TL;DR version:Question:Answer:Indeed I am, Mr. Brooks. 2.5 stars, might recommend for the funnies.Long and unapologetic version:I have a dirty secret to confess. I am no fan of Tolkien’s writing. If you were to check out my Goodreads profile now, you’d see that I’ve one-starred almost everything he’s ever written. This may be a seeded dislike due to the fact that I had to read these books in high school (even though I wasn’t one of those kids who was normally traumatized by high school reading experiences), but even attempting to reread them again as an adult was a labored effort, a true test of my patience, an effort that I am willing to admit was a disgraceful defeat. However, I do love the movies very much if that’ll grant me any measure of immunity.The Sword of Shannara gained popularity in the late 70s and early 80s and is often used in the same sentence as Tolkien, which may tempt some readers but is a little off-putting for me. This seems to be one of those divisive books with readers either decrying it for being a Lord of the Rings rip-off or lauding it as a brilliant epic fantasy adventure. There are few people who seem to walk the middle road with this book.I’ve been making it my mission to read classic speculative fiction. After reading The Lathe of Heaven for my science fiction pick and The Haunting of Hill House for my horror pick, I started searching for a classic fantasy pick and settled on this after reading a brief blurb on it. It sounded interesting enough, and believe it or not, I’d never actually heard of the series before now.From the beginning, yes, it’s pretty obvious that this is influenced by Tolkien. I’d started jokingly calling Allanon by Gandalf’s name and Flick by Sam’s name even before I knew about the Tolkien connection. However, I didn’t say these things to necessarily be condescending toward this book. That’s just the way things are. So many books regardless of the genre, especially a first novel for a writer, contain elements that are similar to others in that same genre.When I started publicly saying things like that, then people came out the woodworks saying that it really was “just like Tolkien.” I didn’t even realize I knew so many people who read this series. Even opinions from friends ranged from “5-star read” to “turn back, dead inside.” So, reading this book has been quite the journey from the actual reading to the various interactions I’ve had with people thanks to this book.On with the review. I should warn you. This review is a little derpy if you haven’t figured that out by the Adventure time gif following this, and I can’t promise it’s completely spoiler free.The Sword of Shannara follows the adventures of Shea Ohmsford, a half elven man living in Shady Vale with his adopted father, Curzad Ohmsford, and his adopted brother, Flick Ohmsford. One night when Flick returns from peddling his merchandise in the nearby town of the Shire (because I am absolutely sure it was the Shire), he encounters Allanon, a tall, mysterious man who saves him from a shadowy creature in the woods. Flick takes Allanon to his village where Allanon insists on meeting Shea.More importantly to this narrative, Allanon looks like Manu Bennett because MTV said so. Who am I to fight MTV about this? [Insert heavy breathing.](Actual Allanon the Druid in actual practical questing gear. Hey, Allanon, heeeeey…)Anyhow, Allanon tells Shae that he is a direct descendant of a line of royal elves. These elves are the only ones able unlock the power of the sword of Shannara. I imagine that to be a lot like He-Man powering up. The Druids have kept this relic, believed to be a myth by many, locked away in their keep. The sword was originally created to defeat Brona, whose name I kept seeing as Brony when I was reading portions during immersion reading, 500 years before the start of this book. Brona is a powerful Druid-turned-sorcerer. However, just as they had traitors within when Brona attacked 500 years ago, the Druids find themselves attacked again by traitors (who’d think that would happen again?), and Brona has returned to finish what he started, but I kind of forgot what it was he wanted during the course of the story. World domination? Probably. Isn’t that what they all want either to control or destroy the entire world. Much of their hope to defeat Brona, now called the Warlock Lord, rests on Shae’s shoulders and what slim shoulders they are we are reminded repeatedly throughout the story.The quest starts with the brothers, Shae and Flick, leaving the Vale to escape the Warlock Lord’s minions, the Skull Bearers. Along the way, they pick up Menion Leah, a friend of Shae’s and the prince of Leah, Balinor Buckhannah, the prince of Callahorn, Hendel, a dwarven warrior, Durin and Dayel, elven brothers sent to accompany them on their journey from the elf kingdom, Orl Fane (very briefly and more a foil than anything), a gnome who has deserted his cause and invokes shades of Gollum, and the thief Panamon Creel and his rock troll companion, Keltset. Together they face countless obstacles including murderous gnomes, haunted tombs, a