“Humans once they were born into the world were of a different mind-set. They were determined to make their lives better not by adapting to nature, but by subjugating her. The entire history of their evolution has been centered on taking from nature what they needed to improve their lives without regard for how it might damage nature herself. And eventually they evolved into a people that have become so industrialized and so dependent on machines that to forgo that mind-set and adapt to ours is beyond them. This lifestyle is furthered by an unshakable belief that Humans are superior to all other beings, giving them the right to exercise domination over the entire world.”

Terry Brooks is my ultimate comfort read author. Ever since my dad got me to read The Word and the Void trilogy in high school. So I was super excited when I was approved to read the first book in his new series.

I loved this book! The magic system in this book is as unique and took a familiar cast of mythical characters and shone them in a whole new light. The world building was beautifully executed and had me dreaming of living in the forest city of Viridian Deep. MC Auris is taxing at times but I found her to be enduring and rooting for her to fit together the pieces of her complicated past. Definitely recommend to anyone who is a fan of Mr Brooks and his epic fantasy tales. And to anyone who is looking to lose themselves in a new beautifully crafted world.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having never read Terry Brooks before, I was super excited to get this ARC, but the amount of exposition killed me.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey Books for the ARC.

19 year old Auris makes a daring escape from a Goblin-run prison with a group of her fellow prisoners. She then finds herself in the hands of the fae Watcher Harrow, who takes her to the fae kingdom and helps her reclaim/remember her life before prison.

Spoilers below!
I have never read Terry Brooks but I am familiar with the Shanarra series (show and my father is a huge fan of the books), so this was a interesting introduction to his writing. I enjoyed the world building and the conflict built into the story with the Goblin/Human/Fae turmoil. I'm not sure that I am a fan of Brooks' formal writing style though. Auris sounds too formal for a teenager/young adult. Also, she barely processes the loss of her prisoner friends, which I find unrealistic.

I like the love interest, Harrow, but I wonder if the romance should have been left for the next book in the series so that Auris (and the reader) could focus on healing from trauma and coming to terms with her past. There was enough drama in this book without adding the romance in so quickly.

As with most first books in series, there is a lot of things to build and explain, which can drag the pacing. So there are some slower parts, but I will say Brooks' integrates the "info-dumping" portions better than other authors I've read. It aren't massive chunks of the books that are slow.

Overall, 3/5 stars, and I will read the next book in the series.

This was my first ever book by Terry Brooks. I wanted to read this book because I loved the Shannara chronicles TV series and I knew I'd love other stuff he wrote. This book had me hooked from the first page. It started in the middle of a jail break. The only thing I didn't like was the use of the word "save." I had never heard it before this book, and I had to look up it's meaning. Would have preferred except or but or just anything else because he used save a lot to the point it was annoying. You just don't see it in books much anymore so it didn't fit. I loved the way it was written otherwise. He really can tell a story! I loved the main character. Can't wait to read more by this author.

This book marks a new venture for the author after his many books on Shannara. This one involves interactions between elves, goblins and humans with a strong, young female lead. The book was a little inconsistent, but overall a very good read. I look forward to more in this new series.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey Books for the ARC.

I tried so hard with this book, but it was a DNF for me. This was my first Terry Brooks book and I was so disappointed.

It started out so promising, but after the first couple chapters, it just went down hill. Once I put it down (about 40% in) I never picked it back up.

Auris escapes a child prison (slave camp) right away and it is high energy from the first paragraph. My attention was grabbed. But all the sudden the pace starts to change and then this teenage girl needs to lust for a boy. Alert, we don't always need someone in our lives. Sometimes we just need to work through the crap going on and that we just went through (friends dying, etc). Also, I felt like things were repeated over and over. At one point I actually said out loud that a section was deja vu..

I tried to finish and just couldn't. Maybe someday I will try a different book and series, as I know he has a strong following.

