r/shannara • u/raysweater • 4d ago
Just finished The Sword of Shannara. Can I share my thoughts? Spoiler
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.
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u/Tggdan3 3d ago
Elfstones is the best.
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u/PIHWLOOC 2d ago
Hard to say, I need to reread the older books in the series but I remember REALLY loving Wishsong as a kid.
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u/Tggdan3 2d ago
Okay most of them are good. The isle witch trilogy, scion quadilogy, wish song, all solid.
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u/PIHWLOOC 1d ago
Yeah i remember Antrax being where I realized the larger scope of the story etc with the... spoilers they found there. I didnt love the newest books in the series but the stories that do the prequel etc are all excellent as well
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u/IAmA_meat_popsicle 4d ago
In my humble opinion everything in the books just keep getting better!
I'm rereading the series again (it's been over 20yrs since my third read through lol). And even though it's technically a different series, I can't wait to get to The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara books. So much fun introducing air ships.
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u/Bazoomafoo 4d ago
I have re-read this book almost every year since it was published. It was my gateway to fantasy novels and to this day, it is still my preferred genre. I'm so happy you took the time to read it. Now go forth and read all of Terry's books! They are all so good!
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u/MaesterPraetor 3d ago
I read it as a kid, and it's my most read fantasy series. That's a very nice take, OP.
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u/kevdav63 3d ago
I didn’t care for the ending at all but loved the world. The Elfstones sequel was far superior imo.
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u/OkPineapple1813 1d ago
Warning Spoilers for Sword of Shannara and First King of Shannara below
I
've always loved Sword of Shannara. I know most people dismiss this as a LOTR knockoff but as a fan of Shannara over LOTR, I have to say I like Shea and Allanon more than I like Frodo and Gandalf. I've never felt there is a one to one comparison between Menion and anyone in LOTR or Panamon and Keltset and those are my favorite three characters besides Shea ,Allanon and Flick. I know Flick is a knockoff of Samwise Gamgee but I like him nonetheless.
Balinor would've came off better if there was more context to his family's rule. Would've loved to have seen in the prequel books how Tyrsis became a monarchy from our old world democracy. Without that Balinor is a poor man's Aragorn. Hendel was cool , but didn't have enough screentime to distinguish him from Gimli. The Elven brothers could've been left out and nobody would've noticed anything.
The Skull Bearers were the worst part for me. In the Sword they are just copycat Nazgul and don't do much of anything. I like the concept of the Skull Bears better in First King, where they come off more like Old World demons , who pretend to still be human (as in the case with Mareth father) rather than cloaked beings. That would have worked better , if that's who they were from the start and would've upped the danger for Shea and Flick after they fled from the Vale
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u/Soggy-Mistake8910 3d ago
It created a world that grows and grows. As dod the author. The later book are some of the best
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u/CeilingUnlimited 3d ago
The Sword of Shanarra is more reader-accessible than The Lord of the Rings. It was the very first full length novel I ever read - I read it in 7th grade back in the 1970’s. Decades later, I had the pleasure of meeting Terry Brooks at a conference and had the distinct thrill of being able to tell him that Sword had been the first adult novel I’d ever read. He was happy for me but also told me that he hears that all the time - it’s very common for him to get told that.
I doubt very seriously that Tolkien got told that a lot.
So, if Brooks ripped off Tolkien, he did it (at least partly) in the service of many readers who wouldn’t have sat down and read Tolkien. Thank you, Terry Brooks!!
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u/ijzerwater 3d ago
When I read Sword first time, I had already read quite a lot fantasy. It was too much a copy of LotR to me, which in hindsight means I skipped his books far too long.
p.s. If I open https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1116.Best_Fantasy_of_the_70s it feels to me that fantasy was alive and kicking before Sword
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u/raysweater 3d ago
How Terry Brooks Saved Epic Fantasy | by Aidan Moher | A Dribble of Ink | Medium https://share.google/Gj5LIvxW4lt7eq2DM
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u/ijzerwater 3d ago
his experience was different from mine, I guess I am a bit older and may have read more before reading Sword than him.
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u/raysweater 3d ago
Perhaps it was a struggling genre. I wasn't around, so I can't speak to it honestly.
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u/ijzerwater 3d ago
if was more an SF age than a fantasy age. So much more optimistic and thinking the future would be bright.
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u/Extreme-Eggplant-691 2d ago
He was a student of Tolkien and that first book is really close to LOTR. But then there’s like 30 other books. My favorite is Angel Fire East. “Joy to the world… JOY TO THE WOOOOOORLD!!!”
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u/Kooky_County9569 3d ago
I really want to like it. (I tend to like LOTR clones) But the way exposition is given was just so bad for me… I’m pretty used to exposition dumping, being a fantasy fan, but it was particularly egregious in this first book.
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u/Extreme-Eggplant-691 2d ago
You’re clear to just move along to the next books. His career matured nicely and is still going. Though there has been some inconsistencies over 50 years. Some.
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u/owlshogunate 4d ago
Glad you took the dive, the series gets better as it goes