We’ve all been here before; a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by roving bands of humans fighting against dark forces. But with fantasy it really is a case of "it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it" and Terry Brooks knows how to do it. He paints a bleak picture of something that seems all too plausible (the pollution and warfare part, not sure about the demons) but adds his own special mix of hope, adventure and magic to prevent it becoming too gloomy. Hawk and his team of street children fight monsters; Logan and Angel go against demons while struggling with their own pasts, and the elves in the woods bring us closer to Shannara. As a book bridging the two series it works well; and as I couldn’t imagine what a book that does this could be like, I was impressed. Brooks paints a convincing picture of this terrible future world, and at the same time manages to come up with a book suitable for anybody old enough to read it. After all, no book with a giant centipede in it is going to be too downbeat... infinitely readable.