Terry Brooks

My 7th grade English teacher, Mr. DePaul, was the person who introduced me to the wonderful world of The Hobbit, and from there I found The Lord of the Rings. He is the one who single-handedly set me on a course to quench my never-ending thirst for fantasy and adventure. I still haven't stopped.
The following year, I discovered The Sword of Shannara, and I was absolutely blown away. Not only was I new to the world of Middle-Earth, but I also had the pleasure of traversing through yet another show more realm of fantasy with the Shannara series. For a 13-year-old boy, this was what I thought would be the pinnacle of fantasy fascination. Obviously, it wasn't, as I had to discover further adventures within the Shannara's books, among other great classic fantasy worlds of the time. Growing up in the 80's was incredibly gratifying for me in many ways and has forever set the stage for what I was to become as a fantasy reader.
Many people piss on Terry Brooks for his (very) blatant Tolkien influences. I cannot look at it that way. For a boy of 12 and 13 years old, I was forever looking for anything that was even remotely familiar with LOTR, and The Sword of Shannara was my answer. I ate it all up! At the time, I never even looked at fantasy works through the eyes of plagiarism or influential robbery, as many look at Mr. Brooks' early works. I looked at his work with eyes of wonder and delight that somebody was writing for me! Just like Mr. Tolkien has. I loved it.
I read all the books in the original Shannara's series, as well as the Heritage series through the 80's, and I was still hungering for more. I discovered the Dragonlance universe and Forgotten Realms as well, eating them all up feverishly.
As I re-read these classic books from my childhood, I now see the differences, especially here with this book. With The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks boldly wore his influences on his sleeve. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just shows what drives an author, and I think that is a beautiful thing. With The Elfstones of Shannara, Terry Brooks really finds his own voice and begins to "walk on his own" as a writer. It is very plain to see that with this book. We still see some of the same characters from the first book, but they seem a little different, more of his own creation, molded more to actually fit the Shannara realm, instead of merely a reflection through a Middle-Earth mirror. There are still some similarities, but one must expect that from such a profound influence as Tolkien. But in the end, The Elfstones of Shannara really starts to stand on its own legs. It is still at times a little clunky, but oh-so-satisfying. The ending is a little strange, but whatever, it's a Shannara book, fantasy is supposed to be strange and wonderous.
Please, try to look past the fact that Terry Brooks was trying at first to recreate a Tolkien classic, give this a chance, and open up to a new world of fantasy that is Shannara. show less

The Prince of Tolkien imitators (after McKiernan's Iron Tower) the original Sword of Shannara, written rapidly by a law student in the 1970s.

The Shannara series eventually branches off into its own universe, dear reader, and Brooks actually becomes a decent to strong writer, although with an over-reliance on the present tense/voice, but this was the beginning, when he was a novice.

Butbutbut...

Some of the unique ideas and takes on old magical/fantasy tropes that characterize his Shannara show more universe begin here, with the first entry.

The Four Lands are the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and winter, recalled as the Great Wars that lasted only minutes, and the long slow climb back to civilization. Mankind has splintered into mutant subraces from the combination of fallout and refuge- the claustrophobic Dwarfs whose ancestors once hid underground, the powerful, scaled Trolls who lived in the blasted wastelands, the yellowed and varied Gnomes who survived in the forests, and the far southern tribes of Men who remained recognizably men- and the story of the Elves comes later.

Guided by the council of Druids, wise men who inherited scraps of knowledge from their forebears, the lands have crawled into a medieval era- but in their rush to restore what was lost, some Druids turned to magic instead of technology, and with the loss of widespread use of technology, magic had a void it could now fill.

(Can you get more 1970s than that?)

One fell, and rose as a Dark Lord, the Warlock Lord; defeated twice before, he has now returned to the Four Lands, united the Trolls and Gnomes, and there is but one Druid who remains to oppose him and one artifact he fears- the Sword of Jerle Shannara, who once banished the Warlock Lord and can only be wielded by his descendants.

