The Sword of Shannara [Mass Market Paperback]

Terry Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 12, 1983 | Series: The Sword of Shannara

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....

Editorial Reviews

Review

A marvellous fantasy trip Frank Herbert --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....

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; Reissue edition (July 12, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345314255
• ISBN-13: 978-0345314253
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.7 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (625 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

153 of 191 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh is a word, right? June 10, 2004

By Ian Fortey

Format:Audio Cassette

I finally forced myself to finish this book. I purchased the trilogy and, despite grimacing at nearly every turn of the page, here I am.

I like Terry Brooks in the present. Terry Brooks in the 70's, when he wrote this, was frightening. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is rehashed Tolkien by a less skilled hand. In fact, the last time I wrote on this book, I hadn't even finished it yet. The similarities became even more blatant and, yes, pathetic, as I read on. The reason for it being pathetic, of course, is that Brooks tries to cram into 400 pages what Tolkien did in over 1000.

Witness Shea, our token Frodo with his Sam, now known as Flick, loyal to a fault. Shea/Frodo is no hero, but he's got strength of character and will see this thing through to the end.

Withness Allanon/Gandalf, the wise and ominous figure who knows so much and is a friend to all throughout the lands for he is so wise and blah blah.

Witness Aragorn/Balinor, the heroic man of royalty who..suddenly because Faramir/Boromir near the end of the book when we see that his brother, under the influence of the villanois Stenmin/Grima has ventured to take the throne from the king who is slowly being poisoned to death by Stenmin/Grima. Gasp.

Never forget Gimli/Hendle and then poor Legolas who gets turned into two generic elves who are utterly and totally pointless to the story in its entirety and serve only to remind you that yes, Elves exist here.

And then Menion Leah, who really has no parallel in Tolkien. That must mean he's original, right?

Marvel as they journey through the creepy mountain that is not Moria. Witness Allanon fight a Skull Bearer that is not a Balrog, only to smite the beast but have it grab him at the last second and pull him to a fiery doom. Except that he miraculously survives. And is not Gandalf.

Behold the Gnomes who are certainly not Orcs as they lay siege to the imepenetrable human stronghold that is set into a mountain and is not the same one from Lord of the Rings.

Wonder why the Sword of Shanarra, that is not the Ring of Power, winds up in the hands of a Gnome who is not Gollum, who goes crazy and fights to keep his precious sword, who is forced by madness to grasp it even though it is killing him, and he dies for it.

Finally, cringe when you notice that in every chapter in the last third of the book, the characters reflect on their journey thus far. Every chapter and every character, reflecting on events that you read only 100 pages ago and therefore don't care to relive because you only read it 100 pages ago.

That this book was published amazes me. The writing is poor, the characters are all underdeveloped and the blatant influence of Tolkien is unforgiveable.

68 of 86 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

Format: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.

36 of 46 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

Format: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.