The Sword of Shannara

Rating:
Summary: Nothing is unique...
Review: I purchased this book because of several good things I've heard about it and reading some of the reviews on here. I understand "ripping off Tolkien" is pretty much impossible not to do in fantasy, so it didn't bother me when I heard that it was similar.

Unfortunately, I wasted a good eight dollars. There is such as thing as ripping off Tolkien (which nearly every fantasy author has done, at some point) and just repeating the same exact story with different names for the characters and places. The epic quest to destroy/save a magical object is actually something I enjoy reading about from different authors. But having everything the same -- even to the order of *when* it happens -- from Tolkien, the distraction becomes hard to overlook.

It was overly lengthy, had completely unnecessary descriptions of things like rocks and tables and dirt, and it was sloppily written. I read 400 pages and I had to force myself to read that much. It's like reading a summary of The Lord of the Rings that was written by a fourth grader who has no idea how to use a thesaurus. Poorly poorly written.

I rate this two out of five. Don't waste your money, and if you don't like it after the first one hundred pages don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Unabridged Audio-Version is gripping!
Review: When Flick Ohmsford encounters a stranger on the way home to his small village of Shady Vale, little does he realize the horrors which are about to be unleashed. His adopted brother Shea is the missing heir to the elven kingdom and the dark Druid Brona, wants him dead! Thus begins an Odyssey which takes Shea and the faithful Flick half way across the world to recover a mysterious sword which is to be their salvation.

I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book, and all I can say is WOW! The narrator does a masterful job of giving voice to valiant Shea, the mistrustful Flick, and the highlander prince of Leah.

The story was as great as I remembered when I read it as a teen. Sure, this work is somewhat derivative of Lord of the Rings, but strangely enough I actually preferred Sword of Shannara. (Perhaps it is the lack of hobbits! LOL) My favorite characters were Dale, Duran, Shea and Flick. I also liked how the world Brooks creates is a post apocalyptic earth, and how the races are descended from mutated humans. Also, I think the depth of love and concern shown by the characters for their siblings was heart warming.

Peeves? I'm disappointed the distributer has not released the sequels to this novel in unabridged format, the abridged versions aren't worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Rings clone? I think not.
Review: The Sword of Shannara is a wonderful epic of action, adventure and of course fantasy. It has an extreme line drawn between the amount of trust some characters have for each other. (like in all other Shannara books everyone has know learned you can never fully trust a druid ^_^) I will admit that in the beginning of the book I some urges to put down the book. But, I was 11 years old and in 6th grade at the time. After I got past the part when they went to Leah I was completly enthralled and my teacher started having to tell me to put down the book because i didn't pay attention in class.

The Shannara world of Human, Dwarves, Gnomes, Trolls, and my favorites the Elves and the Druids is a great display of imagination and is a great family book. My whole family as read at least First King and Sword. My mother and i have read all the way up to Morgawr and I finished it before her. My sister has read the whole Landover series. We are a great fan of his writing. I do not feel the same pull as i did with LOTR. I guess some of the cause was that i had seen the movie but in a way it was very confusing. At the end it all came together but i prefer Shannara. That's just my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: a cut above the rest
Review: The Sward of Shannara is a sort of hard sort of easy book with creative charictors and explosive fighting scenes. The monsters in this book are imaginitive and ahead of our time.
This auther is not a pro, but he is good. I would recomend you read this book to people who like to stay up late reading and wake up in the morning and read some more. by read it, reading it, read it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Cast of Characters
Review: kjbookworm touched on this. Despite its somewhat derivative nature, Sword of Shannara introduces characters that are as enjoyable as those written by Tolkein and brought to the screen by Peter Jackson. My favorites would have to be Balinor, his brother Palance, the elven bros Durin and Dayle, Menion (a mixture of Merry and Pippin), Hendel, and the conniving Stenmin. If Peter Jackson is looking for another fantasy work to adapt, he need look no further than the SWORD OF SHANNARA!

