Page 2 of 8 Sword of Shannara, The by Terry Brooks
Submitted by Llennett 
(Aug 28, 2005)When I was 11, I used to hate reading, maybe because all of the books we were told to read by adults were boring to me. My elder brother suggested I read this book (no way!!! It's far too big!) but then I decided to read it and I was hooked by the first page. I just finished reading it for the 3rd time (I'm 18 now) and every time I read it, it seems to get better. Everyone says its a copy of the Lord of the Rings, and I could see why people say this, as there are fantasy creatures (Elves, Trolls, Dwarves etc) and theres a quest to save the world but other than that, it's pretty different. I tried reading LOTR but I got bored, I found the language that Terry Brooks used much easier to read and more fun. This is and always will be my favourite book. Apart from the reference book, I have read all the Shannara series and if anything they get better as he goes along!!!
Llennettxoox
Submitted by Anonymous 
(Jul 10, 2005)Wow, when I started reading this book, I had to keep glancing at the cover to make sure that it wasn't Lord of the Rings. The book is like a carbon copy of it. The Elfstones are different and therefore better, but the SOS is Lord of the Rings but with different characters. For instance, a large evil army with trolls, about to overrun the real last defense of mankind, and are only saved when the elven army comes to their aid, and also because the main halfing destroys the Dark Lord. Lets not forget the druid Allanon the White-I mean Allanon. And the characters almost match up with the characters in Lord of the Rings. Some people say that this book completes with Tolkien's work. Well, it doesn't get close. Don't get me wrong- I think Terry Brooks is an excellent author, just that he wrote this book in high school and LOTR was out then and the two sound a lot alike...
Submitted by TheRunningman 
(Mar 15, 2005)I read the book as a young adult and enjoyed it very much. I decided to pick it up again and look at it in my 30s. The book was very disappointing and the plot is a total steal of Lord of the Rings. One of my biggest beefs with the book is that the time sequencing is completely unrealistic...you can have five different racial groups within 2-7 days of one another? And they don't interact? You can cross a mountain range in a day? I love fantasy but this is just unrealistic enough to be ridiculous. Towards the end of the book, the evil side would have been able to overrun the entire continent before any of the good forces could have responded just because the good side would have had no time to respond. Elfstones is much better and I'm hoping Brooks can redeem himself in other books also. Moreover, I don't remember this annoying distance/time issue being so important in these later works.
Submitted by Cato Albertsen Olaussen
(Feb 15, 2004)Well i read this book when i was ten.
Now im fifteen.
I liked the book very much.
And i still do.
There are som similarities with the LOTR series.
But there are many people that begin writing fantasy books after they have read LOTR.
Many people use this as an inspiration.
Well down to it.
The book is about a boy that lives in a far off village in the world.He meets a mystic man. (The druid Allanon)He was there to find him.
He needs his help to get rid of a warlock.
(Brona)but in order to do that he has to accept that there are monsters and magic in the outside world.
And not only beauty.
A good book!
A must read if you havnt read it!
Submitted by horn1 
(Jan 20, 2004)Just finished reading The Sword of Shannara for the second time. I first read it in the 8th grade and thought it was amazing.
However, now I am 29....
The Sword of Shannara is a complete ripoff of the LOTR. Way too many similiar events and simliar characters for it to be a coincidence. If you haven't read the LOTR series, then The Sword of Shannara is awesome. If you have though...
Instead, I would whole heartedly recommended the Elfstones of Shannara which is hands down Terry Brooks's best book. Pretty original story and very fast paced.
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(146 ratings)