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)

The Narrator Wasn't THAT Bad!

I can't believe all the negative comments about the narrator. It made me think twice before buying the book, but I'm glad I did.

While I would have preferred that Scott Brick had continued, I though Paul Boehmer did a decent job. I have heard bad narrators and he is not one of them. The worse part with the voice of the Tagwen. It was pretty bad.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the last one.

great book

Not a fan at all with the reader, not looking forward to the next book while this guy reads. The books are great

Great Book, Barely Adequate Narration

Once Again, Terry Brooks has drawn us into the Four Lands, and now The Forbidding, with powerful images and intricate plottings. The relationships between enemies and comrades, men and nature, are well thought out and tightly constructed. I wish I could say the same for the narrator. The reading is adequate to convey the basic feelings Mr. Brooks is trying to evoke, but just barely. I found that the dramatic range of Mr. Boehmer was lacking, and he resorted to awkward voicings for inhuman charcters that were more distracting than menacing.

Scott Brick has done an outstanding job of bringing power and finesse to the world of Shannara and it's denizens thus far, and it is disappointing to lose the mental pictures of the characters that we, the listeners, have built in our minds in previous books in the series.

It is especially galling that the change in narrators has been made right in the middle of the High Druid story arc. It has taken away from the experience of this newest volume. You find yourself constantly comparing the readers instead of being drawn into the story.

If the final volume of the series, Straken, continues with the current reader, I don't see myself listening to it. I'll read the book and let my imagination do the rest.

Good book

Middle of the book seemed to drag a little, but overall another good Shannara book.

Narrator did fine.

I read several scathing reviews of how terrible the narrator was. I'm happy to say they were mostly just spoiled readers with bad attitudes. I've been known to pen a bad review on a narrator or author and I'm happy to say this work deserves neither. Paul Boehmer narrates some of Brent Week's "Night Angel' Trilogy and did a fantastic job. As for his narrating Terry Brooks works, can we just say that Tony Bennett doesn't have the voice to sing for Metallica. Doesn't mean he can't sing, just his voice just doesn't fit the work.

Great work all around

This Narrator performance vastly outshined Scott bricks horrible performances. Hopefully he fires the future stories.

Not bad

Love the story, of course. The narrator left much to be desired. Breaking from tradition and giving the characters different accents and voices really ruins the continuity of the story overall. I miss Scott. :(

Great book, great narrator...but why switch mid trilogy?

I love this book and Mr. Boemhmer is a great narrator. I just wish they hadn’t switched mid story. That being said there are some truly powerful moments in this book. I highly recommend it. (It’s just a bit of an adjustment.)

This reader is much better then the last one

I have to say this reader is much better then the last one. He reads the book and does so without out any goofy inflections on words. After struggling through the last reader I was a little leery to continue on in the series. However once I heard this new reader it was a pleasure to read the book. Great book great reader cant wait till the next one

New Narrator

I wanted to write a quick review to say that I was at first dismayed to find that Scott Brick was not narrating Tannequil and Straken, however, after listening to both, I have to say that I think the new guy is GREAT! There are times (as has been said) where his character voices change or overlap, so it's confusing, but overall, I think he adds so much drama and suspense, that he's in fact better than Brick. Don't get me wrong, Scott Brick has a certain feel to his narration that I love, but after the initial shock, I'm grateful for the change. Oh, and the book is great too.