I'm currently almost finished with the Talismans of Shannara which I think is the seventh book. I'm debating whether even to start the First King of Shannara, is it worth it?

The Elf Queen of Shannara was the worst one so far and I didn't even finish it (because I thought I had lost the book). I cliff noted the end to find out what happened.

Why can't every book be like the original sequel, Elf Stones of Shannara? This was an incredible fantasy thriller where I couldn't stop turning the pages. Even Wish Song and the Scions of Shannara were really good. The Druid of Shannara was okay, I enjoyed them exploring the abandoned city. But elf queen was just so out of context in my opinion. Also it was so far fetched that the elves could just do almost anything with their magic. If they could shrink their whole city why couldn't they just restore peace to the four lands? But that's just my opinion.

Anyways my mom just finished the sword of Shannara and I told her she has to read Elf Stones because it's SOO much better!

Need opinions on First King and whether to continue!! Or what's the next best thing to The Dark Tower series? Besides LOTR.

PS: I read most of Running w the Demon long before Shannara and that was pretty good!

First of all, I truly enjoyed it. The ending, when Panamon shows up with the elfstones, left me with a big smile. I wish we had a little more time to mourn Hendel and Keltset, but that is truly my only complaint. It was the same complaint I had when Dobby and Hedwig died in the Harry Potter books. I really liked how I thought I knew what would happen to these characters because of their LotR counter-parts, but the twists and diversions Brooks did with these characters in the second half of the story was a lot of fun.

Here is the review I left on Goodreads:

The criticism this book usually gets is always about how it stole a lot of elements from The Lord of the Rings, but what these critiques don't mention is how that was the entire point. Fantasy was dead, and it was up to Terry Brooks to revive the genre; and he did so by creating a story that reminded us of Lord of the Rings, but was its own thing as well. You know what these critiques don't mention, though? How, even though there are blatant one-to-one similarities to The Lord of the Rings, this specific book creates a world that is not only both intriguing and fantastical in the best sense, but has also spawned over 30 original stories set in the world of Shannara.

You'll recognize some characters as being a version of characters from Lord of the Rings, for sure. Some examples would be our Frodo and Sam (from LotR) avatars in Shae and Flick Ohmsford, Allanon is our Gandalf avatar, and there is even a version of Gollum in the character of Orl Fane. Instead of a ring, there is the titular sword; and instead of Sauron, we have the Warlock Lord. Even the quest these characters embark on follows The Lord of the Rings for the most part. However-and I cannot stress this enough-the second half of this book ventures away from what you would expect and takes these characters to fun and surprising places.

What impressed me most about this book is the world Terry Brooks created. There are hints throughout that the world of Shannara is the same as ours, but set thousands of years in the future after the fall of mankind. We even see remnants of a city (Seattle, maybe?) during one part of their journey. Brooks even goes so far to explain how gnomes, dwarves, and elves came to exist as well. It's all very interesting.

The biggest success of this book is that it makes you excited for the future stories and potential of this world. Shannara is ripe for more stories (hopefully more original) and I found myself excited to finish this trilogy. It's like, we all understand fantasy tropes and literature again because of The Sword of Shannara, so I'm pumped to see what crazy and fun stories happen next.

I gave it three stars because I enjoyed this book and even recommend it, but I couldn't give it the fourth star because it did lean heavily on Lord of the Rings. I've had this book on my list since high school back in 2004, and I'm glad to have finally taken the plunge into Shannara.

After reading Galaphile, I went and re-read the Galaphile/Paranor section in The World of Shannara book. They do not line up at all.

Listening to The Jerle Shannara trilogy, as I read them several times as a kid.

but... I always thought it was Isle witch, like and Island Isle, the Isle of Ireland, Emerald Isle, etc etc.

However the Audiobook pronounces it Is la witch.

Have I been misthinking it all this time or is the voice actor just.... really badly mispronouncing a fairly common word.

So I'm nearing the end of Galaphile and at the end of chapter 32 they brooks rights a very pointed statement. Galaphile has just finished scanning his and Niriannes unborn child and he writes

Their child thrived.

Their child of of light.

The way the two sentences are written as seperate paragraphs each by themself, it feels very much like a statement. The Viridian deep trilogy (which I have not read), the first book is called child of light.

What's more, not even half a page down they describe the child as having "no darkness yet". The second book in that trilogy is called "Daughter of Darkness"

This seems just too obvious to be coincidence. If it is in fact coincidence, I find myself disappointed at such sloppy writing to allow this. Anyone have any insight?

Just read the elfstones of Shannara knowing nothing about the series. It was probably the best fantasy I’ve read in recent memory. The only criticism I have is the lame ahh cover the publisher picked. What should I read next? Should I go in chronological order or does it not matter?

