Armageddon's Children: The Genesis of Shannara, Book 1

I'm surprised by the negative reviews. I came to this book not knowing it was a "Shannara" book and so had no preconceptions of what it should be--and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I am eager to get the next two installments and see what happens next. I really enjoy books with long plots, so I was not at all worried about the way the story develops. I just let it carry me along and enjoyed the ride. I will say one thing about the reader, and that is that he appears to have gone to the William Shatner School of Public Speaking. He has a very staccato delivery that can be a little hard to enjoy, but I got engrossed in the story any way and didn't let it bother me.

I'm a longtime Terry Brooks fan and read the original Shanara books for the first time in high school. I've devoured every new book, even as quality has declined and themes have become repetitive, and this trilogy has been no different. I have my reservations though. The first black character that I can remember in any Brooks book is a charicature with an attitude problem (even worse, named "Panther"), and the narrator doesn't improve the situation by voicing him as a jive-talkin' throwback stereotype. Also, even with the new, post-apocalyptic backdrop, many of the themes are rehashed from earlier Shannara books. You should read (or listen to) this book, but be aware that you are not getting the best of Brooks.

This book got be hooked on audible. Well written, perfect narration, and well paced. I'm a long time fan of Terry and this is one of his best stories. You will not be disappointed.

This series was...okay. Not the best writing and the characters could be pretty 1 dimensional and dense but it was mostly entertaining.

My biggest complaint was the narrators; both are terrible. Dick Hill might be good for the mostly male "Reacher" series but both he and Phil Gigante (who narrates books 2+3) are horribly melodramatic and make anyone young sound like a whiner and females sound like flamboyant males. Seriously, the overly-dramatic reading was almost enough to drain all the fun from these books when in reality they might not be literary classics but are entertaining at least.

I enjoyed the story, but found it a difficult one to listen to. I like Dick Hill's performances, but not this one. The narration was hard to follow as the story jumped back and forth between characters and locations. There were no real breaks between chapters or when the story switched between characters or locations. If you can't devote your full attention to the story you will have to rewind frequently to figure out when the story changed. Mr. Hill seemed like he wasn't interested in this project because his reading was unusually flat for this complicated story.

I loved the characters and the overall story.

The fact that it was a clever combination of a post apocalyptic world where magic users play a large role was new to me. I haven't come across much in the way of non-science related characters operating in a post-apocalyptic world. It was a very pleasant setting that made the way for an intriguing story.

Logan Tom - Dick Hill performed Logan Tom very well. Some of the other characters were less believable and the way he sighed trying to give the characters just a bit more depth was a nice try but the sighs and tones of his voices just after the sighs (I first noticed it when he was speaking as the Indian Servant of the Word Two-Bears) got tiring and just I was more aware of the sigh than the story. It took me out of the story a good bit.

No. I listened to it in bits on my commute to work in the mornings and afternoons.

The book was great! I highly recommend it to anyone. Dick Hill wasn't a bad narrator, but he wasn't an awesome narrator. He did the job and did it well, but his female voices and occasional sighing before or after lines where the sigh was appropriate were distractions from the book.

I loved Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom series years ago and this story has me hooked AGAIN. I enjoyed Dick Hill immensely! He adds so much to the moods and emotions in the story. I just downloaded the next two books in the series! I recommend this to anyone who loves a GREAT "read". If you think you don't care for the fantasy genre, this might change your mind.

I really didn't like this book at all. I found the plot shallow and formulaic. Characters embarked on a quest ... a young boy discovered his magic powers ... blah, blah, blah. I've read it all before. Also, the book's pace suffered from many long and uninteresting flashbacks, and the ending left me scratching my head. Nothing got resolved. Brooks left every single sub plot hanging. I understand it's the first book in a series and the larger plot lines won't conclude until the last book finishes, but this was ridiculous. All in all, I felt quite disappointed, and I will not purchase the next book in the series.

A great start to another great series

Terry Brooks Shanarra books

Great narrator..... Great performance

Great book...beginning to end

Definitely worth a credit

I read the original Shannara books when I was younger and really enjoyed them. I also listened to them again recently in audio format and did not find them as entertaining as I thought I would, especially since some of them cost me 2 credits. However, I did enjoy spending time with the characters I remembered from many years ago so nostalgia carried me through.

With the Genesis of Shannara, Terry Brooks goes back in the Shannara timeline to tell how our reality transitions into that of Shannara which is a more traditional fantasy setting populated by elves, dwarves, trolls, etc. I found that to be an interesting concept so I picked this one up with some high hopes.

While this isn't a bad book, I was slightly disappointed with multiple things. First off, the downfall of our civilization is well under way when the book starts so you don't get much of the initial transition from normal to Armageddon. Second, the characters are all ok, but not as interesting as I would have hoped for and some of the concepts like "the elves have always been here" just didn't resonate well with me. And lastly, this is a major cliffhanger on multiple fronts. One of the worst cliffhangers I have read, meaning that multiple big events are underway and all left unresolved, which left me pretty unsatisfied at the end.

So if you plan to go "all in" on the series go ahead and pick this one up, but if you want to dip your toe in the water first you will likely find yourself with the same dilemma I have: Do I take a chance that book 2 will leave me satisfied when book 1 didn't, or do I just walk away now? Do I buy book 2 simply because Terry Brooks left me out to dry with the ending of book 1?

I thought Dick Hill did a decent job on the narration and I do not share the negativity expressed by many other reviewers. Dick Hill is a veteran narrator with a large body of work, and I tend to enjoy his narrations even if he isn't my favorite narrator.