Do you have a fictional world that you can always come back to? Something that no matter what, you can re-read, or know that the next book set there will be comforting and like coming home, at the very least.<\/p>\n
That’s what the Shannara<\/a> books are to me. I’ve re-read the first few trilogies several times, and I keep picking up more when I hit the bookstore. I wait to read until I have a complete trilogy or quartet, because when I get going, I don’t want to stop until I’ve digested the whole story.<\/p>\n Believe you me, Terry Brooks<\/a> is prolific enough for me to be able to do that without worrying if it’ll stop the next one from coming out.<\/p>\n But, Skippy, you might say, the first book<\/a> is awful! Well, dear reader, I’d be hard pressed to argue with you on that one. Though, in my teenage years, when I was devouring R. A. Salvatore<\/a> and Isaac Asimov<\/a> and Anne McCaffrey<\/a> and Margaret Weis<\/a> and Tracy Hickman<\/a> novels, each in a matter of days, I didn’t even notice. And the second series of books<\/a> hooked me forever. The first ones<\/a> may have anchored me into the world, but the second ones spoke to me.<\/p>\n Those are the ones that made the Four Lands feel like home.<\/p>\n I’m on pause now. Don’t give me the side-eye, I’m looking for two more to finish out the quartet. And then, dear reader, AND THEN? I’ll make a trip back to this world and devour that story, and I will be happy.<\/p>\n Where’s your fictional home away from home?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you have a fictional world that you can always come back to? Something that no matter what, you can re-read, or know that the next book set there will be comforting and like coming home, at the very least. … Continue reading