An Allanon intpretation through AI modification over toy photography.

Hopefully this isn’t a dumb question- I found a bunch of Shannara books at an op shop, some of which I’ve marked in the image above. They’re a gift for my dad, but I just need to know whether he can start with the Heritage series or do I need to get him the Original series first for things to make sense?

I'm listening to the Shannara audiobooks and just started on Scions. I'm still getting used to the switch between narrators, and there's one sentence I can't make out what John Lee says. I think it's chapter 3 during the telling in what's happened to the Four Lands since Wishsong. The sentence starts "After seeing what happened to the Dwarves, the Gnome tribes felt..." I can't make out the last few words if anyone could help.

I was hoping to read it after the original trilogy

When is Peter Jackson gonna take on this project?!

Just finished elf stones of Shannara, a couple days ago I found out trying to get the physical copies of the trilogy the universe is huge. which is cool, but at the same time stressful because am I reading the books in the correct way? I know there’s probably not a right way. But do you guys have a recommended order? I would like to finish the sword trilogy before I go to other books though.

Hi, first post here and apologies if this has already been asked. Is the High Druid of Shannara series the only set that would be mismatched here by size? I can get replacements for the rest of the Heritage of Shannara series and the Dark Legacy of Shannara to bring them to the same height, and the trilogy collection of Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series would be the same according to Amazon's measurements.

Hey all

So I just finished reading the Elfstones of Shannara. I knew what was coming because I saw the series way back (book is so much better), but I still cried a little. Anyone have the box of tissues?

So I’m an empath to begin with (we are usually very sensitive emotionally) and a hopeless romantic so the show was depressing.

What I really liked about the book, was it made more sense. It also gives you more peace. You understand truly why Amberle turns into the Ellcrys, the importance of it to their culture.

Also I had always kinda wished that Wil would’ve been, it would’ve been sweet and romantic for him to like spend the rest of his days guarding the Ellcrys like a knight but I understood why that wasn’t going to be the case. You understand Wil has his own destiny, also the show over dramatizes their relationship.

So I think that gave me a lot more peace in the book, and even Allanons comforting words that she was always with him.

I still don’t feel he and the Rover girl were a good match but it’s not my story so….

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book. And I know this is a whole discussion post, but glad to be here.

Also my goal is to read every shannara book, and there will be no more heartbreak stories I am sure :P

Just an FYI for those of you who might have missed out on this. My new publishing company, S Press (an off-shoot of THE SIGNED PAGE) will be producing a new original trilogy set of hardcovers that are similar to design and art of Galaphile. Galaphile and the sequels that will come after it are tied so closely that original trilogy that I thought if I wanted them on my shelf, others might as well.

If these do well -- which it looks like they are already -- I'll probably produce FIRST KING too. So there will be a matching set from Galaphile all the way up through Wishsong.

Ok. For 40yrs (give or take) I've collected, read & even paid for a few signatures & built up a nice 1st edition library of books & even had help from Shawn in getting the "buy book-get signed copy" program 😁

That being said, it pains me to see that all the projects through the years is of super heros, fantasy works, etc all get to a screen but all we've EVER GOTTEN was the abomination (my opinion) of MTV's "adaption" & nothing more in 40yrs!!!

You can't tell me that wheel of time, foundation, and all the rest, that Shannara or Magic Kingdom isn't worthy of a movie at the very least? It's sad & the world misses out of 34+ books of Magic, Word & Shannara stories? No one in entertainment has never come across Terry Brooks & thought that they could make something that the public would enjoy? I don't buy it. I've even emailed Shawn (multiple times) asking why. Shannara is a wonderful story that may have started out as kinda LOTR but it took off into such a massive story with places, magic, conflict & characters you could root for & be scared of & it's a travesty to not have had its stories brought to screens. All we have & Brooks has is MTV's adaption as the pinnacle.

Crazy.

Just sharing that Delilah S. Dawson is deep into writing it. Terry has read it as it has been written, occasionally making some tweaks. He's really happy with how the story is shaping up. No word when the book's first draft will be complete or when the book will publish.

I've started re-reading the series - just finished book 2 (The Black Unicorn). What does everyone think about it?

I enjoyed the first book alot, really unique idea for a story. The second books plot felt a bit too convoluted to me and I struggled to understand what was going on most of the time

I'm just loving the new book

Was watching “The Big Short” on a flight the other day and spotted our beloved Shannara being read by Christian Bale.

A long ebay deep dive and some help from a Canadian card shop owner (Thanks Eric) and I’ve got all four! Now to have them framed so it can be turned to see the back or something cool.

Anyone have a clue about this name? Why and what was Terri thinking?

Does anyone know where I can find the rest of these? I bought the 2 I found on eBay. But naturally would like the rest