Rating:
Summary: Jorge's review
Review: I thought the book was good. It was adventerous.I don't think it could have gotten any been better.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone despising this book is wrong!
Review: This is my second favorite series after "The Wheel of Time" series! What does anyone one of you have against Shea, Flick, Allanon, Balinor, and Hendal? So what is Brooks took Tolkein's work and mixed it up a bit to suit his needs? We do it all the time! If anyone had a problem with this book, don't blame Brooks! If you enjoy fantasy, this is an exelant series to consider!

Rating:
Summary: Oh dear, oh dear, OH DEAR!
Review: I purchased this book after reading the marvelous "Sometimes the Magic works". I thought "Hey that was pretty informative and worthwhile, this Brooks fellow sure knows what he's talking about."

But I was wrong, oh so very wrong.

I don't know how anybody who can produce such a decent book on writing manages to churn out a novel like this. The language is what bothered me the most - it wreeked of poor fanfiction with adverbs stuck all over the shop. How did this book get past an editor?

I dont mind that it was lifted from Tolkein all that much, the similarities would have been ok to grapple with if only the language had been... readable.

Someone should use passages as examples of how *not* to write a sentence, really, they'd make a mint.

Sword of Shannara is a classic - a classic of example of "How the heck is this a classic?"

- A.

Rating:
Summary: Hey! I Remember This Story!
Review: Allow me to provide a quick summary of the first 300 pages in Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara, which is the first book in his popular fantasy trilogy of the same name:

A mysterious powerful wizard arrives in a sleepy rural town. The wizard convinces two young men to leave the town immediately and pursue a quest they have yet to understand. The young men leave the village and along the way have to escape from dark menacing inhuman pursuers who leave chills in everyone they approach. The young men link up with another friend who joins them on their journey. After a few adventures and many weeks of journey, the unlikely heroes end up in an ancient city where a council gathers to decide the fate of the world. The young men discover that an evil menace across the land in Mount Doom...I mean Skull Mountain is trying to obtain a powerful magical item which allow him to take over the world. Surprisingly, one of these young farmboys is linked to the magic item and has to form a fellowship based on the members in attendance (led by the wizard I might add) to prevent the evil forces from taking the magic ring...I mean magic sword. And thus, the second half of the book begins.

Sound familiar? Hey, everyone borrows from Tolkien! He was the man, the myth and the legend who put centuries of mythology and folklore into an epic series long before the fantasy genre became such big business. And... I can tolerate books stealing other writer's ideas as long as it's a good read and I enjoy the new characters. Brooks isn't a terrible writer, he's certainly better than some of the amateur hacks you'll read in a typical Dungeons and Dragons series, but I never found his heroes intriguing enough to keep reading. His half-elf farmboy might be the most boring unintentional hero I've ever read about in a fantasy series and none of his compadres added to the grind. In short, too few characters and those that mattered weren't interesting.

I picked up this book because I remembered my younger siblings enjoying it while we were growing up. Maybe that's when I should have read it. Based on the comments of other reviewers, it sounds like most people had the best memories of this book while still a teenager. I know that Brooks has had great success in the fantasy genre and I'm sure some of his other books are far more original but this was one that I couldn't finish. If you'd like an epic fantasy series that will replace the same joy you felt when reading Tolkien, I recommend you check out George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series or the early books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series because this series doesn't do it.

Rating:
Summary: Obvious borrowing and medium-well effort on writing make:
Review: An okay book. This book is clearly deriving tons of material from Tolkien. It would be bad if he tried to disguise it, but he doesn't. The quest idea is wonderful and there are times that the action clicks and flows very nicely, somewhat reminiscent of old RPGs like AD&D. Brooks needs to have spent some more time editing, and this book could be about half the length and still spend plenty of time on plot and character development. He is too wordy and at times contradictory in his descriptions.

The world is well thought out and the quest is enjoyable. Some character motivations are never fully brought to light. All in all, this book is worth the time but not the money. We love the library.