The Gypsy Morph

Rating NR Genre fantasy Author Terry Brooks Publisher Del Rey External Links Official Terry Brooks Website

The Gypsy Morph is the final book in the Genesis of Shannara trilogy by popular fantasy writer Terry Brooks.  The novel continues the stories set up by the first two books, Armageddon’s Children and The Elves of Cintra.  In the near future, young survivors are living in the aftermath of a worldwide apocalypse.  Bleak and fetid from chemical warfare and plagues brought on by human self-indulgence and supernatural invasion, America has become a dangerous place to navigate.

Demons and once-men (humans who have been lured by the darkness and are now evil creatures themselves) roam the wastelands, herding humans into slave camps and destroying others in a carefully executed holocaust.  Across the country, many of the survivors have taken refuge in compounds.  Outside of these strongholds, children and young adults fend for themselves. After having been abandoned, kicked out of their compound homes, or orphaned, they now live in protective tribes while avoiding the evil that lurks in every corner.

Elves, who have managed to stay out of human affairs for centuries, are also at risk of being annihilated.  What is coming after the humans wants to destroy the Elves as well.

Like the first two stories in the trilogy, The Gypsy Morph focuses primarily on four characters. Eighteen-year-old Hawk, the adoptive father of a ragtag tribe of children named the Ghosts, has learned that he is the gypsy morph, a special being created from wild magic.  What excites, confuses, and frightens him all at once is his destiny, which is to be both the Moses and Noah of his time.  A Faerie creature known as the King of the Silver River has laid out Hawk’s task: he must gather several thousand children, their caregivers, and the Elves and usher them to safety before the world, as they know it, ends.  Complicating matters is Hawk’s elation and concern for his young wife, who is pregnant with their child.

Kirisin, an Elf, is responsible for using the Loden Elfstone, a small gem, to help save the entire Elven population and their city.  But the demons are bent on stealing the Loden and using it to massacre them all.

Logan Tom and Angel Perez are the only surviving Knights of the Word, valiant modern-day warriors who have taken vows to fight against the Void (the evil entities) and to help Hawk and Kirisin fulfill their destinies.

A massive migration begins, and many people, including mutated humans and outcasts, join the exodus. Soon a hideous monster begins to stalk them, taunting Hawk to draw him out.  The Knights must protect the boy from this monster because his death would mean death for them all.

What improves in this story is Brooks’s characterizations of the Ghosts, who act less guileless and exaggeratedly sweet as they do in the first two books.  However, one of the Ghosts, a teenager named Panther, remains the unfortunate embodiment of the Angry-Young-Black-Man stereotype.  Panther, who is African-American, is big, tough, irascible, resentful of authority, and the only one who uses poor grammar and swear words (though they’re innocuous ones like frickin’ and bull.)  Despite this clumsy portrayal, he’s still likeable because his gruffness builds up some of the most entertaining tension between the Ghosts, who otherwise often engage in conversations glutted with banality and sappiness.

Even with the unnatural dialogue, the other children’s idiosyncrasies shine more in this book because Brooks gives them a bit more freedom to express their true feelings about Hawk and their future. Likewise, the relationship between Kirisin and his sister Simralin, the two important Elves in the story, is also explored more fully as they deal with the power of the Loden and their new alliance with the humans.

Because Brooks stays away from overtly sexual matters and graphic descriptions of violence, the book at times reads like a young adult novel.  However, it is hardly simplistic or whimsical.  These kids are facing adult-sized problems.  When a street girl approaches Logan Tom and subtly offers sex in exchange for his protection, the author is reminding the reader that during times of war, childhood innocence is often fleeting.

Of the three books, The Gypsy Morph is the most action-driven as both the humans and the Elves are trying to outrun and fight off the demon army as they march toward sanctuary.  It doesn’t allow the characters or its readers to pause too long for rueful reflection.  The characters’ unwavering vigilance and determination to protect their friends and charges keep them on the constant move and advances the plot with a keen sense of urgency. What’s most gripping is the unsettling act that causes the world’s ultimate destruction.

Very few writers could make the ending of the world actually seem thrilling.  That Brooks can do it without heavy-handedness immensely underscores his talent.