The Sword of Shannara (Terry Brooks)

Terry Brooks couldn't write a shopping list. But he can steal a narrative like a hot damn. Tolkein's corpse is still wondering where its wallet went.

Lord of the Ripoffs.

This is the first Terry Brooks/Shannara book that I have read and I would say the book is strictly ok. I did not really find the first half engrossing and agree with a lot of people that have mentioned the similarities to LOTR. The similarities are very distracting if you know about the LOTR plot. Also, one other important minus point is that sometimes I found myself skipping ahead a paragraph or so, to just not read the long description of scenery to get to the point where something actually happens. I hardly ever do that if I really like a book/think it's excellent. Basically I had moments when I was thinking "get on with it already". In terms of plus points, despite the above I found that the book does get better. I did get engrossed in the plot later on and wanted to find out about whether Shea was successful and when he wound finally find the Sword. I liked the sections with the two thieves and how the rock troll was more intelligent than he seemed. As for characters, Allan... Read more

there was a book in my high school art classroom called the art of the brothers hildebrandt. it had all these cool paintings of guys with swords and dragons and all sorts of neet stuff including all of the covor art and interior illustrations for the sword of shannarra. as a freshman in high school i had never given much thought to reading anything beyond a school book or some lame thing assigned by a teacher. but based on the cool hildebrandt paintings i began a quest to find the novel the sword of shannara and read something for pleasure for a change. i suppose in a roundabout way i owe the brothers hildebrandt my love for reading and not terry brooks. long story short, i found a copy of the sword of shannara (not an easy thing to do in a small southern utah town full of nothing but sagebrush and jackrabbits) and read it, fell in love with it, and also fell in love with reading. since then i have been reading a book or two everyday. i have over four thousand books in my collect... Read more

I just couldn't take it. I don't demand revelatory originality in my escape reading, but this was such an obvious rip-off of LOTR, I couldn't stomach it. Every single element was a blatant substitution for something from Tolkein, and so obvious it was distracting! Instead, I found The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit and got my fantasy fun. Sure, it's archetypal to the point of cliche, but with its own internal logic and some satisfying psychological insights, so I was able to enjoy it on its own terms, not as a thinly veiled copy of something better.

Yep, just like many of the other one/two star ratings have said, this is a badly written imitation of Lord of the Rings. If you have read that, there is no need to read this. I understand that the 'Tolkien Template' has been used often, by many authors, but this is so blatant, so obvious and thinly veiled, it's a deterrent to enjoying the story. Spoiler Alert Our story so far... Two naive young men who live in a community isolated from the great big world out there are contacted by a powerful and mysterious stranger who tells them that they must go on a quest to a city in order to obtain an object of great power, because it is the only thing that can stop the evil Warlock Lord. On the way they meet up with a woodsman who helps lead them on their journey, despite the fact they are not sure they can fully trust him. On they way they are attacked by a many-tentacled water monster. Barely escaping, they are magically assisted by a classic deus-ex-machina character who moves the s... Read more

Having heard so many good things about the author Terry Brooks i was extemely eager and excited to read the Sword of Shannara. But then i did, and was completely dissapointed.And here is why: His introduction of most of his characters is decent, and i do point out,MOST of them.And only the intoduction is decent. All throughout the book, Brooks does not allow the reader to get to know his characters,he does not speak of them much(personalities, backrounds...information)or includes many conversations between them. Also, his story moves quickly, too quickly for the reader to keep up, and enjoy a good read.His writing style is very technical and cold,he prefers to be Terry Brooks telling the story, rather than having his characters telling and living it. As to the copycat mention, i spotted many similarities to lord of the rings, but that is something quite common in many science fiction writers i suppose.Similarities in both the plot and in the characters.