large water serpent that shoots lasers from its eyes (I may be slightly exaggerating because I’m sure it only shot fireballs from its mouth), and giant monsters made of flesh and steel before facing the Warlock Lord himself with THE SWORD OF SHANNARA!I finished this through a combination of reading the book on Kindle and listening to it on audiobook, but the bulk of this was completed through the audiobook. The narration of this by Scott Brick wasn’t spectacular. He did a fine job with the story, but I wasn’t moved by his reading. I don’t fault him for that more than I fault the unspectacular nature of the book itself. The story was clunky for me. There was so much of it that was nonsensical with shaky plot direction. Not to mention the parts that were inconsistent with what was happening in the story. I can remember rereading certain passages numerous times and thinking, “This is literally impossible in the context of this story.”There’s just something about most classic fantasy, especially fantasy from the 70s and 80s, that always makes me think that I’m not really going to get a story that’s much better than the old Dungeon & Dragons cartoon (which I still cry about because they never produced that last episode and the ending of the script gives me goosebumps). I love that damn cartoon.(Actual representation of Menion helping brave Balinor’s cape billow. Friendship is magic.)This book was ridiculous, but I never went into this story seriously either. If you check my Goodreads updates for this book, you’ll see many of my statuses are silly in regards to this story. Aside from the obvious lame Lord of the Rings analogies, there was lots of stream crossing (where I interject elements of other things into what I’m currently reading/watching). There were such thoughtful musings as: “Balinor Buckhannah and his bountiful, billowing cape of boon-filled bravery standing boldly before the baleful beast…” and saying Menion probably looks like the wrestler Seth Rollins, which means curb stomps for everybody.I also concluded that Panamon Creel masquerades as Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s Dorian in his free time while twiddling his mustache and compared the bit about Balinor’s homeland and it’s impregnable walls to Attack on Titans: “On that day mankind received a grim reminder…” (Just pretend that’s about Balinor with his walls and that’s the Warlock Lord peeking over about to smash them. C’mon, people, use your imagination.)So, in other words, my bar is set pretty low in that regards, and I rolled with it. I went into this story expecting it to be schlocky fun, and that’s what it was. I was entertained, and there’s nothing more that I could ask for from this book. I don’t need savant-like brilliance from a story to be entertained.The most annoying part of this book to me was Brooks’ incessant need to remind me how lithe, agile, slim, or lean such characters as Shae, Menion, Durin, and Dayel were. Sure, he’d mention how tall characters were often, especially Allanon who is freakishly tall, but not nearly as much as he liked pointing out how lean theses characters were. Okay, I get it. They’re fit. You could make a drinking game out of this, but it’s also likely you’d get alcohol poisoning if you did. Also, I don’t mind head jumping, but sometimes, he was jumping in multiple heads in the same paragraph, which can be a bit much. Finally, I am so disappointed that the final battle didn’t end with Tyrion in chainmail using the power of DOOM metal to defeat the Warlock King (who by this time had started being called the Skull King randomly after hitting the 60% mark in the book).You know what? Forget that. As far as I’m concerned that is exactly how this battle ended. I have my headcanon. You can’t take it away from me.I like to think of this as being Lord of the Rings for Dummies by Tolkien Lite if we have to go that route. It’s not nearly as heavy to digest as Tolkien’s books. Despite the hefty page count (726 according to my Kindle), there’s not all this meandering prose. It moves fairly quickly. I’m not going to say it doesn’t have its rambling moments, though, because I did start getting restless toward the end. However, to be fair to Tolkien, this isn’t nearly as inspired as his books either. On the other hand, to be fair to Brooks, I feel like his writing and fictional situations have probably improved since this initial offering. He’s not a terrible writer, so I’m curious to see how his writing has evolved over almost 40 years. While I wasn’t bowled over by this (I can be so wishy-washy about fantasy, especially in this vein), this was a palatable enough experience for me and fit well within my expectations for it. I had fun with it. Besides, there are tentacles in it, and tentacles are relevant to my interests and gives this book an automatic 2 stars. Will I finish this trilogy? I think perhaps I will, and yes, all my reviews for this series will probably be derpy. Narrator: Scott Brick | Length: 26 hrs | Audiobook Publisher: Books on Tape | Whispersync Ready (as of this posting): YesMore reviews at The Bibliosanctum.
