The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Genre: Fantasy / Magic / Adult

A dark figure shows up in a small town to tell a half-breed elf that he’s the last heir of Shannara, the only one to wield the Sword of Shannara against the Warlock Lord.  Together, Shea, and his adoptive brother Flick, leave on an adventure full of danger.  Soon they meet more allies and head toward Paranor to collect the Sword of Shannara.

Back Cover:

Long ago, the wars of ancient Evil had ruined the world and forced mankind to compete with many other races—gnomes, trolls, dwarfs, and elves.  But in peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knew little of such troubles.

Then came the giant, forbidding Allanon, possessed of strange Druidic Powers, to reveal that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy 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.  On Shea, last of the blood line, rested the hope of all races.

Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea.  To save the Vale, Shea flees, drawing the skull bearer after him

Well, I’ve finally finished this book, on the last day I live in this house that I’ve lived in for the past 12 years of my life, which is the majority of it.

Terry Brooks is an interesting writer.  I found myself not very captivated by the beginning of chapters, but by the end of them I found myself intrigued, and thus found myself reading on further.  He captures you in ways that make you want to keep reading regardless of the obvious filler’s of this book.

Most of the characters seemed very one dimensional; therefore, I found it hard to connect to the book.  It’s more of a story based book as opposed to a character based one. 

At times I found it extremely predictable and at times it’s kind of sad, but not sad enough to make me cry, since I didn’t really connect to the characters. 

If you’ve read any of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, you might find similarities in this one, though the authors both have unique writing styles.  Though near the end of the book I felt like Terry Goodkind just sort of took some of The Sword of Shannara idea’s and put a new twist on them in his own novels.

It’s a different perspective on a newer view of fantasy novels.  Some good examples of this are the usage of Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Trolls, and Druids.

I find myself mildly interested in reading the second book of this trilogy called The Elfstones of Shannara.  If I come across it I will give it a read, for now though, I’m off to finish reading Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind.

 Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this.