This Week August 1, 1990. Page M9 ae aaa LITERATURE This fantasy is... well... fantastic! dd isn’t it? At some point our lives are clove in e two. Yet the event and the demarcation go unnoticed despite the way the very fabric of our lives is torn and remade. Why, take time for example... Do you remember when “a long time’ was that portion of existence required for an aniseed ball, placed between gum and cheek and diligently sucked (not to mention fre- quently removed for inspec- tion) to go from shiny black through the rainbow of colors hat miraculously appeared thanks to the magic of ap- plied saliva? In fact, magic itself- or at least the belief in it - is yet another indication that our mortal span is not a single construction but comprises at least two sections. When did we stop believing in faeries and gnomes, elves and trolls, dragons and quests? When did the prospect of en- countering walking trees and talking animals cease to be something that made our eyes shine with delight and become cause for alarm and a quick trip to the nearest detox clinic? @ Now there is for this line of > | | | thought, as with most thing, a reason. And in this case it's quite a good one which is probably at least as great a relief to you as it is to me. You see, I’ve been reading fan- tasy. _ OK, stop smirking, this has Sothing to do with Penthouse. This is the sword-and-sorcery kind, the essential stuff of childhood daydreams we're talking about here. And I must admit I wanted nothing to do with it. Oh, I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings back in the late ’60s ( and liked it — or so I've By MIKE STEELE been told) but during the inter- im I came to view it as (dare I say it?) a waste of time. Well, I was wrong and I admit it. And the reason for this con- trite confession is Terry Brooks’ The Scions of Shannara, book one of the epic fantasy, The Heritage of Shannara (Del Rey- TERRY BROOKS Ballantine/Stanton & Mac- Dougall; 465 pp.; $24.95). As I said, I didn’t want to touch it. There were more than 200 other books on my shelves gag- ging on dust and sneezing for attention; I wasn’t even inter- ested in fantasy. [m not sure whether it was the honeyed tones of publicist Pat Crowe or the reverent manner with which 3 Hf to 60% OFF Celebrity Rohde Helena Selby Bally Florsheim Naturalizer, Niccolini Contoura 0 and many more SHOES “the experienced fitters” 742 Yates Street (Up from Birks) 3} 383-7815 a woman friend handled a copy of the book that changed my mind but something did and ’m profoundly grateful for it. Why? Because The Scions of Shannara provided me with several of the most relaxing, ab- sorbing and enjoyable hours I’ve experienced in ages. Oh, I gritted my teeth through the first 23 pages, kicking myself for agreeing to do an in- terview with Brooks and there- by dooming myself to the necessity of reading his book. But halfway through page 24 I realized, to my chagrin, that I was well and truly hooked. Brooks fans know that he wrote a previous Shannara tril- ogy (Shannara is the world in and on which this tale unfolds but familiarity with the pre- vious books isn’t at all neces- sary), then discarded it in favor of a new fantasy adventure series. Now he’s returned to the scene of his earlier success (al- beit several hundred years far- ther along in ‘history) with the first of four new Shannara titles. In The Scions. .., Shannarais no longer a gentle land as it was several centuries ago but one permeated by a growing yet nebulous unease. There is evidence that something evil is oozing once more into Shannara but the only force that can counter it, namely magic, is banned on pain of death by the despotic military government now in power. Yet magic remains despite the edicts of the Federation. Par, a young man descended from a family that intermarried with elves, is the genetic recipient of what initially appears to be a minor magical gift. His uncle Walker Boh, a mysterious recluse, may also possess un- usual abilities. These two and a female cousin Get named Wren experience identi- cal dreams compelling them to visit an ancient lake in the wilderness of a mountain redoubt. There they are en- joined, if enigmatically, to per- form tasks the successful completion of which will decide the fate of Shannara. All of the classic elements of the fantasy tale can be found here: an unusual group of char- acters, the eternal struggle be- tween good and evil, magic and of course a quest. But this doesn’t mean that The Scions of Shannara is nothing more than a trite trotting-out of a time- tested formula. On the contrary, Books has a critical eye for detail and the knack of imbuing his characters with credibility. Their doubts, storage space closet ° Fully adjustable UNIQUI CONCIPIS IN STACT 1 ANNING, CLOSET COMPANY Von) (skeen Chie Crenpsery, me AR Tif ite Decne) e More than doubles your e e Custom designed to fit your We will maximize every inch of your storage space! customers ° All types of space organizers e Mirrored sliding doors Call 361-1388 for a FREE, no obligation estimate or visit our showroom at Fully guaranteed e Over 750,000 satisfied #6 - 616 Hillside (corner of Rock Bay) concerns, feelings of inadequacy and even, in some cases, their extreme reluctance to believe that spells and evil are real lend further credence to Brooks’ craftwork. And he does this . throughout The Scions... He consistently maintains what I can only describe as an internal logic essential for a dis- cerning reader if he or she is to find the story believable within the tale’s parameters. While all such chronicles are founded on a fantastic premise, the ensuring events must obey that proposi- tion to the letter or the structure will, along with the reader’s in- terest, collapse. Thanks to master builder Brooks, The Scions of Shannara is marvelously intact and a wonder to visit.