The Sword of Shannara (Shannara Series #1)

Unoriginal and very boring

I had to force my way through this entire book. A lot of reviews said this book was a good read, but it was horrible. And yes I did finish it just so I could rightfully write this review. The main character Shea had no personality at all. You should feel some sort of emotion for the main character as you read the book. You should hope they win or lose. But the main character had no feelings toward anything that was happening in the book. If the main character doesn't care what happens then why should I? Setting, Characters, and Plot were just like Lord of the Ring trilogy, only not as well written. It was like reading Lord of the Rings again only this time I didn't enjoy it. I really suggest that you chose a different book for a fun read, but it is really your choice.

3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Please be informed before reading!

Some people write off this series because of this book and they are truly missing out because this is one of the best series ever written. The complaint is that this book is too similar to the Lord of the Rings, and the truth is that, well it is ON PURPOSE. Terry Brooks was actually friends with Tolkien and this book was originally written personally for Tolkien as a gift. Tolkien liked it so much that he convinced Brooks to publish it. Despite the similarities the book is able to stand on it's own and the series is completely original.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A good lullaby

This is the worst fantasy i've ever read. I had to read it for school, and i almost cried. The book drags on and on and on. This is a HUGE tolkien rip off. Many settings can be compared with settings from the lord of the rings, and the plot has little originality. Not that high detail is a bad thing, but you need to leave some things to the imagination. A waste of time, all in all.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Sword of Shannara

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. Full of action and adventure. If you like J.R.R. Tolkiens books, you will like this.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good...but flawed

This book is pleasant, and at times compelling. The power of the Sword of Shannara was imaginative. There is a nice air of fantasy. The mechanics of Brooks' writing, however, are somewhat amateur. I found his description, while occasionally imaginative, to be a little mundane and comically repetitive. Everyone's face is 'impassive' and Allanon's expression is always a 'mocking grin'. It becomes very silly after a while. The elfstones were a bit of the 'Deus ex Machina' - able to solve just about any problem. Another annoying characteristic of his writing is that, as soon as a character becomes totally despondent and hopeless about a situation, that situation resolves and they triumph despite their doubts. After this happens about twenty times, it becomes very predictable. Also, his tactic of breaking chapters into cliffhangers is a weak attempt at infusing unpredictability into this novel. Nevertheless, a good book for younger kids. Some good values such as loyalty and companionship are expressed.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Read the rest of the series. Sword might only be an average book

Read the rest of the series. Sword might only be an average book but the rest of the series is unbelievable

All time favorite book

This is my all time favorite book and series. I have tried to read other fantasy fiction i.e. george r.r. martin, terry goodkind, tolkien, et al and none of them holld a candle to terry brooks.

This novel follows Shea Ohmsford with a small band of friends on a grand quest to find the sword of shannara and defeat the warlock lord Brona. This is often compared to lord of the r

Terrible

This book isnot even worth your time i had to read it for school and thought i would never get through. I hated it, dont waste your money or time. It doesnt even deserve one star.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sword of shanra

This was a beautiful book and I would recomend it to any big fantisy fan!

Well Written - Though not so original

This book tells the story of a man named Shea Omshford, who is a half human, half elf. In the story he is visited by a mysterious man named Allanon. He is told that he is the last of a royal bloodline, and the only person in the land who can use the power of a legendary sword. This sword is the only thing that can defeat the evil warlock lord before his army of gnomes and trolls take over the entire earth. Then he and a small group of fighters go on a quest to steal the sword from the warlock lord and defeat him. The characters have to overcome fears and conflicts between them, and gain friends while avoiding enemies. My favorite part of the book was the battle near the end, which was cleverly laid out and thrilling, with surprises everywhere. One problem I found with the book was that it had a huge similarity to lord of the rings, with almost exactly the same plot, except replacing the characters and settings. Despite that, this book is one of my recommendations, because it is challenging and exiting, I found it very hard to put down and am looking forward to reading the sequel. I would also recommend books like 'The Dragons Nine Sons' which may be the best book I ever read, with the plot going down a helter-skelter of crime, redemption, revenge, treachery, horror, and death. Also, another brilliant book would have to be 'Watership Down', as a wonderful classic tale of rabbits trying to find a new home and peace between themselves. 'The Sword of Shanara' gets my overall rating of 8/10 because it has great truths and original characters.

Ya

I kinda dig this

Great Read

I love these books. I started reading the Shannara books in 1990. I liked the continuity of following Shea's family through the generations. Some people may find it repetitive on the theme, but when you consider that once evil gets entrenched it is hard to get rid of, and that it takes different forms, the story makes sense. It is not several stories but one, that spans decades, eons in Bremen's and Allanon's case.

Terry Brooks is a master story teller!!!

