Just Read Sword of Shannara...

[GoodKingJayIII]

There's another thing I enjoyed about the books. I thought the themes were good. But, I felt those sort of got lost because the book was so... mild. I don't even think the books were bad. Just incredibly bland.

 

[Velenne]

I had the experience of reading Sword of Shannara as my very first fantasy book ever! My dad picked it up for me at a comic book store when I was about 12. LOVED IT!

But again, I was 12. I went on over the years to read Elfstones, Wishsong, the Scions series, and First King. This last was toward the end of high school about seven years ago. I havn't picked up any of the newest books.

Reason being: I think I grew out of them. By then, I'd read some older-themed stories that weren't so "cookie-cutter" fantasy. Still, as my intro to the genre, I couldn't imagine a better start. (Looking back, I think I was much too young for Tolkien at that point...too slow)

I'd highly recommend the series to people with short attention spans or who don't read many books to begin with. If you're trying to get someone else into fantasy, Brooks does a good job of keeping the early Shannara stories simple (if predictable) and telling a good fantasy tale.

 

[Hopping Vampire]

Odd, because i couldnt finish The Hobbit or the Fellowship, but rather enjoyed shannara immensly.

 

[Dimwhit]

I was always a huge Brooks fan, and Sword of Shannara was my favorite. I still really like it, but more for nostalgia and "classic" reasons. I read LotR, but wasn't too impressed. Had Tolkein written those books in the 70s or 80s, they would have been largely passed over, in my opinion. And there's no denying that Brooks was heavily influenced by Tolkein, but I think similarities between the two end about halfway through the Sword of Shannara.

My opinion is that Brooks is a "classic" fantasy author. He was in no small part responsible for the re-emergence of Fantasy in the late 70s. On the other hand, all his books have such a similar style that I stopped reading them. (I did really like Magic Kingdom, though.)

He'll always be a favorite of mine, for sentimental reasons if nothing else. And he's good to read if you ever get tired of all the smut and other crap filling Fantasy these days.

 

[jester47]

Odd, because i couldnt finish The Hobbit or the Fellowship, but rather enjoyed shannara immensly.

I can understand Fellowship lots of boring parts many many people just can't seem to get past... but THE HOBBIT? Please for the love of god try it again!

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

I think Magic Kingdom is pretty good. IMO I think it is his best. I also have heard that his more recent Shanara series is pretty darn tootin neato. But I have yet taken time to read it.

My list of stuff to read is getting too long...

Aaron.

 

[Piratecat]

Odd, because i couldnt finish The Hobbit...

Fantastic user name or not, I'm SO tempted to ban you. I love that book.

 

[Allanon]

Fantastic user name or not, I'm SO tempted to ban you. I love that book.

The Hobbit was good, but not great. Even Tolkien saw many of it's shortcomings and revised it (more due to not being consistant with Lord of the Rings than something else but still I could use it as a subverted way of proving my point). I liked the Hobbit (so don't ban me) but I also like the first two books of the Shannara series. I find the statement Sword of Shannara is a LotR rip-off kinda odd as LotR is itself heavily based on other peoples works (can anyone say Beowulf). Still nobody disregards LotR because of it.

 

[Allanon]

Spoiler warning!

Hey, how come you didn't answer my post? I was looking forward to your response.

Because Barendd Nobeard already stated a lot of the similarities. But here's another listing of some of the more glaring similarities. But even though these similarities exist, they don't mean Sword of Shannara should be dismissed because of them.

SPOILER WARNING!!! Don't read if you want to read Sword of Shannara!







Sword of Shannara -Lord of the Rings

• Shady Vale (sleepy village) ==== The Shire
• Shea (orphan hero) ==== Frodo
• Flick (doubty sidekick) ==== Sam
• Allanon (mystery & magic) ==== Gandalf
• Balinor (travelling prince) ==== Aragorn
• Skullbearers (non-existent night crawlers) ==== Ringwraiths
• Menion (outlander friend) ==== Merry + Pippin
• Black Oaks (bad rep. for travel) ==== Old Forrest
• Siren (evil tree type thingy) ==== Old Man Willow
• King of SR (old, old power, in a region) ==== Tom Bom
• Culhaven (heros flee to a safe place) ==== Rivendell
• Council (various races, and plan) ==== Rivendell Council
• Buckhannah Brothers (princes at variance) ==== Boromir & Faramir
• Party of 8 (our small band of heros) ==== Nine Walkers
• City Poison (makes hero unconscious) ==== Knife poison
• Elfstones (reveal user to Enemy) ==== One Ring
• Hall of Kings (fearsome place, abandoned) ==== Paths of the Dead, or Moria
• Druids Keep (good but abandoned to evil) ==== Moria
• Allanon + Skullbearer (fights to save, yet 'dies') ==== Gandalf and Balrog
• Loss of Shea (company broken amidst battle) ==== Departure of Frodo
• Tyrisis & Callahorn (first, best defense) ==== Minas Tirith / Gondor
• Kern (associated with main city) ==== Rohan
• Stenmin (poisioning mind of royals) ==== Wormtongue
• Rhul (weak ruler, overcome by evil) ==== Steward of Gondor or King of Rohan
• Cloud wall (sent by Enemy eve of battle) ==== Dark Clouds
• Orl Fane (pitiful creature with object) ==== Smeagol
• Sword (ancient magic to destroy) ==== One Ring
• Storlock (place of great rest&healing) ==== Lorien
• Skull Mt. (single mountain, evil home) ==== you know the one
• Orl Fane Saves (by intervening at critical time)=== Smeagol Saves
• Brona (good, overcome by lure of magic)=== Sauron

 

[kingpaul]

I still have the Shanarra books (1st set (trilogy), 2nd set (quadrology) and First King) on my book shelf...don't own anything later.

I read Sword in 7th or 8th grade (I'll hit 3-0 in April), mostly because all my friends said it was boring and couldn't finish it. Yes, the 1st part was dry, but I attributed that to laying the ground-work of the world.

I didn't see LotR similarities when I read it, and I've read that series numerous times.

Now, I haven't read those books in quite some time. I see them on my bookshelf, and keep thinking: "You really enjoyed all those books when you were younger. Pick them up and read them again." Time though, is an issue.