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The Scions of Shannara : (#1) (The Heritage of Shannara, Book 1)

The Scions of Shannara : (#1) (The Heritage of Shannara, Book 1)

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Rating: 4 stars
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: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty well written!
Review: First of all, Terry Brooks is a magnificent writer! I enjoyed this book greatly! Although to like this book, you have to like his style of writing, which he has established in his previous books! (Sword of Shannara, is my third all time favorite book, although I was disappointed in the Elfstones)A few things that I didn't really like was the beggining, just before they set out on the quest and Leah, is discouraging them: This is too much like the other books, and I thought it boring, and pointless, since I knew they would end up going anyways! I am really happy to see a relative of Panamon Creel back in the story! Oh, I must point out that this novel has a very fascinating and captivating ending!

Rating: 5 stars
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: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: I expected that Brooks' new series not to be as good .I expected it to get repetiteve.I was wrong .It is not at all repetetive ,in fact ,Brooks added some political detail that he lacked in the other books,but it isn't pointless political
detail.Brooks still has his superb detail in magic ,which is one of the reasons that he is one of my favorite authors.It also was perfectly legitimate to write it.Anyone might wonder what life is like in the Four Lands after all the Druids are gone .This is the plot:The Four Lands have drastically changed since the death of Allanon.The Elves have vanished and Callahorn,The Dwarves ,and the Southland are in the hands of the Federation,where magic is strictly illegal.Par Ohmsford still has the power of the Wishsong ,causing himself to be pursued by Seekers (Federation police).While he flees,he stumbles upon Cogline ,a once Druid.Cogline tells him that he ,his cousin Wren,and his uncle Walker Boh are needed by the shade of Allanon.Par finds Walker and they meet Wren at the Hadeshorn.Allanon tells each of them to do one thing :Par to recover the Sword of Shannara ,Walker to bring back the Druids and the keep of Paranor ,and Wren to find the vanished Elves .
This book is about Par,his brother Coll,Morgan Leah,Steff and Teel the Dwarves,and a couple others on there search for the Sword of Shannara.P.S.The next one is about Walker etc.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well read critic from Ca., and a few comments!
Review: I found my first Terry Brooks novel in a used book store when I was about 13. It didnt even have a cover and I can remember sitting in front of the fire and reading it in just one sitting. I would say that is quite an accomplishment for a 13 year old who has never read any books aside from those assighned in school. In a few words it has been ten years since then and I still mourn the fact that Allanon is dead and there will be no more of the infamous Shannara series. Menion Leah, a true american. Hendel a true friend. Prince Eventine, a true brother. Garet Jax, a silent threat, Balinor, what a patriot, Whisper, where can I get one? Allanon, the protector and teacher our nation needs, where are you? Many thanks to Terry Brooks for filling the empty time and creating our fortune cookie, beware of the human race and our accomplishments.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Time Changes Things
Review: I have heard many good things about Terry Brooks and his Shannara books in general. Some have said he ranks right up there with Tolkien and Jordan. Others have said that the Shannara series is the greatest fantasy epic ever concieved. So apparently, I guess all of these people were lying.

Maybe it's just my short attention span, but I found this book to be bliblically boring. The main character Par Ohmsford is your typical reluctant farmerboy turned powerful hero-demigod. Par doesn't seem too bright; in fact, he constantly gets in life-threatening misadventures but always manages to escape thanks to conviencely placed friends and/or his own supermagical abilities. Personally, I think Par is a bit of a weakling. I mean, he literally sings things to death. I don't know, but that's just not what comes to mind when I think of "cool supermagical abilities".

And also? Walker Boh? Throughout the whole book he has a ten foot pole up his magical orifice. Apparently, he wants to live in peace, and he doesn't want to be a part of all of this crazy misadventure. That's fine and all, but does he have to talk about it all the time? Blah blah, I shun society, blah blah I'm such an outcast, blah blah no one loves me. I started skipping his parts after the giant cat became more interesting than he was.

The only interesting character was MAYBE Wren. But we got only around TWO PAGES of her.

All in all, you should read this book. If you're, you know, into the kind of fantasy that is really pointless and cheesy.

Rating: 5 stars
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: 4 stars
Summary: ok, but keep reading, they get better...
Review: in perfect honesty, the only real reason why i read this book was because there was nothing else. yea, i thought terry brooks was ok, but his first book was boring, and his last far-feched. i admit the second one was ok, but not a master pice. this book is better. most of the characters are very intresting, and the plot is excelent, but i thought a little something was lacking. this is mostly because brooks is just laying the foundation for 3 of the best books i've ever read. by far Walker Boh is one of, if not the best book character ever, and Wren isn't bad either. sadly Par seems to be the typical ohsmford, but Col isn't bad. let me put it this way, you have to read this book. if your dissapointed with it, just wait till the next one and your mind might be changed

Rating: 4 stars
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: 5 stars
Summary: Missions of a Dead Druid
Review: Initially I was disappointed with the ending of the first book as I was not aware of the continuing saga....But after reading this book I could hardly wait for the next and the anticipation of looking ahead to read what would happen next. Now that all are in print...buy them all and read them...make it a goal...


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