Rating: 
Summary: Pretty darn good for a first novel....
Review: I remember reading this book back in the mid-80s, and I loved it. I just recently finished re-reading it for about the 15th time, and I still love it. I had read Lord of the Rings several times before reading Sword, and as many others have stated, the parallels between Sword and LotR are apparent, especially in the first half of the book. The resemblance between Shea and Flick Ohmsford and Frodo and Sam are striking, to say the least, as is the resemblance between Allanon and Gandalf. In other places, Brooks seems to bend over backwards to avoid copying Tolkien, so much so that it is obvious what he is doing. An example - Tolkein's Dwarves are short, stout bearded folk who are most comfortable in caves, whereas Brooks' Drarves are short, stout bearded folk who live in the forests and HATE caves. However, after a while, Sword begins to lose its resemblance to LotR and stand better on its own merits. The basic story concerns the adventures of Shea Ohmsford, a young man living the quiet country life, until he is informed that he, and he alone, has the power to revive the magic of an ancient talisman, the Sword of Shannara. This is necessary because the evil Warlock Lord, thought to be dead, is back and ready to conquer the world, and only the magic of the Sword of Shannara can stand against him. Unfortunately, the exact nature of the Sword's magic is unknown. Although Brooks uses the tried-and-true device of the small party on a quest to save the world, the quest has enough originality to remove all resemblance to other works. The first half or so of the book is a fairly straightforward quest-type story, as members of a small party journey towards the ancient fortress of Paranor, where the Sword is kept. They reach Paranor about halfway through the book, then the plot thickens as the company is forced to break up and go their separate ways in the attempt to combat the Warlock Lord and his minions. Brooks keeps about four different subplots going, but does it very well. Most of the companions become involved in different aspects of the military struggle of the human kingdom of Callahorn against the Warlock Lord's army, while Shea heads for the Warlock Lord's domain and the final confrontation. As I mentioned earlier, the magic of the Sword is deliberately left vague, both to the reader and Shea, right up until Shea stands toe-to-toe with the Warlock Lord himself. Only then does the true power of the Sword become clear. When I first read this, I was breathlessly waiting to find out how this weapon could conquer an evil spirit being. The final resolution took me completely by surprise! It's nothing at all like anything in Tolkein! Overall, this is an excellent fantasy read, if not quite as deep as Lord of the Rings. It was Terry Brooks' first book, and it shows. I think he learned a lot of lessons from it, though, because in his follow-up Shannara novels, all resemblance to LotR is gone.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Fantasy Novel Ever
Review: A shallow copycat of the Tolkien stories? Who cares. I've never ripped through a 700 page book so fast. Suspenseful, thrilling, and great storytelling. Efficient story-telling! Deep and rich as the Tolkien stuff is, it's just not all that accessible. I'm perfectly fine with Brooks characterizations, as I am with Lloyd Alexander's -- there's something to be said about being efficient with words to tell a story.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting from beginning to end
Review: The second you pick up this book you will not want to put it down. There are no boring parts in the whole book (700 some pages)! Terry Brooks is one writter who can actually be compared to J.R.R. Tolkien. They both hook you into these unimaginable worlds with creatures never heard of and lands of magic. If you have read the Lord of the Rings trilogy then this series of books will be perfect for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Lord of The Blantant Rip Offs
Review: I know that some people find this Book to be enchanting, and complain that all fantasy rips off Lord of the Rings to some degree. This is true, but most fantasy books have some spark of originality in them. This book is all but devoid of originality.THe characters are flat and are basically a one to one mapping. Alanon is Gandlaf, right down to his apparent death in what might as well have been Moria. I have been amazed at the plethora of positive reviews for this book, I guess PT Barnum was right, there is a sucker born every minute. If you are 12 years old, or have the mentality of twelve year old you may enjoy this, but it's a pale imitation of the original.
Rating:
Summary: Shea Ohmsford, a symbol of humility
Review: The Sword of Shannara was actually about a man that, despite himself is a hero and does not want to believe it. His people are in a state of troubles where they are having to battle an evil lord and the only way they can do this is to get the Sword of Shannara. Thats the only way the evil lord can be killed. Shea Ohmsford is the hero of his time, the diamond in the rough! This was a great book. It takes a while to get into but stick with it, it's fun!!
