Sword of Shannara, The by Terry Brooks

If you have read Lord of the Rings, then you know the plot of this book. It is unbelievable that a writer can get away with this. This book is a disaster in that regard. Theres is a wizard (like gandalf) who hangs with a border partol guy (like strider) and an evil dude who flees to a mountain in spirit form after losing a battle, and uses flying beasts to watch his territory (you can guess). They form a 'companionship' of an elf, dwarf, wizard, little kid, damn it is so boring - read at your own peril.

I have recently read the Sword of Shannara and while it is not a copy of Lord of the Rings it has enough of the same characters and elements that it is noticeable. While I admit that there are so many fantasy books out there that it is almost impossible to not rehash some of the same ideas, this book is just unoriginal and a bland stealing of ideas. While I admit the second book (Elfstone) has a far more original plot I still found the book laborious to read at times. I think this is because Terry Brooks uses the 'Gods eye' approach too much and doesn't write from the character's point of view enough. Also, his language tends to be a little too flowery and the main facts are thus lost or too hard to extract from all the extended metaphors etc.

Sarah

Well, I bought the complete series boom of The Sword Of Shannara, and I wish I hadn't. The story is boring, most like Lord of the Rings, (which i hate, too many words for too little to say and inconsistent characters just there to walk and talk and who must not feel anything), and the rereading is deplorable, you find sentences such as: "Then they heard the dreaded flapping of the great wings and together looked to the open river to see the hulking, silent form of the Skull Bearer..." a silent flapping you can hear?? no thx, not for me and its written as you would expect it to be written by someone of that age, no style, no nothing. I say... Long live Robin HOBB and Martha WELLS