Rating: 
Summary: A superb followup to a FANTASTIC series.
Review: As a die hard reader of fantasy fiction I've come acrosssome extraodinary series. David Eddings, Tracy Hickman andMargaret Weis, and Robert Jordan all have, in my eyes attempted to match the epic fictional works of Tolkien. Terry Brooks has done so, and where the Silmarillion has fallen short on the history of Middle Earth, Scions does the Shannara series justice as a prelude to original trilogy.Brooks uses the same flair for describing his characters to emphasize the differences between generations as he has always done to impress this reader in his earlier books. Settings as tangible as any in real life fill the imagination as the Four Lands unfold in greater and richer detail with each volume in the Shannara series.Ultimately it comes down to this: I was disappointed that the book had to end and wait breathlessly for the next in the fabulous Shannara series
Rating: 
Summary: Grade A Fantasy Fiction
Review: For those of you who strugled through the Sword of Shannara series, congragulations are in order: you've finally made it! For those of you who haven't, you may not like these as much as I did.
When I picked up The Scions of Shannara, it was only because I had run out of other stuff to read. I was expecting another book on the order of The Wishsong of Shannara, and I was VERY pleasently suprised.
Terry Brooks has reasurected Shannara in this book. His descriptions are, as usual, excellent without being repetative and overbaring, as Robert Jordan's have a tendency to be, and they add a wonderful touch of realism to the events and settings.
Allanon is finally dead, and that is one major drag taken off the series. He is really a much more useful character when he has very little to be misconstrued as a central role and is instead relegated to issuing orders to mortals. While I hate to trample on dead men's graves in general, Allanon is really much better dead than alive so far as the viability of the series is concerned. Brooks seems to have rethought his characters between The Wishsong of Shannara (see my review for The Sword of Shannara) and in this book, and the difference is amazing. While they still struggle with their new-found multi-faceted humanity at times, the changes to the way the characters are built really gives the series a good deal more bouyancy.
The plotlines have also been reworked a good deal, and, though they still struggle at times with the same mediocrity demonstrated in the first series, they are overall much improved in every book in this second series except The Elfqueen of Shannara.
Most importantly, though, this series starts off with a sense that the history is better known than ever it was in the first series. That more than anything else is probably what struck me most between the two. In the first one, there was little to no sense of the history of the world outside a few vague referances here and there, more in First King of Shannara than anywhere else, but now that we've come through the first series, the histoy begun in that series has had a bit of time to age in the storyline and comes through to elevate what would otherwise have been merely good to the level of great fiction.
I definately recomend you read at least First King of Shannara before starting this series, but even if you can't (or don't) want to struggle through the morass that is The Sword of Shannara, you should still come through with enough of the history intact to make this a good read.
Rating:
Summary: The Scions of Shannara
Review: I was really impressed with the immediate response from seller by e-mail. And the quick shipping. Thank You
Rating:
Summary: Overshadows the original trilogy
Review: In this book, Terry Brooks sets the stage for a wonderful epic. I won't attempt to detail it here. Read it for yourself. I will say that several characters are introduced that play almost no part in this book. You may wonder where they are and what happened to them. This book also concludes with many loose ends still dangling. So you should approach is as merely a component of the entire epic story. Don't even bother trying to read this one apart from the others in the heritage of shanara line.While still remaining true to the world he created, Terry Brooks has spun a tale that surpasses his first works. I guess we as readers should not be surprised that Mr. Brooks has become a better storyteller over time. I felt that this book had all the excitement and fun of the original Shanara trilogy, with none of the slow moving plodding painful ebbs in the storyline.
Rating:
Summary: Another great addition
Review: The one drawback about this, and in fact the whole second set of Shannara books, is that they really must be read together. I'm less enamored with this setup, as the first four books (in time, maybe not in publication order) can be read in and of themselves without confusing the reader. That said, it's the beginning of a wonderful new series, one that becomes incredibly complex while never being too taxing or confusing to the reader. Brooks is better than most at painting scenery with words, even when he's writing about mythical creatures you've never seen.
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