The Sword of Shannara is one of those books that undeniably is technically bad - both in how it rips from Tolkien and also for how it tells its story. Yet for better or worse it set its hooks on me from a young age (much like Eragon) and it remains one of those books that I can still find a bizarre emotional satisfaction from. The one positive aspect of this tale from a technical sense is that it opened the door to other Shannara books. Some fantasy readers would view this as a greater tragedy: an opening of the floodgates of terrible novels. However, I remain convinced that the two to five ensuring novels based on the Shannara novels are of reasonable quality and have some unique themes which have inspired other better or worse authors - and video games and film-makers, Brooks is quite influential in how he inspired fantasy and therefore as an influential book I do think this should be read, you can then feel free to dislike it all you want as a Tolkien knock-off.To me, this remains one of those guilty pleasures that got me into fantasy fiction. For that it retains an average three star rating. I have read it many times since, though my recent re-reads note how it pales in quality to anything Terry Brooks has written since. That said, I find this a much more entertaining novel than say Wizard's First Rule, albeit now an entertaining novel for being bad. The rule: it's so bad, it's good, applies here to me.Of course writing a review like this might lose me some credibility. But it's better to stand up, in my view, and recount one's views strongly, than to back down under the weight of popular opinion merely because others believe you should. So I hold to my views that for teenagers or young children this would be a decent read to get them into fantasy, provided they read the quality of Tolkien first. I would use this book myself to talk about how fantasy can be a vehicle of fine literature or simple guilty pleasure stories - a tool of education. How fantasy can reflect upon our world or simply be a drug of escapism. I think the key thing, regardless of any view on a novel, is to come to a realisation of why you felt as you did regarding a novel. 'It sucks' is simply not a strong enough verdict to me: why did it 'suck', are there no redeeming features whatsoever? Is there no scene buried in all of them where the writer revealed some semblance of skill?I'm rambling I know, but I simply wanted to fill this space with some form of a review, to fulfil my satisfaction with reviewing those books I have read and can recall. I doubt I'll re-read this anytime soon. Too many classics and quality books to get around to.
What do You think about The Sword Of Shannara (1999)?
is this the worst book ever? yes. then probably The Secret. man, this is seriously the most overrated book in history. i was looking for a fantasy that i'd enjoy, after reading LOTR, looked at some reviews on amazon, and bought a used copy for 3 cents. maybe THAT should've clued me in. so i started reading it, and was so bored. i fell asleep while reading this book numerous times. i read about a third of the book, and after having read 150 pages of brooks describing what grass looked like and the super-long hike of the main cast, i through it away. i think i tossed it angrily in my closet, hoping to never seen it again. it was almost as bad as the ark of the covenant in Indiana Jones with someone sealing away the ark in an unmarked box. at least if i did that, i would never have to see the book again and feel the pang of regret and guilt at woefully spending (and wasting) 3 cents on a terrible book. i mean, everything was bad. this was SUCH a LOTR ripoff it was unbelievable. you'd read about a character and say, "frodo", "strider", "nazgul"..."ahcrap, why am i reading anymore?" he didnt add ANYTHING new. it was just like taking the pieces of a LOTR puzzle and rearranging them into a weird retarded version that barely resembles anything good. what gets me is that he didnt even take the good things from LOTR! at least he couldve directly ripped off something good! there are very few books that i will stop reading. i will usually read something through, no matter how bad it is. but this! who likes this series? i want to meet that person. and im sure its only one person. its probably brooks himself. what a dusche. people think he was a revolutionary in fantasy and that this book is what started it. oh God. its a revolutions of pompous douchebags is what it is.
