different writing styles can be.
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Brooks is Brilliant!

Yet another exceptional epic fantasy by Terry Brooks. The depth of the characters and their growth makes the Shannara series OP.

For me I loved it

As usual Terry has done well in his story telling. I have only one complaint which it is a small one a couple times it was a little long winded were i wished to get it over just to get to it other than still a great of the world of Shannara.

Loved this but ending too abrupt

I am a huge terry brooks fan and the overall story was great. I like how he closes things off in a series but in this series after spending so much time building up the final confrontation, it was quite anti-climactic and left me wanting.

Typical Terry Brooks. I hated narration

Story as expected. I struggled through due to narration. Not my favorite Terry Brooks. Worth it if Shannara fan.

Narrator is robotic.

Narrator is very robotic and leaves much to be desired. His speech patterns remind me of Siri or any of the other digital assistants.

This saga continues...

Scott Brick brought me to Terry Brooks, but Terry Brooks kept me listening... this narrator does just fine. He is not Scott Brick, but few are! If you read book one, you will love the continuation, as it is not over... in fact, I will be amazed if this is concluded in one more book! As aways, a great listen!

unable to put it down...

This series really grabbed me...I am excited to start book 3! Really enjoying the character Pen. Terry thanks for such great story telling.