The Sword of Shannara

No cover

Terry Brooks: The Sword of Shannara (EBook, 2000, Random House Publishing Group)

eBook

English language

Published Dec. 13, 2000 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:
978-0-345-44464-6
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
234257636

View on OpenLibrary

Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revaled that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destory the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....From the Paperback edition.

35 editions

A solid, easy to read fantasy novel

Despite having the reputation of being excessively-inspired by the Lord of the Rings; Terry Brooks'first novel manages to build an interesting world that is quite distinct from Tolkien's and has interesting characters. The author manages to pace the story well enough to avoid the tolkien-like tedium of swamp-walking and to instead remain engaging and interesting.

On the flipside - and mostly due to being Brooks's first novel - the text is sometimes excessively descriptive or too verbose and repetitive. But if you bear with it, you're guaranteed a good time.

reviewed The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks (The Shannara Series)

Review of 'The Sword of Shannara' on 'Goodreads'

I was not expecting much and I was still let down. :)

In my opinion, it's a notch down from the Kingdom for Sale series by the same author.
Maybe it did not age well, or the author had just an awkward beginning, trying to find his marks for the genre/saga.
I'm not sure if I'll go on reading the next books.

The plot is ok, a bit force-spoon fed. Characters motivations are paper thin.
Some scenes are cringe worthy.

I still wanted to know how it ends. More like 1.5 stars, I did not completely dislike it.

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