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Submitted by Jenni 
(Oct 17, 2006)

I'm 13 years old and I really enjoyed the book. It was fun to follow and engaged me quickly and I was up till 3 in the morning reading it I was so intrigued with the language and the storyline that I just couldn't put it down. I was surprised with the outcome although some parts of the book were pretictable and other parts kept me guessing for hours. Some of the characters were unbeliveable and others were people I could relate to. All in all the book was good and it was better because someone my age is able to follow it.

This must be the worst fantasy novel I've ever read. I wonder why so many people like it so much. The first few pages were fine, but then the story got really predictable, and remained so until the end.

The framework of the story and the world Brooks creates are at best simplistic. I mean... a world consisting of a North- (home of the trolls), South- (humans) West- (elves) and Eastland (dwarfs, gnomes)... He could have put a little more thought into that. Another example is the highly basic outlining of the evil creatures. The Skull Bearers (lol) from the northern Skull Kingdom (lol even louder) controlled by a Warlock Lord in his lair at Skull Mountain (crying out loud).

Other sources of irritation:
* Up till page 270 there is basically only one storyline
* Similarities with LOTR
* No real character development
* Super dwarf Hendel (intelligent, strong, stealthy and agile) as an easy problem solver
* Only one woman in a book containing 726 pages (not good!!!)
Story framing: The Warlock Lord wants to conquer world. Of course our heroes cannot tolerate this. The Evil Lord can only be stopped and destroyed with the mystical Sword of Shannara. This Sword can only be used effectively by an heir of the house of Shannara, of which there is only one left: Shea Ohmsford. After a very, very long walk with all the necessary hindrances and an endless repetition of badly formulated doubts and thoughts, Shea finds the Sword and defeats the Warlock Lord.

This book is the apex of no-brainer literature.

Much has been made of how much of a LOTR ripoff this book is and of what significance that really is. The significance is that it revealed the fantasy fiction market as a bunch of people who are willing to settle for subpar storytelling merely to get their fix of familiar new worlds.

Fantasy readers seem to be drawn not necessarily to compelling stories or characters (though those are nice) so much as to sentimental depictions of fantasy worlds. It isn't Terry Brooks's fault that a bunch of people like his book because it creates for them a soothing, sentimental landscape to escape to. Hey, that's pretty cool really. But it does dishearten me to think that a book that is such a thinly veiled ripoff with awkward prose, countless pages of superfluous storytelling (is it at all relevant or interesting that Brooks's world might be a post-apocalyptic earth? No!) and stereotypical characters is regarded so highly by so many adults.

What this book offers most is hope; hope that anyone with a decent vocabulary and the patience and drive to write a big fat book can find financial success in the arena of fantasy fiction (as witnessed by the success of such mediocre talents as L.E. Modesit, David Eddings, and the excrutiating Ms. Mercedes Lackey to name a few). However, this makes fantasy a very difficult genre to get into if you enjoy a book with a bit of substance to it, and thus why the genre is marginalized in discussions of literature.

I LOVE this series. I'm eleven and right in the middle of The Scions of Shannara. I've read all of the others except for The Talismans of Shannara. This series is a huge knock off of LOTR. Terry Brooks is a great author, but there are so many similiar characters. If you read the Sword of Shannara, you'll find a Gollum aka Smeagol, along with a Frodo and Sam. If you read The Wishsong of Shannara, you will find an Aragorn. In 'The Sword', there's a part where Shea (Frodo) is stabbed in the shoulder by a poisoness blade, just like in Lord of the Rings. If you liked LOTR, you'll probably have a lot of fun finding the many similarities of the two series.

I read the Sword of Shannara in 1995. From there I was hooked on Terry Brooks. I have read every book of his since then. With vivid details that takes the imagination to a whole new world of magic, beautiful women, and that ever lingering evil that we all hope never shows it's ultimate power. You can find heroes here. Heroes that no evil could stand against. Well, thought out characters. Allanon with his dark and mysterious ways. This character sets the tone for the story. I almost could see my self traveling with them. And having the same fears of Allanon as they did. Thank God Terry Brooks was born.