—Dave Johnson
Man did that ever SUCK. And not your garden-variety, ham-fisted hackiness kind of suck. No, this was dumbfounded, frustrated bitterness swelling into white heat for which the only salve is the venting of my smoking, bile-filled vitriol in the form of this juvenile tantrum scathing rebuke of Brooks’ abominable, turd-like abortion of appalling plot-stealing gall.…Therefore listen to Baby Rage above and take cover…*inhales deeply and launches*…... PLOT SUMMARY:A shitty, lifeless point for point rip off of Lord of the Rings. Seriously…that’s it.THOUGHTS:Where do I begin. Well, I may have mentioned this already but it bears repeating ad nauseam…This book sucked. It really sucked. It sucked wookie balls, infected corpses and randy polar bears. It sucked so bad it could pull bricks through a garden hose. This novel, and I use the term loosely and with much reservation, is a 767 page Memorex recording of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, except:** instead of a ring the quest item is a sword; ** instead of Gandalf, Sauron, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, Nazgul and Gollum, you get the Allanon, The Warlock Lord, Menion, Balinor, Durin, Hendel, Skull Bearers, Orl Fane; and ** instead of lush, poetic prose, rich with allusions to a detailed, magnificent history and a wider world that draws you in and makes you long to look under every stone and behind every tree for some new thread of Tolkien’s magical tapestry…..you get a clunky, ill-formed world depicted by clumsy, tinny prose that fails utterly to imbue any sense of tension and emotion into the narrative….well other than outrage.Even the back stories of these Tolkien analogs and the central plot points are lifted almost verbatim from LOTR. For example:-- Orl Fane is a gnome, driven insane by his lustful desire for the Sword of Shannara. Hmm? Who could that be? *coughing/retching sound* Galling…Galling-- The Skull bearers are former humans who sacrificed their humanity to become the Warlord Kings most trusted servants and strike fear into the hearts of all who see them. There is even a part where one of them almost kills Frodo Shea.-- Allanon, the Druid, puts the Hobbits Shea and Flick on the quest to find the Sword of Shannara and guides them on their travels…until of course he falls at Moira ….only to come back even stronger. (I’m sure I’ve read something like this before). -- You have the initial formation of the “fellowship” to seek the Sword following the council at Rivendell Culhaven and a grand final battle that certainly looks like it could have been a rehearsal for the “Battle of Pelennor Fields”…only shittier and without the dramatic tension and splendor of the original. How is it that no member of the Tolkien estate has ever bum-rushed Brooks and gone Middle Earth on his ass with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. Where is Marcellus Wallace when we need him. In case I haven’t been as glassy and transparent as possible, let me begin my wrap up by saying, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like myself while I was reading it and I feel worse as a person for having read it. I feel soiled. Did I mention that this is 767 pages long? 767 pages of lifted/borrowed/stolen, clumsily altered and uninspiringly executed plot with thin, lifeless characterizations that pale like Casper in the shadow of their superior source material. There is nothing about this that I can recommend to someone, except maybe to infuse a greater appreciation for the genius that was Tolkien’s masterpiece. 1.0stars. Shame on you, Mr. Brooks.
—Stephen
Everyone says that you fall into one of two camps: Those who love Tolkien, and philistines. I belong firmly in the latter. It is my firm belief that the man (Tolkien) got paid by the word. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoy Brooks' Shannara series. I have read all of them, own most of the hard covers, and have spirited debates (code for a fight) with my friends about why these books are not carbon rip-offs of Tolkien's works. Great characters, epic stories with fallible heroes, and a world lovingly crafted from the ruins of our own.
—Patrick
