Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

I read this book the first time some thirty years ago and had fond memories of it. It’s the story of Nest Freemark, a fourteen-year-old girl with a wild magic inside her that she does not understand. It’s also the story of John Ross, Knight of the Word, who is attempting to avert the apocalypse which he dreams about every night. He has come to the aptly named town of Hopewell where something pivotal in the battle between the Word and the Void will happen. It is obvious to the reader from moment one that the pivotal incident will involve Nest, but it takes a very long time to figure out just what her test will be.

 

Unusually for me, I did not remember very much about the plot as I read the novel this second time. I think the reason for that is that it is so tediously slow in developing. The contrarian within me thinks that that is also the great strength of the novel. By taking his time in developing the story, Brooks lets the mystery of the town take root. Who is the demon? How is he connected to Nest? What the heck really happened to Nest’s mother? And what happened to Gran’s magic? And those are just the really big questions. If Brooks had rushed to the ending, we would lose a lot of really good detail, and yet, the story dragged for me through all of that detail. It’s not really until the ending that Brooks resuscitated his tale and made me glad I was rereading it.