Running With the Demon (The Word and the Void Trilogy, Book 1)

Capsule Summary: Rating: Excellent. A "positive horror" novel which is well-written, well-paced, and clever. The spine of the copy of Running With the Demon that I have just says "Fiction"; associations with the author's name invoke a general "fantasy" expectation. Running With the Demon could be considered "urban fantasy", but to me, it's clearly in another genre. This is modern horror. This is Stephen King's bailiwick. I found myself thinking a LOT of King's work while reading Running With the Demon, and King suffers badly in the comparison. In this book, Brooks gets to show off a somewhat different style of writing, and demonstrate his skills depicting "regular people". The Shannara books take place in an entirely different world (albeit with the conceit that they are actually this world, after a sort of mystical apocalypse), and the Magic Kingdom books have a comedy slant which drives much of the character action. Here Terry is writing a serious "Novel of Good and Evil", and his characters have to ring true. They have to be people we can imagine living in this world, even if underneath the world we know there is Something Else. And those who are connected to the Something Else we have to at least believe as residents of this world, as capable of hiding their presence from the mundanes. Running With the Demon presents us with a world like our own, but one that is, unbeknownst to most people, under seige; a battleground between Good and Evil, or perhaps between Growth and Creation and Decay and Destruction. The Creator-power, God if you will, is the Word, and the destructive is the Void. Agents for each are selected, or select themselves through their choices. The "demon" of the title is a man who has become a demon, something inhuman, through his own choices. His general approach is to manipulate others to perform destructive acts. His main adversary, a Knight of the Word named John Ross, was chosen for this duty by a sort of manifestation of the Word called the Lady (with connections to imagery from Welsh history/myth and, at least in general imagery, seems related to the Arthurian cycle as well). In a sense Running With the Demon seems to be almost a combination of two King novels, or rather two King novels as they might have been written by a better writer. This is The Stand meets Needful Things, because we have both an apocalyptic threat, a confrontation which may lead to the end of the world, and a story of small-town events, of the ways in which evil can use our own fears and desires against us -- possibly with a soupcon of "The Dead Zone", because John Ross can see visions of possible futures -- terrible futures, usually, which it is his job to prevent, but for which he has only the most cryptic of clues as to HOW to prevent them. But Running With the Demon is BETTER than these books. The Stand, in the end, had to use a literal Deus Ex Machina, or possibly Machina ex Dei, the Hand of God, to finish off everything -- and in doin

I thought this book was an excellent book! It had me hooked from page one! I sat down and finished the book within 36 hours since I wasn't able to put it down!

I was a devoted Shannara fan seeing Brooks for the first time when he was publicizing "Running with the Demon" at Powells Books. I got a signed copy, of course, but told him urban fantasy was not my bag. Brooks told me, "Just keep the book. You'll need it eventually." He was right. One night, I needed something different and there was "Running with the Demon." Nest Freemark, one of the two protagonists, is a teenager. She spends her free time with companion Pick, trying to avoid the Demon and Feeders that inhabit Sinnissippi Park. John Ross is a Knight of the Word drawn to Hopewell to combat Evil. As the plot unfolds, we discover that the Demon has influenced one of Nest's classmates to harass her and also some irritated steelworkers to set off a bomb at a July 4 picnic. Plotting is smart-paced as Freemark and Ross fight to figure out what's happening and stop it. Great tale--you will find it hard to put down.

while not quite up to par with his shannara works, it's still worth reading - several times too. the sequels are pretty lackluster, but this one (as are most originals) is the best in the series. a great introduction to brooks as well, even if you havent read the shannara books - this will introduce you to his writing style which is very good. the thing i like the best about this novel is that the characters are so vivid and the events are so realistic and logical. the knight of the word and the demon are both described very well and are so deep psychologically that its hard for me to think of a fantasy novel that rivals it in its depth of psychology. a great buy!

As I sit and read all of these one and two star reviews, I am thoroughly disappointed in my peers for coming to such conclusions. Many people said how they thought that the modern-world setting was a bad idea. I completely and whole-heartedly disagree with that notion. In my opinion, the fact that the events in Running With the Demon were "here and now" emphasized the realism and tension in the story. On a similar note, it is completely unfair to frown on Brooks simply because he didn't resort to another "sword and sorcery" fantasy land setting. I find it refreshing. As a writer, I let out a heart-felt "shame on you" for downing this story for such arbitrary, and, quite bluntly, selfish reasons. Running With the Demon was fast-paced and descriptive, with reaslitic, believable characters. Brooks managed to keep the heroes of the story "human", which is a skill that doesn't come easily to many adventure or fantasy writers. The fact that Nest Freemark was 14 years old adds to her humanity; it doesn't take away from her credibility as a hero in the story. I don't know how many people will actually read this review, because I got on the horn a little late, but I found it completely necessary to voice my opinion on this subject.