Not Brooks' best

I read this first as a teen and loved it, thought it was the best fantasy ever written. It got me started on his other books. I reread it as an adult last year and had to skim it. The cliches, the poor writing, the unbelievable plot elements got on my nerves. Thankfully Mr Brooks' writing skills have improved over the years with his experience. Now the only thing to get on my nerves is the constant "I just saved the lives of x number of people with my magic. I must never use it again! I hate it!"

Great book and series!

I quickly found myself unable to put the book down. A story worth reading more then once. Only one question? When are they making these epic stories into movies? Thanks you TerryBrooks for the countless hours of adventure.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful!

This is one of my favorite books EVER! I have read it multiple times and still love it. I recommend this to anyone who wants to read fantasy fiction

Why did I wait?

I remember owning a copy of this book when I was younger however I don't ever remember reading it. Downloaded it to my Nook recently, and could not put it down. Brooks tells a wonderful story, a classic tale of good versus evil. Some say that the story is a rehash of many fantasy novels I must disagree. Brooks paints a vivid image, looking forward to reading the nect book in the trilogy (already downloaded).

Where all great things must end; from where they began.

Long live the true start of a magical view of our world.

REALLY?!

I finally decided to check this book out after many years of hearing how great it was from my siblings. Please note that neither sibling has ever read Lord of the Rings, so I can honestly see how they found this book enjoyable. However, having read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy prior to reading this book, I was left with a sense of déjà vu.over.and over.and over again. Yes, it was that repetitious. Out of 726 pages, only around 200 of them were remotely original. I will say, though, that the 200 pages that weren't complete Lord of the Rings re-hash were quite enjoyable. Its just a shame that it took almost 500 pages of monotony to get to this brief moment of entertaining literature. Almost more upsetting is the fact that the book's ending was looking to be a great one.however it took a turn for the worst and ended up disappointing just like the first 500 pages of the book. Spoiler ahead: When the main protagonist of the book was able to kill the all powerful antagonist in barely over 5 pages, I seriously wanted to put the book down and never pick it up again. If I wasn't less than 25 pages away from the end, I would have. Seriously, this enemy had the world kneeling at his feet.yet the hero, a stereotypical country boy, was able to slay him within ten minutes of meeting him?! REALLY?! So, to give you an idea of how quickly this all happened, within approximately 30 pages the book goes from all is lost, to all is won, to violent earthquakes, to blissful living for everyone. I would have really liked to see this "climax" be a bit more drawn out, more dramatic and less like the rushed let down it was. Although harsh, the above assessment is my honest opinion. I know it sounds like I completely hated this book, and approximately 525 pages of it I did. However, there were some brief shining moments within these burdensome pages that I very much enjoyed. Thus a 3 out of 5 stars is a reasonable.almost too reasonable assessment of The Sword of Shannara.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Shannara us GREAT!

Some years ago I heard mention of SWORD OF SHANNARA and that it was very similar to LORD OF THE RINGS. That prompted me not to read it, since it sounded like a rip-off. Then I realized that being similar to LOTR means it's a great read, so I gave it a shot. I'm glad i did--SWORD OF SHANNARA *is* a great book. It was like rereading the great LOTR while reading something new; all the rest of the books in the series are original. And also great. (Note: SHANNARA is pronounced SHAN-uh-ruh.) Sometimes characters in different books seem very similar, but, to me, they fit just fine into the storyline (after all, in how many *different* ways can someone be proficient with a knife or a sword?). And ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA and STRAKEN have endings that blew me away. Some readers have commented on the times that Brooks repeats previous storylines. These are just one paragraph long and occur only when a new character is encountered and is being brought up to speed on previous events. Also, I think a couple of times the recap refers to events that happened several books earlier, so the recap is even helpful to the reader. I'll just put in my two cents' worth as to the reading order, which is neither chronological nor date published. The books should be read as follows (no spoilers): the original trilogy: SWORD OF SHANNARA (first one written) ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA WISHSONG OF SHANNARA FIRST KING OF SHANNARA book (prequel to SWORD) HERITAGE OF SHANNARA quadrology VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA trilogy HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA trilogy WORD AND VOID trilogy (these books are all urban thrillers) GENESIS OF SHANNARA (these books are post-apocalyptic stories; a new book in this series has just come out, and another one is due out next year) This is the order where, I think, the overall Shannara storyline(s) flow most logically and without interruption. Some comments on WORD AND VOID. Each of the books builds to a climax that is both incredibly amazing and amazingly incredible. However, the bulk of each book was mostly uninteresting filler and just dragged on. Also, as noted above, these are urban thrillers, so they don't take place in the customary medieval setting associated with epic fantasy. I gladly give five stars to the Shannara series proper.

A classic favorite

Having read the original book in high school, this is one of the books that inspired my love of fantasy. A definite reread over the years. Also enjoy perusing the illustrations.