Sword of Shannara [Library Binding]

Terry Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2008

Living in the remote hamlet of Shady Vale, the young half-elf Shea Ohmsford knows little of the outside world. And yet, in the desolate, ruined lands of the far north, a dark-hearted sorcerer is plotting his death. The ancient warlock has dispatched a band of deadly Skull Bearers to track Shea down and murder him. For Shea is the last descendant of an ancient Elvin king, and the only person living who can wield the fabled Sword of Shannara - a weapon with the power to thwart the Warlock Lord's terrifying plans. Only the druid Allanon knows where the sword is hidden and even now he rides to Shady Vale to offer his aid. But the Skull Bearers are swift and ruthless, and Shea Ohmsford's destiny may be over before it has begun! And so begins the incredible legend of The Sword of Shannara - a classic story of magic, adventure and epic conflict, from one of the world's greatest living storytellers. Part Two, THE DRUIDS' KEEP and Part Three, THE SECRET OF THE SWORD will be published in successive months.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Confirms his place at the head of the fantasy world' Philip Pullman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revaled that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destory the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....


From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Paw Prints 2008-06-26; Reprint edition (June 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439509425
• ISBN-13: 978-1439509425
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (599 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,097,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terry Brooks = Tolkien + Star Wars - a sense of humor, November 5, 1999

By 

Kylopod (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sword of Shannara (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading one of the later Shannara books several years ago, and after recently reading Brooks's stale rendering of the new Star Wars movie, I was not expecting to warm up to his first novel. Boy, was I surprised. I couldn't put it down, for all 726 pages. The book is just one adventure after another, all involving the search for a special sword needed to defeat the evil Warlock Lord who seeks to rule the world. The only man capable of using the sword must embark on a quest to find it, with only a few magic stones as protection against the dreaded Skull Bearers who are after him. If you think this doesn't very original, you're right. But there's one interesting twist: this story takes place in the future.

At least that's what I understood. My friend, who read the book years ago, disagrees. Sure, it appears to be the standard quasi-medieval setting with its kings, its dungeons, and its primitive technology. But one character describes a time in the distant past when humans mastered "a science of machines and power" but ended up unleashing technology in a series of wars that altered the planet and destroyed most of the life on it. Doesn't this sound an awful lot like nuclear holocaust? Society was in ruins, but humans eventually reeemerged along with other "races" they dubbed as gnomes, trolls, dwarves, elves, and the like, all adapted to different lifestyles. They also discovered magic by harnessing the power of the dead.

Other than this curious rationale for a world populated by mythical kinds of creatures, the book rarely strays from the conventions of the genre. Usually when I'm reading fantasy, I expect a story either to have some connection with history, like the King Arthur tales, or to invent something entirely new, like Tolkien's hobbits. Brooks does neither, but I did enjoy the vividness of the world he created. When we first encounter a troll, the creature is described as having bark-like skin like that of a tree. It's that keen attention to detail that brings this world to life. Even though it's not original in a broad sense, Brooks is a resourceful storyteller. About midway through the book, I found one plot twist so surprising, I laughed out loud.

What this novel lacks, besides the slightest trace of humor, is strong characterization. The book has a lot of characters, and I would have liked to see their personalities distinguished more. My favorite characters are a pair of thieves who reminded me a bit of Han Solo and Chewbacca. But Brooks has an unfortunate habit of stating things instead of showing them, which makes it far less interesting. For example, he describes the character of Menion as having strong morality, but I didn't find this trait as noticeable through his actions.

There don't seem to be any women in the story until about two-thirds into it, when one of the characters stumbles upon what else? A beautiful princess. And that's all we ever learn about her. Brooks's portrayal of women is one of the things which made me dislike some of his other books. By now, I'm starting to forgive him for these flaws. What's more, I'm slowly becoming a convert to his verbose, cliché-ridden, dead-serious, and highly enjoyable fantasy epics.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great for kids (maybe) but far from great., December 15, 2005

By 

T. Diller (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sword of Shannara (Mass Market Paperback)

When I read this book as a 12 yr old, it was my second fantasy book after LOTR, and to a 12 yr old geek, this book was awesome, with all the great elements: wizard, reluctant hero thrust into greatness, a self-contained magical world, and for me, a second dose of epic fantasy to feed the hunger stoked initially by the truly great Tolkien.
So, 18 yrs later, I saw this book sitting on a used bookstore shelf for 25 cents, and I thought, what the heck, I enjoyed it so much the first time through; it might be fun to reread the Sword of Shannara. I was just starting to enjoy the trip down into the Vale (1st paragraph) when I noticed something that totally escaped me the first time through: the writing is terrible! With a slightly more refined appreciation for good literature, I have had a lot of difficulty actually bringing myself to finish the book.
I think the reason it appeals so much to the 12-15 crew is that its level of emotional maturity exactly matches an adolescent boy. The interaction between Flick and Shea and Allanon (with his mocking smile and impenetrable mein) is clearly reflective a strained father-son relationship. Flick and Menion especially seem to be motivated by a strong desire to prove their elders wrong, and otherwise, the characters have completely unrealistic responses to the events that happen to them. They seem not to experience any terror or sorrow after facing hideous creatures, mostly just exhaustion. The flow of events reads very much like the author is transcribing the moves as he and a dungeon-master roll dice over a well used set of D&D manuals. The characters seem to jump instantly into battle mode whenever an enemy shows up, trading blows in turn. Their items come with little modification from the standard RPG inventory lists I used to pore over. (Menion Leah, for instance, does not just carry a sword and bow, he carries "The Sword of Leah," probably carrying a +2 damage bonus, and a "stout ash hunting bow".)
Plotwise, the course of events is quite linear, with many parallels to LOTR: a gathering of characters to a refuge site, formation of an interracial save-the-world party, separation of the hobbits/valemen from the rest of the fellowship with subsequent rescue, and desperate conclusion with an epic battle backdrop. Many of the elements are a little too familiar: underground loss of wizard into a flaming pit, perilous passage through an cavernous maze, search through the charred stinking remains of a defeated gnome/orc army in the plains, black clouds on the horizon signaling the onset of the evil army, and so on.
Each chapter is its own tidy mini-adventure complete with foreshadowing, introduction of a new character or element, a disregarded long-lost legend which turns out to be true (and often deadly), and "surprising" conclusion.
So if all of this does not bother you and you love fantasy role-playing, then I'm sure you will enjoy the journey, and to a young geek reader, this is about as good as it gets. The Sword of Shannara, however, has none of the grace, subtlety, depth, and beauty that make the much-compared-to LOTR such a great work of literature.

41 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The only fantasy book I have ever returned to the shop, August 30, 2001

By 

Matias Bjarland (Gothenburg, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sword of Shannara (Mass Market Paperback)

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.