The Sword of Shannara

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.

Rating:
Summary: trust fantasy lovers, not tolkienites (3 1/2 shannaras
Review: alright, i read the sword of shannara in eigth grade, which is to say, about eight years ago. of course my tastes have (hopefully) sharpened, but for the most part, i look back fondly on this quaint, obviously-derivative tolkien wannabe.

that said, come on you tolkien freaks. lighten up. anyone can see the obvious correlation. for christs sake, tolkien started the fantasy genre. IT'S HIS! so if you're going to pigeonhole brooks, than you're going to have to do the same thing with the ENTIRE FANTASY GENRE, not even just the realm of orcs and elves, but of starships and lore in general. instead of doing this, however, you should prolly weigh the literary merit and enjoyment which comes from reading second-class tolkien stories, like this one here.

i know that brooks' shannara series is extremely remniscent of tolkien (this is why the score is what it is), but brooks began writing this epic, 800 page journey in high school and it turns out to be a very different epic indeed.

however similar brooks work may seem, he goes down a different path than tolkien, who mostly focused on christian ethics, evil, and, of course, brotherhood (all of which really don't apply to current trends in recent history: that of course being to sell out). brooks, on the other hand, has put more of a human face on his epic, with many different races each living separately and with their own mistrusts and codes of living. brooks' just seemed a little more edgy, especially because he incorporated an interesting realm, that being the earth's post-apocalyptic future where radiation has caused the independent evolution of many different species of man: gnomes, rock trolls, elves, druids, etc.

one thing is for certain: you will not be able to completely block out the tolkien influence. but this piece of fiction is still highly enjoyable, specially for the wee ones. perhaps tolkien was just a really good writer, and if this is true, let's assume good writers get copied. behold brooks.

Rating:
Summary: Good for young readers
Review: I read this book at 16 and I LOVED it. OK - it is definitely a shameless and direct ripoff of The Lord of the Rings - hence the three stars. However, it is much easier to read and follow so I recommend it to younger readers. I reread it as an adult at 30 and still thought it good, as were the Elfstones and Wishsong. The later Shannara books however are egregious and should be avoided at all costs!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Sword of Shannara-Good and Bad
Review: The book The Sword of Shannara is wonderful. It is a great epic adventure. Fans of Lord of the Rings will love it. It is the tale of a young man who discovers he is of royal blood and is the heir to a magic sword that will allow him to defeat an evil Warlock Lord. It has adventure, comedy, and romance and everything a great novel should have. It is very long at around 700 pages, but is great to read.
That is the good. Now the bad.
1. Vvvvveeeeeerrrrrry Sssssllllloooooowwwww. Slower than The Fellowship of the Ring if you can believe it. (Meaning no disrespect to Tolkien)
2. Illustrations. They are black as night and indistinguishable. Total waste of space. Horrid. Cannot describe how bad it is.
All in all I give it a Should Read rating.

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: The horror! The horror! Let's put aside for the moment the paper-thin, stereotypical characters, the silly digressions, the pointless fight scenes, the predictable plotting, the lengthy history lectures, the logical inconsistencies, and all those inexplicable similarities to Tolkien's work, and focus for a minute on Mr. Brooks' writing. Lazy and sloppy doesn't begin to describe it. There is simply no understanding here of how to craft good sentences and good paragraphs, how to chose the right word, or how to integrate it into coherent passages. There's a severe case of overwriting:

"In that secure, drifting dimension of fantasy, their weary minds could relax, releasing the hidden fears of tomorrow to emerge in whatever form they wished, and there, in that most distant sanctuary for the human soul, be faced privately and overcome. But even with the reassuring sounds of life all about them and the peaceful rushing of the gleaming silver river to soothe their cares, an inescapable gnawing specter of apprehension wormed its stealthy way into their dream world and there, in full view of the mind's eye, it perched and waited, smiling dully, hatefully - knowing well the limits of their endurance."

There's some howlers:

"The strangeness of the situation increased almost immediately as he glanced up to see the strange root-limbed tree, previously immobile, approaching in a slow, stretching motion, its limbs extended towards him, their tips containing small but deadly-looking needles. Thoroughly aroused now, Menion dropped his pack and bow in one motion and unsheathed the great sword."

But the crux of the issue is that it's just plain bad writing, lazy and without good editing. Brooks doesn't capture the flow of normal conversation. When he tries to write about some characters chatting with each other in a relaxed setting, the result doesn't sound like a real conversation. People spitting out descriptors of their emotional state and reciting mechanical details just doesn't make the cut.

And what about that plot anyway. Look, folks, I know that 'borrowing' from Tolkien is a frequent occurrence in fantasy, and that we all have to learn to live with it. But here it's just ridiculous. Not just the events that occur, but the order that they occur in, the spacing, everything comes straight from "Lord of the Rings". Do we have no right to expect a little effort, at least a small try at originality? Could Brooks not come up with just one tactic or scenario of his own? Just one?

