Customer Reviews

The Sword of Shannara

5 star:		(275)
4 star:		(100)
3 star:		(63)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(95)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I barely got through the first half of this book because of its lack of originality. Almost every element of the plot was borrowed, probably unintentionally, from Tolkein. Shea and Flick (Frodo and Sam) leave their protected Shady Vale (the Shire), being hunted by wraithlike minions of the Dark Lord. The elfstones, like the Ring, reveal the bearer's position to the Dark Lord. A company made of men, dwarves, and elves joins together to travel with Shea (the Ringbearer) to find the Sword. Shea is poisoned and must be rushed to a the Anar (Rivendell)where are healed. Allanon (Gandalf) leads his company into the Hall of Kings, a cross between the Mines of Moria and the Paths of the Dead, where he fights a powerful monster that was aroused from the depths by their passing. Later Allanon fights with another creature, both fall into the abyss, and later Allanon reappears alive. Huge armies of Gnomes and Trolls are assembled by the Dark Lord just as Orcs are gathered in LOTR.

On the plus side, the second half of the book brings up a lot more original ideas. The subplot with Panamon Creel and Keltset was absolutely delightful, and gave me the only true emotional feeling of the whole book. Terry Brooks writes well, but much of it has been written before and, sorry to say this, better.

I distinctly remember enjoying this book when I read it quite some years ago, so I approached it expecting the pleasure of rediscovering an old favorite. In this I was sadly disappointed. Having reread the Lord of the Rings within the past year, I was amazed at how pale The Sword of Shannara appears beside Tolkien's monumental classic. The parallels are almost too numerous to name, ranging from Gandalf/Allanon to Sauron/Warlock Lord, to Boromir/Balinor, to Frodo & Sam/Shea & Flick. Unfortunately, even standing alone, this book would rank fairly low on my list of favorites.

Having grown up on the English of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and others, The Sword of Shannara's stilted prose constantly distracted me from the storyline. Every so often, I had to pause and reread a paragraph to assure myself that the phrasing was in fact as I had read it. It has been said that Brooks states instead of shows in his writing, and this sums it up nicely. Instead of allowing one to surmise what is running through a character's mind, Brooks specifically tells one, whether it shoehorns well with the surrounding story or not.

Another flaw is the fact that Brooks attempts to get within too many characters' heads at once. We are told what one individual is thinking in one paragraph, then the next we are yanked to the next mind. Characterizations are fairly stereotypical, but likeable, however the death of a major character was sad but somehow unaffecting.

On the bright side, the story, while hardly original, is at least somewhat enjoyable. A few small twists in the plot serve to lighten the chore of reading. The background of the world in which the novel is set is inventive, and even believable. The standard fantasy races will be a familiar backdrop to the veteran fantasy/sci-fi reader.

In all, this was a disappointing revisitation to Brooks' novel. I am willing, however, to continue through the series which I enjoyed in my younger years, as I recall some far clearer characterizations and faster-paced stories. This novel may be good for the beginning fantasy reader, as it is fairly well paced, and hardly a stretch for the imagination. Still, its unfortunate resemblance to the Lord of the Rings cripples it, preventing it from standing alone upon its own merits.

Like one of the other reviewers, I had read Brooks' works before reading LOTR and thought they were like a Grisham novel--a fast, mindless read to waste some time. Even before reading LOTR, I noticed that Brooks tends to rehash the same plot in his Shannara books. Over and over, it was that same stupid Druid Fire that miracuously saves the happy elves and dwarves. It seemed that there was always that climactic battle at the end, where we already knew who was going to win. Oh, and always a dumb quest to retrieve something in the meantime. Brooks is the Puff Daddy of the fantasy world. He makes his living ripping off other people's works. When Brooks dies, I hope Tolkien beats him over the head as he enters the gates of heaven.