Auris lives in a prison, guarded by Goblins, who keep children for work and for food. She doesn't know where she was before the prison but she knows she wants to escape, so she joins a group of kids and plots an escape. Unfortunately she is the only one to survive the escape and she wanders alone until she finds a strange person, who turns out to be Harrow, a wood sprite.
Auris, with Harrow's help, recovers from her escape. She then sets on a mission to uncover the truth about her past.
Child of Light is full of adventure and action. Being a YA book, it also has some romance between the two main characters. Terry Brooks has created an interesting new world that is a wonderous place.
The only complaints I have are that Auris is a bit self-centered, putting her needs and wants above everyone else, and she is also very indecisive, which could come from her being only nineteen. At times the story was a little long and slow but in the end it was a good YA fantasy with interesting characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and Del Ray publishing for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Auris is a young woman that has lived in a prison since the age of fifteen.. She also has no memory of her life prior to being in the prison. After an attempt to escape, Harrow, a Fae from a magical land, helps Auris escape from her captors.. She finds herself being welcomed in to the Fae community with a few exceptions. Harrow believes that Auris is more than just a normal human and sets out to help Auris discover the truth about her past and who she really is.

Thank you to Netgalley and Terry Brooks for letting have a sneak peek at this new magical series. I have to admit upfront that I had not read any previous Terry Brooks books and was very excited to delve into his fantasy worlds. This book was beautifully written, but seemed to drag on in places. that is the reason for the 4 stars vs. 5 stars. I'm sure the pacing had to do with the set up and information feed for a multi-book series. The characters were a bit annoying at times, well developed, but annoying. I'm a bit older than the target reader so that could be the reason I felt annoyed by the characters. The settings were very visual, the prison drab and depressing, the Fae community green and beautiful. I felt I was pulled into the world of the Fae and loved it.. This book is a wonderful read and would highly recommend it.

Honestly, this was pretty terrible. I got about 35% of the way through, and gave up. First person writing is hard, and Terry Brooks does not do a realistic job of it for Auris. Perhaps there's some explanation later in the book of why she'll every once and awhile pop out with a phrase like 'hot mess', or mention that Harrow doesn't understand the word 'wow', but otherwise sounds like the most navel gazing, no contractions using fantasy character of all time. Everyone's speaking style in this book is SO formal, but then, again, she'll add semi-modern teenager terms into her speech and it sounds ridiculous. The plot is pretty garbage, as well. Basic plot, discovering her past and history, that's totally fine. But Harrow is constantly coming up with 'here's the next thing we should do' and it's always directly after Auris thinking 'what are we going to do about this particular issue?'. I kind of hate both of them. The actual technicalities of the writing are fine, at least, so it's not a complete waste.

A new world for writer Terry Brooks to open up for us readers of Fantasy. His world building is strong and I cou.d picture it as I read. The main character is only 19, yet she has been in a prison for children guarded by goblins as their workers or food source for many years, it's just her way of life as she has no memory of her past. When she escapes with her friends, the story begins introducing the fae world and human world with all the differences to her. I enjoyed the book and the secondary characters are well written. The story bogs down a bit when the romance starts, but it doesn't take too much away from the overall building. Looking forward to the next installment of this world. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a preview copy for an honest opinion.

I have read every novel written by Terry Brooks and I was thrilled to get early access to Child of Light. I love the new world he created and, as always, his characters are engaging and well-developed. The story started off very strongly with a lot of action and development. I did not feel he maintained this throughout the book. While I enjoyed the entire novel, I felt the energy dropped off and the parts of the story were quite predictable. Having said that, I eagerly await the next book in the series.

I had a very hard time getting into this title. While I have not read anything by Terry Brooks before this, I was still hopeful about this title, as Brooks is a well respected author in fantasy circles. That being said, I found this story to be clunky and unengaging. While this is frustrating already, my biggest issue was with the portrayal of the main character. I just felt that Brooks was a bit out of touch with the normal characteristics of the age of that protagonist, which made it challenging for me as a reader to connect. This book may be a hit with Brooks' fans, but for me, it was a miss.

The premise of this book was really interesting, with humans including our protagonist caged and kept in a facility like cattle by strange creatures known only as goblins. However, following Auris' fraught escape and her encounter with Harrow, the story lost me utterly. I found their romance to be boring and far too central compared to the other interesting things going on in the world around them. For a book apparently marketed as adult, this had strong YA vibes but without the originality that makes me enjoy other aspects of the genre. Auris both acts and sounds much younger than her 19 years and lacks the complexity I look for in a narrator. Overall, the plot and concept held water but the characters and writing style made this a dissapointment.

