The Sword of Shannara (1977)

Almost as good as this, but not nearly as funny. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tn3Ne5I... ( )

Un libro fantasy adatto più ad un pubblico giovane. I riferimenti al Signore degli Anelli (specialmente nella prima metà) sono in certi punti molto pesanti e rendono la storia prevedibile. Può valere una lettura sotto l'ombrellone, ma non è un classico nel suo genere. ( )

The Sword of Shannara is one of the many books found in the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Brooks it takes some of the staples of the fantasy genre and adds his own twist to the tried and true formula. What comes out is a book that seems very similar to The Hobbit, yet somehow is very much different.

The Sword of Shannara documents the journey of Shea Ohmsford, his brother, and many other characters. What you will find is a plot reminiscent of J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit. Brooks was clearly very inspired by the work of Tolkien when writing this book and it really shows as the book progresses. If you have ever read The Hobbit, be prepared to see parallels between the characters of the book. Personally, I found this similarity a little off putting. Although Brooks is put his own spin on things, I feel that the book took way too many ideas from The Hobbit.

Regardless, I found that The Sword of Shannara is still a wonderful book. The world of the book is, like many fantasy series of the same scope, huge and full of potential. The characters travel through diverse lands and pass unimaginable obstacles. They meet countless other people and races as they pass through different parts of the world. Many cities and regions populate the world of Shannara and many of them are showcased throughout the book. I really was able to picture each place with the descriptions given by Brooks.

The characters of the book were lacking a little originality, but each were very distinctive from each other. Each character was well presented through the story and acted well within their personalities set for them. Also, you can see the progressive growth of some of the characters as they encounter obstacles or other important events. As stated before, the book borrows a lot of ideas from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You can clearly see the similarities between in both sets of characters. This truly takes away from the experience of reading this story. Most of the time, I found myself constantly looking for parallels between this book and The Hobbit, rather than enjoying what I was reading.

The Sword of Shannara is another typical fantasy story. It is the very first book in the massive series and it does have some room to expand. The world is rich with possibilities and the story takes a few interesting twists and turns.However, it is way too similar to The Lord of the Rings for it to be truly great. If you love the Lord of the Rings and similar books, then this would be a great series to read.

3.5/5 ( )

Starts of as a Lord of the Rings ripoff, but then takes off on it's own and never stops soaring. Keltset the Rock Troll is one of the greatest creations in modern fantasy. ( )

Clearly based on Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, but if you can get over that, a decent beginning to an epic fantasy saga. ( )