First of all, how in the world did Brooks get away with writing this so called classic?! It was almost exactly like Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. It ripped off everything from the valemen, being timid and weak, like the Hobbits, The tall mystical gaurdian Allanon, a character almost exactly like Gandalf. The skull bearers, unusually synonomous to the Nazgul. And Hendel the battle-hardened dwarf, exactly like Gimli. Also Balinor,not quite king of the border town Calahorn, oh yeah, he was also an experienced fighter and ranger/scout, kind of like Aragorn. There are so many other things, so let me list all of them for you. The mist monster, like the water guardian to the mines of Moria, the Elven archers curiously resemble Legolas, The Warlock Lord, kind of like Sauron, The Skull Kingdom being like Mordor,Shady Vale, almost exactly like The Shire,Im sure I missed some, but you get the point.Don't waste your money on this LOTR clone, instead, go out and buy the real deal.

How can someone give this 4-5 stars I really fail to understand. For one thing it is very difficult to even pay attention to first few chapters written too descriptively. Frankly I am not interested if the twilight made the leaves of the vale shine red or other bull...t like that. And goodness me it IS a rip-off from LOTR, character for character, scene for scene. Just think, "A boy of no great ability living alone in a peaceful valley until a travelling mysterious magician comes and tells him he should leave. The usual characters of dwarves, elves and trolls are waiting for him on the way" now which book comes to your mind when you read that?. Shea is Frodo, Flick is Sam, and the rest... I agree that Tolkien is not the only one who can write fantasy. But there are better ways of writing fantasy than copying him. Read David Eddings, or read "The Bartimaus Triology" or even read Harry Potter. They prove excellent fantasy can be written without being a tolkien clone. I got this from a library, so I have the satisfaction of not spending much on it. Stay away....

I purchased the hefty The Sword of Shannara five years ago and have since failed twice to get past page twenty without wanting to call Terry Brook's editor and scream. The reason? The over-use of adjectives. Terry Brooks uses every opportunity to over-explain each noun and verb. If this book was a slab of meat, 2/3rds of it would be fat.

The over-use of adjectives and adverbs kills The Sword of Shannara for me. The bloated prose trudges along like a pig attempting to walk on ice: it is slow and keeps falling on its face.

How this book got published in the shape it's in baffles me. Anyone who is slightly familiar with the publishing industry will agree. It's not that The Sword of Shannara didn't have a chance to become a cash cow for a publisher, because it sure did. I'm not baffled that the story got published. I'm baffled that 700 pages of bloated verbiage didn't get trimmed down to under 400 pages. This book could easily be trimmed down to half its size without losing anything meaningful to the story. In fact I would bet my house that The Sword of Shannara would be a faster, more enjoyable read if it had an editor who didn't get paid for every tree they killed.

Ultimately, the book has many familiar, and potentially likable aspects, but they are lost in a see of big, expansive, deep blue, trembling, over-used adjectives that exceedingly, and with great skill, drown out the verbs leaving the story a rotting mess.

I know little about writing, but I do know this: if your nouns and verbs need excessive modifiers, then they weren't the proper nouns and verbs to use to convey your point in the first place.

Save a tree, buy a different book.

Tolkien all over. And I mean ALL OVER. Shea is Frodo, Flick is Sam, Menion is Boromir, Skullbearers are Balrogs, Allanon is Gandalf,(Maybe the only decent imitation)and the Vale is the Shire. I could go on. Events, let's see. Allanon appears and asks Shea to leave everything he knows and loves exactly like Gandalf , Allanon fights a Skullbearer and falls into an abyss, supposedly dies and then reappears exactly like Gandalf, the skullbearer appears and forces Shea to leave just like Frodo, and so on and so forth. Give me any event in The Sword of Shannara, and I'll name one that is at least similar, if not a shallow duplicate from LOTR. I don't know whether Brooks was trying to make fun of Tolkien, or if he just thought that we were all so clueless that we wouldn't notice. Anyone who doesn't realize that this is an exact replica of LOTR needs to work on their reading skills. If LOTR is too deep for you, wait until you are ready for it, but don't waste your time reading this junk. I wouldn't spit on it if it were on fire. Have fun if you are eight, anyone else should go buy a couple copies and burn them.