First King of Shannara

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I remember from earlier years of my life when Sword of Shannara, and the others of the well known series, were held in high regard and still are. However, if Terry Brooks keeps adding on to his fantasy universe with episodes like First King, the Shannara world will soon be tainted. I am almost discouraged to read the older ones again because First King of Shannara was so badly written and predictable. It ruined almost everything for me. The characters were all mirror images of eachother with different occupations. Race, in this installment at least, made no difference to personality. All Brooks's characters seem to be one size fits all. The magic was over used. If i hear the phrase "druid fire" one more time in my life i will personally burn the book. Such all powerful druids should have a much wider variety of magic then intuition and the all powerful "druid fire." Please, not all of us are fantasy freaks and will take whatever is fed too us. We need orignality, we need surprise. We need to feel like the world is really in peril. The bad guys in this novel were like a really stupid ogre who was saying "uhhhh what do i do next" the whole extent of the tale. I say, stay with the first few Brooks novels and stay away from First King. A waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Terry Brooks is losing his Shannara touch
Review: All i have to say is WOW! This book was a huge disappointment. It's been quite sometime since i've read other installments in the series, and i am trying not to let this one keep me from reading the others again. It was unimaginative, rehashed, cliche fantasy material, enough said. It seems for fans of the series that no matter how generic, it suffices. Which is ridiculous. It could be the fact that i just finished Tolkien's works, but even so, i found it dull and waited patiently for the last page hoping Brooks would redeem himself. The characters are boring and all the same. Except for difference of career, none of the many characters in the novel have distinguishable personality traits. Simply put, a big snooze, a waste of 400 some odd pages of reading. The only benefit i got from it was knowing what NOT to do in my own writing undertakings.

Rating:
Summary: Among The Best From Brooks
Review: I've previously read the three books in the original Shannara series and the four books in the Heritage of Shannara series. I enjoyed them all very much, although I though some were better than others. THE FIRST KING OF SHANNARA is a prequel to the others, with the action taking place several hundred years before the events taken up in THE SWORD OF SHANNARA. The drawback here, for me, was that it's been many years since I read those books, particularly the first series. Hence, this latest tale gives background to things in the later series that I hardly remember.

That issue aside, I've always had a couple of other small problems with Brooks' writing. It's always seemed to me that either the world of The Four Lands is lilliputian, or the characters in these books walk at extraordinary speed. Brooks frequently has characters traverse passes through mountains in a day. Early in this book, Bremen and his companions go from Paranor south through mountains to the Mermidon in a day, then go from there (the western end of the Dragon's Teeth) to near the Valley of Shale (at the eastern end of the Dragon's Teeth), a distance that would have to be 100 miles or more based on maps from the books, the following day. Admittedly, these are imaginary places, but, as someone who has done a little backpacking, the sheer unreasonableness of traveling such distances on foot in the timeframe given in the stories always bothers me. Try walking through a range of mountains in a day or two. Further, these characters seem inexhaustable. They get tired and haggard, but they hike for days at a time, often continuing far into the night, with little food and little sleep. Superman couldn't do it.

These are, however, small problems. The fact is, the Shannara books are quite good and, in my opinion, THE FIRST KING OF SHANNARA is one of the better ones. The characters, as usual, have depth, and Brooks provides beautiful descriptive passages, setting his scenes in great detail without being ponderous. In addition, though, this is one of his more engrossing plots. The story moves at a strong, steady pace and there is plenty of action. This book is great fun. Not Tolkien, in my mind, but excellent just the same. Brooks fans will love it. For others, this book can stand on its own, but I recommend reading the original Shannara series first. If you like fantasy fiction, this is a must.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever!
Review: The first king of shannara was an awesome book. It keep me turning until the very last page and kept me wondering what was going 2 happen. The only thing i didn't like was what happened to Tay, Breman and Risca.

Rating:
Summary: First King Of Shannara
Review: The first king of shannara was an asome book. It keep me turning untill the very last page and kept me wondering what was going 2 happen. The only thing i didn't like is Tay, Breman, Risca died.

Rating:
Summary: too much prologue (but a good book)
Review: as always, he writes well, though uninventive. at times this was really good. but there were a lof of characters introduces that were uninteresting, or they were presented in an uninteresting way. the plot goes on to a satisfying finish, at times very interesting, yet halts at the wrong moments sometimes. the problem was perhaps the writer's mentality. he made this into an explanation of earlier events, an "interesting" prologue. this could have been made better

Rating:
Summary: Good Prequel to a Great Triology!
Review: Having read the other 10 Shannara books first I put off reading this prequel to the original SWORD OF SHANNARA. While I like Brooks writing it seems that the 7 Shannara books that followed the original triology are less and less original in plot and weak on character development. However I felt that I had to read this book if for no other reason so that I can claim to have read all 11 Shannara books.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I thought the background history on Breman and the castle at Paranor was insightful and actually fills in the gaps for things mentioned in other Shannara books. I also enjoyed reading about the other druids and the different walks of life they came from and returned to. There is various background information on various places and people that will have direct or indirect roles in other books. Finally fans of Shannara are treated to the origin of Allanon.

The only complaint I have is the ending of the book. The final hundred pages of the book devotes to much time to detailing battle scenes and not enough to the confrontation of the Warlock Lord and King Jerele. Anyway, this book is a good read. It would be a good stand alone read but for those who have read other Shannara books they will find it very interesting. Out of the 11 Shannara books I would place this fourth in my line of favorites. Right after the first triolgy; THE SWORD, ELFSTONES and WHISHSHONG OF SHANNARA.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the Sword of Shanarra
Review: Terry Brooks did a wonderful job with this book. Granted, after the other Shanarra tales, the world was already made. He just had to fill in the events. Never the less, the characters, and events fit together in a fast moving and exciting tale. I was actually disappointed when it was done because I wanted more.

One point of contention is that Mr. Brooks took too much liberty with having characters in this book be the ancestors of important figures in the others. I'm willing to forgive this, but it still annoys me slightly that there were really only half a dozen important families in all the 4 lands. Those families play the important roles in the shaping of events for centuries and the rest of the people are bit players.

If you like Science Fantasy, you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: I've never read a better book , I've only read equals .
Review: This is even better than LORD OF THE RINGS .I finished it in a night and a day !Here is the plot :Bremen , an outcast of the Druids , has discovered that Brona , the Warlock Lord , has gathered a force to attack the Four Lands .He warns Athabasca ,the High Druid of Paranor of this danger ,but he doesn't believe him .Bremen ,knowing that Paranor will be lost , goes to the Hadeshorn to find out how Brona may be destroyed . He is provided with two visions :an elf , with a gleaming sword , and a vision of the Black Elfstone .So he sends Tay Trefenwyd ,an elf after the Black Elfstone ,and his dwarf friend Risca to the Dwarves , for they are surely going to be attacked next,and they must know it , and Bremen himself searches for a way to forge the sword .

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I have read a few reviews by other people on here, and I must say that I am surprised. I found the book to be very good, though not of the standing that 'I couldn't put it down.' It was by no means as good as The Wishsong of Shannara, or the Voyage of Jerle Shannara, but it was quite fascinating. Yes, I found it somewhat predictable, but there was enough action and just plain good writing that it didn't matter.