Lastly, let me mention that there are illustrations. Alleged illustrations, anyway. Maybe it was just a printer's mistake, but in my paperback edition they are far too dark. In fact, they're almost entirely black, and it's almost impossible to see what the picture is supposed to be. So the illustrations are a waste of paper. Then again, so is the whole book.

Rating:
Summary: Terry Brooks has NO creativity what so ever
Review: I'll have to admit that I am being very generous with Sword of Shannara here. I just couldn't give it zero stars because your not aloud to. But anyways, I would just like to say I have read books of all the masters of fantasy. Jordan, Tolkein, GRR Martin, Farland, Fiestland,etc. I have read an amount of fantasy books you can't even count. I feel bad for Tolkein's ghost and family here. ALL, and I mean ALL Terry Brooks has done with his Shannara books here is totally remake The Lord of The Rings. All he had to do is draw a new map and give all the characters new names. And the plot is so lame!!! Start of in one town, the sword isn't there, pick up a new companion. Next town, no sword, new companion. It just goes on and on and on. People need to wake up and smell the coffee. Terry Brooks is a lame ass lazy person who can't even write his own story. Making a sequel to this is like mocking Tolkein's works. I don't even know how anyone can stand for this. AND ONE THING I HATE IS THAT THERE IS NO REALISM TO HIS BOOKS!!!! The characters always live, and the battles are so bloodless. There is no realism to his stories. No brutality or anything. I don't know how anyone can sit through any of his fricken books. GOD help Terry Brooks.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!! More fun that lord of the rings!!!
Review: The Sword of Shannara is a great, intriguing, and suspenceful book!
Even though there are a lot of apperent connections with Lord of the Rings, the book provides a lot of originality and storyline. I though this book was even BETTER than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, because of the straightfowardness. I got lost in Lord of the Rings, and had a hard time understanding somethings. This book is realistic and straightforward, and provides readers with a clear vision of the story!

BEST BOOK EVER!
READ IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT!!

Rating:
Summary: SDT rule is forced, resulting in overlong fantasy
Review: I read in Brooks' book 'sometimes the magic works' that the 'show don't tell' (SDT) rule is important.
Well, Mr. Brooks overdoes it.
Not only that, but I have some other qualms about this book:
1.Flick's walk home not only takes two entire chapters, but involves long descriptions of rocks and trees, and the throughout these chapters the story pauses once or twice to mention Flick's physical characteristics.
2.Shea's mistrust of Allanon takes two pages to describe
3. Stupid 'pun' names(Allanon = Al-anon, Paranor= Paranoid) detract from serious, humorless storyline.
4.A lot of the characters (and places and things) are stolen DIRECTLY from Tolkien
Orl Fane= Gollum
Skull Bearers= Ringwraiths(unfortunately, the skull bearers are hardly as frightening or interesting.
Paranor=Orthanc
Gnomes= Orcs
Sword of Shannara= sword of Isildur
Brona= Saruman + Sauron
5. Every time a character dies, you can expect them to return three-hundred pages later.
6. Panamon Creel's character is weakly developed.
7. This book reinforces the stereotype of 'short elves.'
(Oh, well, at least they're not Santa's little helpers in this book)
8. The artwork by the bruders Hildebrant makes the characters look like big-nosed goofs.

Now the good points (why I gave this book three stars):
1. I like the concept of humans genetically mutating into fairy tale creatures as a result of nuclear radiation.
2. I love anything to do with elves, trolls, gnomes.
3. The battle between Shea and Brona/the skull king/warlock lord at the end of this book . If you're considering purchasing this, that should be your sole reason for doing so.
4. I like the concept of the elfstones.
5. Considering that I've read Brooks' recent work, HDoS v.1, I can truthfully say that the series gets better somewhere after EoS(I never finished 'Elfstones'. I got bored and picked up that new book by Christopher Paolini, which is aimed at the same audience, but a much better read.).

Rating:
Summary: What's the matter with you all?
Review: All right,sure this book is a bit deriverative,but hey,this was his first novel!First King,which is technically the first one is quite better,but still,this one ain't all that bad either.
He does have quite the promising voice in this novel, you can hear that powerful writing style that soon will come out and rule the genre.He has created some new creatures,some pretty good characters and a whole good storyline.
Shea Ohmsford is living a regular life in Shady Vale,until one day the Druid Allanon comes with disturbing news:Brona,the Warlock Lord,has returned.With his army of Rock Trolls and Gnomes,he will conquer the Four Lands.Shea is the last heir of Shannara,the only one who can defeat the Warlock Lord.So he sets out with his not quite brother Flick,Menion Leah,later Durin,Dayel,Balinor,and Hendel,to go and retrieve the Sword.
Sure it is a tad copied off of Tolkien,but it still is a good book.He gets the idea with all of his other books.Buy it.