After a while, author Terry Brooks decided to do what many fans had wanted him to do, and tell some of the back-story of the Shannara universe. A quick note here, that Shannara does not refer to the world these adventures take place in, but to one of several in-universe families, in this case a legendary Elven family, that the adventures revolve around most often. The world these Shannara stories take place in is actually our own, thousands of years in the future after a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed modern civilization. In the wake of said devastation, man's science and the ancient faerie magic from before man both were revived.In recent years, Brooks has written Shannara prequels a lot, and this trend began, really, in 1996, with the publication of First King of Shannara, which details the back-story of the famous Sword of Shannara, which was forged during the brief “Second War of the Races”, mentioned by Allanon to Flick and Shea Ohmsford during The Sword of Shannara.The interesting thing is that, for those who are big Allanon fans, they will not find him much in this book until the very end. Even when he does appear, his contribution, though important, is quite minor overall. This is not his story, but the adventure of Bremen, his father, and last of the Druids who bequeathed his legacy to his son. Of course, right there in that paragraph are some major spoilers I'm leaving unstated. ;)First King is also the story of Jerle Shannara, the famous ancestor of Sword protagonist, and first published protagonist, Shea Ohmsord (who was adopted by the Ohmsford family, and is really a Shannara). The contrast between Shea and Jerle could not be more profound, yet similar despite all of this. I don't know if these contrasts and yet sameness were accidental, or on purpose with Brooks, but it works. Shea and Flick were smaller than most Men. In fact, they were often called, in Sword, “little Valeman”, and so forth. Jerle is a big guy, athletic, and strong. “Little” could never be used as a word to describe him. Shea was a simple civilian who had little to do with his Elven side, and helped run his adoptive father's inn. Jerle was a military warrior, and eventual king of the Elves, who is Elven through and through.Yet, despite these differences, Jerle and his descendant shared in common important traits. They both cared deeply for their families, friends, and others. They both made mistakes and knew about this, and did their best to defeat the enemy, in both cases the rebel Druid Brona (known as the Warlock Lord). The difference is that Jerle failed and Shea succeeded. Why? We don't know for sure. There could be several reasons. Perhaps Shea was stronger emotionally, or perhaps the pressure of the deaths of those he commanded impacted Jerle, while Shea didn't have this to deal with, or perhaps, as Allanon seemed to suggest in Sword, Bremen handled it in a bad way. Thus, Allanon handled it differently in the hopes (slim, but realized) that Shea would succeed in this way where his valiant ancestor had failed.What I really liked about this novel was two-fold. First off, Brooks did not shy away from the story of the original novel, Sword, while fleshing it out thoroughly. Thusly, he did manage to make the world even less like Middle-Earth, while not giving into those who childishly (and fraudulently, in my opinion) accuse Sword of being too derivative of Tolkien's works. The second part about First King that I enjoyed was how Brooks kept the novel very idealistic. In recent years, he has gone sometimes darker, but here, while he was somewhat dark for the history of the “Second War of the Races”, he still kept things idealistic. If only the more recent books were this way.I really enjoyed this novel, and Highly Recommend it to Shannara fans, and epic fantasy fans in general.
Terry Brooks is really good at writing action scenes. Too bad only 1/10th of the book are action scenes. 'Twas a lot more boring than I remember, a couple cool parts, but overall very slow. Less description! More epic battles! (Towards the end) Less epic battles! FINISH THE STORY I ALREADY KNOW THAT THE GOOD GUYS WIN, I DON'T WANT TO SIT THROUGH YET ANOTHER BATTLE. What you should have done is spread out the battle scenes so we don't have 3 chapters about boring one-dimensional characters complaining about how boring they are and they wish they could stop being so boring but its really hard cause they're so boring. Actually I sort of feel like analyzing his characters right now. Here are the main characters of the story, and what would be in their "quick info" section on an online dating site:Bremen: "Hey I'm an old, serious man with large amounts of training in the druidic art of verbal diarrhea."Kinson Ravenlock: "My friends call me a generic fantasy-story human swordsman. I like to think that I have skill with a dagger as well."Jerle Shannara: "If you like hot-tempered warriors with a passion for punching and the tendency to needlessly risk their lives, then you'll love me. I'm also very emotional, and I like to show this by spending the entire second half of books sulking in a corner and lamenting my best friend's death.Tay Trefenwyd: "SPOILER ALERT I'm the guy that dies."Preia Starle: "If I had to describe my personality with just three words, I'd use:1. Woman2. Elf3. FemaleWhat do you mean that's not personality? I don't even know what that word means."Mareth: "I'm a small, vulnerable girl with a hidden past and a talent for magi-GARRGGHH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE THEY'RE SO GENERIC &$%*#$!!Warlock Lord: "Hi I'm Sauron."
