Page 3 of 3 Elfstones of Shannara, The by Terry Brooks
Submitted by Noelle
(May 08, 2000)This book converted me to Fantasy and made me a Fantasy fan. I liked the entire Shannara series and have read them all, but this book was my favorite and will always be the one that got me hooked. I also appreciated the fact that it had illustrations in it. Terry Brooks has remained one of my favorite authors and I thank him for bringing me into Fantasy.
Submitted by Anonymous
(Apr 04, 2000)To me, The Elfstones of Shannara is Terry Brooks' best contribution to the world of fantasy. I'm not saying it's his best book. I think Sword of Shannara is his best book, but since it lacks the originality of his later work, I don't think I would say it is his best contribution overall. I think Elfstones is much more original and it is also a heck of a story. Although it is your typical quest-to-save-mankind-from-certain-destruction book, it also has a couple of elements that are really deviant from the typical fantasy style and that I enjoyed reading. Of those elements, the one that has to be the most outstanding is the figure known as the Reaper. The Reaper is a big, dark, evil demon that goes around chasing after the main characters who leaves a in his wake a trail of corpses. To me, Elfstones showed that Brooks was really reaching out on his own for new ideas, and while his fantasy is pretty basic for the most part, you can't beat some of the great stories he comes up with. This is pure fantasy in the traditional style of Tolkien without having to copy off of Tolkien. That's what I love about Elfstones. One more reason I liked this book and would encourage anyone to read (and the rest of at least the original Shannara series) is the excellent way in which Brooks handles his battle scenes. They're strong and vivid without being gory or distasteful, and they are very exciting and engaging. Sword and Elfstones both have some great battle scenes.
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(80 ratings)