A very intriguing fantasy book that kept me interested! I love books about the Fae, and this one was so different than the usual Fae romance-type books. Auris is so brave and smart and her amnesia keeps you guessing as to the mystery of her origin. I loved the relationships in this book as often they are too focused on the romance, but this had some great friendships and showed the trials of family life. The abuses suffered by Auris and others referenced in the book can be hard, so be aware of any abuse triggers this could cause the reader. The story is about Auris and her struggle to overcome everything that has happened to her and everything she continued to face. It is also about her process of healing and learning about love. She handles being thrown into the magical world she did not know existed very well, and her resilience is inspirational. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to read fantasy and especially books about Fae! I did receive an advanced reader's copy of this book for my honest review.

I was hoping this might be as good as any of the entries in the Shannara series, but it falls a bit short of that. Not to say that this is a bad book, because it's not -- the characters are believable and well-written, and the world building is well done. It's good fantasy, but it's not quite up to par with what I've come to expect from Terry Brooks. Still, I enjoyed it, and if there ends up being another book in the series, I'll read it.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey Books for the ARC!

I have to admit that this was the first book I think I’ve ever DNF’d. And I hate that. I’ve adored so many of his stories in the past, and just couldn’t get into this one.

I really wanted to finish, but picking it up was starting to feel like a chore and not fun. Which is almost exclusively why I read.

I give it two stars instead of one though, since I did like the very beginning, and the story genuinely was interesting. The writing style itself was most of my problem.

It didn’t feel like I being immersed in a new fantasy world or a cool new story, it felt like I was being told every little thing that was going on, even in the dialogue.

I was really looking forward to this one. Sorry Terry Brooks!

The first few chapters of this book are very promising. It begins with a Maze Runner vibe and throws you straight into the action and mystery of the main character's life. There are many questions to be answered and the book gives you quite the info dump. But what I couldn't get past was the lack of personality in the characters. They felt like they were simply there for plot and nothing more. The main character had promise, but so soon became obsessed with a love interest that was so incredibly bland. And it only got worse from there. The whole book became about her pining after this boy, and the writing became rather bland and boring. If Terry Brooks could have kept the energy of the first few chapters, this book would have had hope. But sadly, it just wasn't worth my time.

Review to come. Thanks to Ashleigh Heaton Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date October 12, 2021
#ChildofLight #NetGalley

Welcome to a new fascinating world that exists right next to our own. Auris is trapped in a prison that seems to be just for children. Her jailers are something straight out of a horror movie. .Auris has no memory of her life before prison, she cant seem to remember how she got there or what caused her imprisonment. Can she escape before she grows to old to be there? If not her next destination will be even worse.!

Meet Harrow he is a sylvan one of the faerie people who patrols the border of faerie land.. His green skin makes it easy for him to blend into the landscape. Harrow is a formidable foe to anyone trying to cross into the faerie lands, he takes his duty very seriously. No human may pass into the faerie lands for any reason. Most humans are totally unaware that the faerie lands even exist and its Harrows job to keep it that way.

Mr. Brooks has given us a whole new world to explore , filled with new adventures , people and places. Old and new fans alike will love this new series. I myself will anxiously await the next one.. I loved this book and I cant say enough good things about it.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of CHILD OF LIGHT by Terry Brooks in exchange for an honest review. Auris is a human child who has been surviving in a goblin prison. The goblins use children as slaves. If the children reach maturity, then they are placed into breeding farms. Thereafter, they are food. If there is a population explosion, extras are eaten. If anyone tries to escape or rebel, they are caught, publicly dismembered, and eaten. Auris and a few others who are close to breeding age hatch a daring plan to escape. All they have to do is get away from the prison, escape the goblin trackers, get through the wasteland, and find refuge. However, Auris finds that refuge may not be her final destination. In order to find answers, Auris will have to go even further and discover enemies even more evil that child-eating goblins.

I liked this book. This novel is an interesting blend of high and urban fantasy. I recommend this book to fans of fantasy featuring escape and self-discovery themes.

#ChildofLight #NetGalley