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.