As the third title in Terry Brooks' Genesis of Shannara series, The Gypsy Morph continues the story of Hawk as he leads his group of children and others to a safe haven in anticipation of the impending apocalypse.

Continuing their mission to save Arborlon with the Loden stone, Kirisin and Simarlian make the hard decision to leave behind Knight of the Word Angel Perez so she can heal after he battle with the demon. A demon army commanded by Findo Gask has surrounded the elven city, waiting to claim the Loden once it contains all the elves, forcing the elven to fend off the demons long enough for Kirisin to leave with the Loden.

Meanwhile, the Ghosts are together once again, having found Hawk and Tessa. Hawk brings Logan Tom back from a coma after his fight with a rouge Knight of the Word. Soon after reviving, Logan Tom is given a new assignment from the Lady-- He must leave the Ghosts and go to help Kirisin save the elves.

The bulk of The Gypsy Morph is high tension and exciting. The confrontations with the demons and suspenseful and well written. I was happy to see Findo Gask return to the story as I think he adds a great tension and is a wonderfully written villain. As opposed to the demons in both Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra, Findo is the one issuing orders. We can see his grand plan as he goes after his prey, as opposed to a simple "following orders" mentality that the other demons showed.

Also, more so than in the previous two books, the characters all seem to blossom in The Gypsy Morph. Each Ghost is trying to find his or her place in the family-- especially Candle who seems to have lost her ability to forewarn them of danger. Logan Tom is trying to reconcile his entire life and discover who he really is meant to be, all while finding a strange attraction to Simralin. Cat, the half lizard girl, finds that she has started to mutate again and what happens between her and Panther makes me hope to hear more of their story.

My Recommendation
All in all, this is the type of story I had hoped for in both Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra. While I was slightly disappointed in both of those books, The Gypsy Morph makes up for it with it strong plot and solid characters. I highly recommend this series!

The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks
Printed by Del Rey
416 pages

The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks is available at Amazon.com

I was provided with a free review copy of The Gypsy Morph