[Silk]

The general story line starts that Shea Olmsford is a half elf from the ancient line of Shannara (former royal family of the elves) who is adopted by the innkeeper of Shady Vale. Its worth pointing out that he doesn't know he is from the line of Shannara at the start of the book just that he's half elf.

The thing that is important about the Shannara's is that one of the ancestors was chosen by the then last Druid Breman to wield the sword of Shannara against the evil ex-druid Brona who has succumbed to the dark side as it were and is trying to take over the Four Lands. This particular Shannara wins (or so you think) and life goes back to normal a foe a couple of hundred years.

However we find out that Brona is not actually dead when the now last of the Druids, Allannon, turns up in Shady Vale to take Shea and his brother Flick on a journey of dire import to locate the sword of Shannara, unlock its secret and go off and kill Brona again!

That really only covers the first book as during the series the plot twists and turns and ancient magic that was lost returns to do disastrous things to the folk of the four lands and it gets very complicated.

I guess the lord of the rings idea comes from the fact that among other things the people of the Four Lands consist of Men, Elves, Trolls, Dwarfs and Gnomes; but really to me that’s where the comparison end.

The major difference between the two in my mind is that LOR is defiantly set in another world where as I have always had the impression that the Four Lands really come from a time a couple of thousand years in our own future and some of the elements of the story read as a bit of a cautionary tail.

In terms of reading the books they can at times be a bit heavy and slow but I defiantly think they are worth it just to see this different perspective.