Shannara

[Great Hunter]

Has anyone read any of the Shannara books or heard of them?

[The Ace]

The short answer is, 'Yes.' Brooks doesn't have a lot of fans around here, though.

[Who's Wee Dug]

Well I like his Magic Kingdon series, and his early Shannara books were Ok as far as I'm concerned, though later on they may drag a bit

[iamthedave]

Is that the 'Lord of the Rings with the serial numbers filed off' series?

I have read them but it was a long time ago.

[D_Davis]

I read the first three when I was a kid. Not bad.

Harmless fantasy, nothing more, nothing less. Competently written, entertaining, and enjoyable.

As good as any of the other things riding the waves of Lord of the Rings.

[elvet]

I've just started reading them. The first book is very reminiscent of LotR, but much easier to read. I finished Elfstones last night and enjoyed it. It was set 50 years or so after the first book, so it had new characters, but some old familiar names were still around. Sort of reminded me of the Feist books.

[Manarion]

*sigh* Why did someone have to bring up Brooks?


I used to be a fan, but after some fairly recent Shannara books, I turned away from him in nothing short of pure disgust. Personally, I find Piers Anthony to be better, though even he's starting to wear off as well....

[High Eight]

Originally Posted by iamthedave

Is that the 'Lord of the Rings with the serial numbers filed off' series?

The first one was a 'LOTR' knock-off. I never bothered with any of the others - I figured life is too short.

[Hilarious Joke]

I think they are a bit too cliched and the writing isn't that great imho.

[Praxxus]

I read the first Shannara novel when I was in my teens and didn't seen so bad back then. Revisiting it a couple of decades later just wasn't the same. I couldn't even get interested in any of the rest of the series which is unusual for me.

[Durandal]

I read the first three as a kid and absolutely loved them.

I'm actually re-reading them now, as I was curious to see if I still loved them or if they're really such crap as a lot of people seem to think.

The short answer on the first book is, it's not nearly as good as I thought it was as a kid, but not nearly as bad as everyone says. The first, oh, 350 pages or so are strikingly ripped off from LotR, but as things develop a bit more, he does take a few things in different directions. I mean, this is all boilerplate fantasy, don't get me wrong. But I'm OK with that sometimes. There is such a thing as "comfort reading," and I'm rather enjoying remembering what it was like when I was 12 years old and discovering fantasy for the first time.

I think when I finish these, I'll get out the Atari 2600 and play some Space Invaders...

[Grimward]

*Chuckles*

Had an Atari 5200 when I was a kid, D. I like Shannara, especially the latest stuff. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of authors I'd choose first, but I'll read him.

[pyan]

I was at a panel with Terry Brooks on it at FantasyCon 2007, and to be fair, he freely acknowledges that the first couple of Shannara titles were almost pure LotR clones - but, he said, he tried to move them away after that, and take them in his own direction.

Mind you, after 20 or so books in the series, you'd really expect them to have gone away from JRRT by now...

Nice bloke, BTW - no side to him at all. And there was no "Keep me away from the fans" attitude, unlike some authors I could mention.



Now, where's that dratted Sega Megadrive got to?...

[steve100]

The Sword of Shannara was one of my first Fantasy Books as a kid, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think it was my openness to new worlds that drew me in rather than looking for quality of writing.

[afroelf]

I have'nt read them in forever, but I read the first three when i was about 13 and loved them. I got bored with the next ones so eventually gave up. Bear in mind that I had not read Lotr until after the films came out so I did not notice the similarities - which if I look back were myriad. I actually want to give them another go at some time, but tipically enough they are never in at the library down the road - all those other adolescents reading them I guess.