Of whom only one was not assassinated by the agents of the Warlock Lord, a half-Elven orphan living quietly in Shady Vale, a village of no import.

I would strongly recommend the serious fantasy fan read it for the impact and importance of the series on the development of fantasy, and as a gateway to the rest of the series, which becomes much more mature and interesting starting with the next entry, but honestly, this entry in the series today would probably be sent straight to young adult. The Sword itself is a clever idea I won't spoil, and a few characters are highly memorable, such as Padishar Creel- but it is telling that Brooks is at his best when he stopped trying to write "expected" fantasy and wrote to his own voice. Balinor is memorable, but I couldn't recall either Elven brother to save my life. The wild Leah and obstinate Flick are interesting characters, but Shea himself- a Frodo stand-in - falls somewhat flat. show less

The Sword of Shannara was also the first of the high fantasy best-sellers, and since I’m in the middle of a (partial) reread of the Wheel of Time series, I thought it might be worth seeing what this novel was like. I shouldn’t have bothered. It’s fucking dreadful. A “Valeman” on his way home one night is scared by some giant flappy thing in the sky, and then waylaid by a scary man over seven foot tall with a goatee. Except the scary man is well-known to the Valemen (they live in a show more vale, see), although he is very mysterious. Cue info-dump. The Valeman’s adopted brother is half-elvish, and is actually the only surviving relative of an ancient elvish king. Because of this, he’s the only person who can wield the Sword of Shannara, an ancient, er, sword, and defeat the Warlock Lord, an evil sorcerer who is about to invade the Four Lands and kill everyone. Or maybe just enslave them. It’s not clear. There’s the good guys – one of which is a dwarf, and another is Boromir in all but name – and they have to make their way to Druid’s Keep to retrieve the sword before the evil gnome army. But the gnomes get there first, and Shea (the naming is absolutely terrible in this book), the half-elf half-not-a-hobbit-honestly, is separated from the others and ends up travelling into absolutely-not-Mordor chasing after the titular sword. Meanwhile, the others are involved in defending Tyrsis – which is definitely not Minas Tirith – against a huge army of gnomes and rock trolls… This was the first of the big-selling Tolkien rip-offs, and I can’t honestly see what its appeal is. Did people just want another LotR with the serial numbers filed off? And were they so desperate for it, they’d accept this sub-literate crap? Even now, fantasy fans still recommend this book – and then they do that thing, which is absolutely fucking stupid, of explaining that the first few books are not very good but “it gets a lot better around book four or five”. Seriously, fuck off. I’m not going to read half a dozen shit 700-page novels to reach one which is “better”, especially since as a fan of the series, the person recommending it clearly has no idea what a good book actually is. Books like this should no longer be in print. They do the genre a disservice, they do its readers a disservice. show less

What began as a sentimental re-read, ended up a history lesson on genre publishing. I've long decried the phenomenon of Tolkien knock-offs overwhelming the fantasy genre, even as I acknowledged my part in making it. I was either never clear or had clearly forgotten that The Sword Of Shannara was the opening salvo in that war. I shan't be reading further in the series: it wasn't in the end that sentimental a revisit. I'm pleased to have clarified the genre history, though, even as the show more knock-offs today mimic other authors rather than Tolkien: Caroline Maas, Sharon Gilbert, J.K. Rowling.

Two things I learned this reading that struck me as wholly unfamiliar:
- the world is a post-nuclear apocalypse version of our own (though the information shared in this novel isn't explicit and would support other interpretations)
- the Del Rey imprint was launched with this novel, its success fueling so much of the fantasy genre I initially embraced and now find boring

Shippey attributes the book's success to the post-Tolkien advent of the fantasy genre: "What The Sword Of Shannara seems to show is that many readers had developed the taste ... for heroic fantasy so strongly that if they could not get the real thing they would take any substitute, no matter how diluted." Mea culpa, or anyway so my teen self. show less