Rating:
Summary: Another Brooks Masterpiece
Review: This was the book that really got me hooked on Brooks. It's amazing. So what the characters are a bit 2 dimensional and it's not exactly believable. Brooks really learned from his mistakes and now his books are the eigth wonder of the world. But, anyway, who cares? The battle scenes are awesome and Brooks can write suspense well. An over all success.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent LOTR ...
Review: Sure, this rips off The Lord of the Rings, but what fantasy writer hasn't? This is one of the better jobs of it, too. Basically you are talking your standard pulpy epic fantasy novel here, complete with Allanon (see Gandalf), Shea Ohmsford (see Bilbo Baggins without the cleverness, cuteness or the wit), Skull Bearers (see Black Riders), various heroic warriors, a character of pure evil masterminding armies of evil-things while living in a faraway fortress (see Sauron and Mordor) and adventures along the way. The Elfstones of Shannara, book two in the first trilogy, is actually my favorite Terry Brooks novel by far -- his most original, his most poignant and I feel his best written. That book can also be read independent of the other Shannara books, which, IMHO, have become lamer and lamer over the years. Brooks all too often relies on the hoary fantasy writer's crutch of traveling long distances through difficult terrain (with occasional attacks from assorted nasty creatures) as a substitute for plot lines.
Rating:
Summary: blatant rip-off of Lord of the Rings (duh)
Review: Like one of the other reviewers, I had read Brooks' works before reading LOTR and thought they were like a Grisham novel--a fast, mindless read to waste some time. Even before reading LOTR, I noticed that Brooks tends to rehash the same plot in his Shannara books. Over and over, it was that same stupid Druid Fire that miracuously saves the happy elves and dwarves. It seemed that there was always that climactic battle at the end, where we already knew who was going to win. Oh, and always a dumb quest to retrieve something in the meantime. Brooks is the Puff Daddy of the fantasy world. He makes his living ripping off other people's works. When Brooks dies, I hope Tolkien beats him over the head as he enters the gates of heaven.
Rating:
Summary: This Book is awesome
Review: I really liked this book, due to the fact that is was a good book.
Rating:
Summary: The only fantasy book I have ever returned to the shop
Review: I was introduced to fantasy when my dad bought me Tolkien's Lord of The Rings when I was very young. I have since then over the years read over a hundred fantasy and sci-fi books by numerous authors with varying styles and levels of maturity. I have until now never, NOT ONCE, bought a fantasy book that I didn't finish. 112 pages into this book I just could not take it any more. I gave up and returned the book to the bookstore. Here is why I think you should spend your time and money on something else: o Brooks use of language in this book is just irritatingly bad. Time after time I had to re-read a paragraph in disbelief just to make sure I hadn't misread the text. Brooks has a need to show off with unnecessary flourish in every other line. Every time Menion does anything Brooks adds "his lithe body" to the sentence, no character can do anything without at least two out of place flourishingly descriptive adjectives attached to the action, Brooks insists on trying to invent new names for the characters (The Prince, Menion, The highlander, etc for the same person) and switching between them without reason within the same paragraph... o Brooks assumes zero intelligence from his reader. He explains every intention, thought, plan etc. He even explains when the characters fail to think about something! This is insulting in the long run. o Who is telling the story? From paragraph to paragraph Brooks switches between describing the thoughts of different characters. This hinders the flow of the story and rubs your nose in the fact that you are reading a story and not living it. o As a few people have already pointed out, Brooks states rather than shows in his writing. This is like reading a description of a movie instead of seeing it. Example: "He watched Shea push clothing and camping equipment into a leather pack, and when he asked his brother why he was packing, he was told that this was just a precaution in case he did have to flee suddenly", instead of having a dialogue between the characters. o The characters lack consistency. They switch between thinking about political activism to being childishly stupid and helpless in the face of the smallest obstacle. o And yes, there are a few too many parallels with Tolkien's tome here. I've read a lot of the reviews posted here and I would categorize the writers into two categories: A) People who are fairly new to fantasy. A lot of these people have not read LOTR and are somewhat younger. B) More seasoned fantasy readers. These readers are older, more critical, picky about their authors, allergic towards run-of-the-mill fantasy, and get irritated by misuse of language and stupidity in the characters. If you are in category A and you don't mind the use of language you will probably enjoy this book. If you fall in category B, PLEASE FOR GODS SAKE DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. In Brooks defense, I believe this was one of his earlier (first?) books published in 1977. I also read First King of Shannara (1996) which was an ok run-of-the-mill fantasy book and most of the problems mentioned above have disappeared. I guess 20 years of fantasy taught him something.
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