What do You think about First King Of Shannara (1997)?
I read and loved the original Shannara trilogy when I was a teenager. Twenty-five years later, I picked up this book expecting it to be a mere shadow of the original. But somehow, Terry Brooks managed to hone his skills as a story-teller and improve on the original. This novel is the epitome of high-fantasy and is nearly a masterpiece of the genre. Sure much of it is formulaic; sure the writing, while solid, is not Shakespeare; but it is a formula perfected, and the language is perfectly suited to the story and genre. I was impressed with how much was packed into its meager 435 pages: love interests, tragedies, betrayals, transformations, human struggles. The depth of character development was just right for the length of the book. I couldn't put this book down; there were no lulls in the action and emotions. Finally, the means with which the heroes defeat evil (yes, it is that kind of formula) are quite original and thought-provoking. Thank you Mr. Brooks for the nostalgia and sheer enjoyment you've given me. I feel like a kid again.
—Beau
There has been a fair amount of criticism floating around against The Sword of Shannara for drawing too many parallels with The Lord of The Rings. Much of this I felt was unfounded. I love The Lord of The Rings and I love the Shannara series. They're not the same, folks. Any resemblances end with the first Shannara book, and the series really picks up from book 2 (The Elfstones of Shannara). Anyway, that's neither here nor there, but just a way to set up my review of First King of Shannara.Terry Brooks is a very good descriptive writer, a trait which is well suited to writing fantasy and describing worlds the reader is likely to be unfamiliar with. He also excels in character development. This has held true for all of the Shannara books I have read, which is everything up to and including the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy. In my opinion, Walker Boh is one of the most fascinating characters in fantasy literature. But I'm straying off the path again.Back to First King of Shannara. This is not a 'must read' by any means and will likely appeal more to existing Shannara readers as it fleshes out the back story and history prior to the first book in the series (The Sword of Shannara). That being said, I really enjoyed the book, although it took me some time to finish. It was fun to, at long last, meet Jerle Shannara, to whom the whole series owes its name. And Bremen, who has such close ties to Allanon. So, if you're interested in Shannara lore, read this novel. It visits familiar ground insofar the Shannara books are concerned and as such isn't groundbreaking reading. Yet, the magic prevails.
—Dirk Grobbelaar
This is a good book for middle schoolers and those who are new to the fantasy scene. The action is fast-paced, there are some interesting bits of dialogue, and some intriguing monsters and villains. However, for those of you who are more into LOTR, I would not recommend this book. I would not recommend it either if you are more well-versed in fantasy. I read this book for the first time in middle school, back before having ever read The Hobbit or LOTR, and I was hooked. However, upon re-reading it, it was hard for me to finish the book. I had to grit my teeth and push myself through this time around. It was hard for me to connect with the characters or feel sympathy for their plight. The character development felt too rushed and forced, and it seemed everywhere I looked, the book was riddled with cliches and stereotypes. Around this same time, I've started re-reading the LOTR trilogy. Back in middle school, I tried reading through Tolkien's trilogy, but most of it flew over my head and I hardly remember any of it; but, upon re-reading it, I find that I enjoy it much more now. I also found a lot of suspicious similarities between the LOTR trilogy and this book (which is not surprising considering I've just read Brooks was a huge Tolkien fan and has admitted to blatantly ripping off of LOTR in some of his books)...
—Brandi
