Sword of Shannara, is it worth finishing?

First, a bit about me: I like fantasy and am usually not very picky about them. I love Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings, also like Codex Alera; Memory, Sorrow and Thorn; Sword of Truth and most other fantasy series that I have read but can't remember the names of right now.

Keeping all that in mind, after reading all the good things about Shannara series, I was quite sure I would love them, except that I wasn't even able to reach halfway in the first book, it just felt like a badly written copy of Lord of the Rings (no offense to Terry Brooks, I love his Magic Kingdom of Landover novels).

That was a while ago, but after keep coming across people who recommend it online, I thought I should give it another chance, but before I do so, I want to know, is the whole series like this and I would be better of giving it up now? Or if I just struggle through the first book I would be able to enjoy the rest of the series?

What do you think, any suggestions?

don't bother.

Someone's going to write a history of the fantasy genre someday that identifies SoS as a turning point. Sword is notoriously LOTR-like. That was fully recognized and intended by Terry Brooks' editor Lester Del Rey, the sly man. Sword was perhaps the pre-eminent novel that re-launched the fantasy genre and expanded its popularity in the late 1970s (alongside Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant.) Soon afterward we had Feist, Eddings, Cook, etc.

If you're looking for something unique and modern: bad choice. For general reading, I only recommend this series as a stepping stone between Harry and adult fantasy. It's pretty tame.

If you're looking to fill in a gap in your reading spectrum of classics that built the fantasy genre, it's a keystone that will put other works in perspective so that you better see the progression which happened over time.

If you stick with it then try the next book, Elfstones of Shannara. I remember that being the best of the Shannara books, still simplistic but more original.

No

What Cecrow said. It's important mostly in a historical sort of way...

Tried to read it, got bored.

Drop it like a brick, it's a LotR rip-off down to nearly exact scenes and characters, I don't think it has appeal beyond people who haven't read much fantasy yet.

It's agreed that the first one is an LotR ripoff, but a lot of people swear by the later books. (I've never read any of them.)

I haven't read them, yet, but they couldn't be any worse than the Wheel of Time.

Nope..

>9 justjukka:
You would think. WOT is at least readable to some extent; Shannara, not that much.

What Annie said.

I actually have enjoyed a lot of The Wheel of Time, although it could have used some big time editing after Book 5 (some would say earlier than that!) Brandon Sanderson is doing an excellent job finishing it off.

I liked Brooks' Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy, felt like a departure from the standard fantasy that he generally wrote in and I enjoyed reading about the character's voyage by airship to a strange and unknown land. Of everything I've read of his in the Shannara world, which is quite a bit, that's probably the only ones that I'd come back and consider reading again.

I must admit, I struggled with the first book, thought it was a LOTR rip off and nearly didn't bother reading the rest of the series, but I carried on with it and actually really enjoyed it!
It is very tame but it's one of those series you feel you should read because pretty much every fantasy fan has read it, so I'm glad I didn't give up on it.
The heritage of Shanara is much better than the first 3 books, so it's definately worth perservering.
I'd say read it, it's an easy read and you might just land up enjoying it! everyone's tastes are different : )

>13 Perrangirl78:

I've read the first 6 or 7 - I hate abandoning series so... I tried. At one point it was pointless. But you are right - everyone likes different things -- and that makes the world interesting :)

>11 jnwelch:
Yeah, like the volume 9 (I think?) that could have been condensed to a chapter... I need to get back and read the rest of the series - dropped after volume 10 (finances, Bulgarian publishing and a few more things being the main reason) and never caught up with it.

Not worth finishing, not worth starting is more to the point.

10: For me, it's too much. I just don't care about the characters, anymore. They're always in peril, they never eat or sleep (and when they do, someone needs to force them into it), and they're always sniping at each other. Cut out the gender wars, skirt "arranging", glove pulling, hair tugging (though I don't mind that one as much since it's unique to one character), and sniffing, and we'd probably have a considerably smaller book.

I confess, I haven't read Shanarra, and I continue to hear mixed reviews on it, but I'm very jaded when it comes to WoT.

Then don't even try Shannara - where WOT is at least charming for a book or five, Shannara is just... boring.

I understand your point though - and I would agree to some extent - it should have been 6-8 books. But then if they are not in peril, no point having more books -- better than the alternative (imagine Rand spending half a book thinking... or just walking)

>14 AnnieMod: I know which one you mean, Annie, and I can't blame you. That one just plain made me mad. Brandon Sanderson has restored my faith, and I'm now looking forward to the next - and supposedly last - book in the WOT series.

Thanks for the input everyone, even though it seems there might be a slight chance that I will like the remaining books in the series, I am going to skip it.

There are many other good series that I haven't read yet, going to start one of them.

I loved that book, when I read it in high school. Of course, that was a while ago... Maybe I wouldn't enjoy it so much now.

17: I believe Rand did do that for an entire book, though I forget which one. And I know there wouldn't be much story without conflict, but I never felt so apathetic toward the characters in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, and their troubles were no less dire. I'm currently wading through Knife of Dreams, but I don't see myself finishing it any time soon. I at least one to get to one of Sanderson's books to see if his writing is any less cluttered.

I agree with @reading_fox, don't bother. I had the same impression of the book when I read it, and I did read it all the way through.

I enjoyed "The Sword of Shannara" quite thoroughly. It was the first fantasy series I truly delved into, so it also brings a sense of nostalgia for me. But I would recommend trying it out~

I thought Sword of Shannara was dreadful, not just because it was a Tolkien rip-off, but also because the main characters seemed to have the basic cultural outlook of modern American college students (a trait which also put me off the one Dragonlance book I ever picked up and put down again). I can't remember whether I bothered to finish it: my complete lack of recollection of the plot suggests that I gave up on it.

It wasn't even "historic" in reviving fantasy in my neck of the woods: I think Donaldson was much more influential. By the time Shannara came out (in 1977) I'd already followed up my Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings reading with A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels (1968-72), Anderson's The Broken Sword (1954), Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros (1922), Michael Moorcock's Runestaff sequence (1967-69), Alan Garner's Elidor (1965), Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain (1970), and Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone (1965). OK, a lot of these are not the sub-Tolkienian medieval "high" fantasy that Brooks and Eddings represent, but I came across Eddings long before I had heard of Brooks.