Opinions about the Shannara Series

[biodroid]

And now I am put off of reading the book. Oh well, I guess I should carry on with The Way of Kings instead then.

 

[biodroid]

Ok, I will now be contradicting myself on my previous statement. I stopped with The Way of Kings because it was too dragged out and I don't like Sandersons writing style. I am however 36% of the way through Sword of Shannara and so far loving it. I see the similarities to LOTR but they are not as bad as is made out to be. The characters are care worthy and I like the epic scope. I prefer adventure fantasy (with strange creatures and races) to political fantasy with a historical feel to it. I prefer Game of Thrones the TV show to the books because it's faster moving. I think I will enjoy the rest of TB's books in the series.

 

[Grimward]

I just finished the two books in the Bearers of the Black Staff series, and while I liked them, it almost seemed like Brooks was rushing the story so that it would fit into two books instead of 3 (I know, this seems contrary to what you'd expect, more books, more sales, etc., but there you have it). Very uncharacteristic.

 

[Elvenexile]

Yes, the statement from the begining rings true for me, like us Fantasy has elvolved since the 70's and 80's.
the time line below is something i've mused upon lately and is the way i kinda see our emotional\spiritual progression through the decades

80's after the limited expansion of the 60's and 70's we largely found ourselves thrown into the mudane of our ignorance but we where mostly lost from our emotional selves.
90's i see as our age of innocence, we were growing up a bit, things were changing a little more awareness began to return after the 80's but we were yet to have awoken more spiritualy
00's the naughties was a bit of a time of more self discovery on the road to emotional maturity
10's now we are starting to get to know ourselves a little better...where is this gonna lead us?
now....?

I often spot a tired and cleche fantasy rightaway from the first few pages or just by the look and feel of the cover, I want more these days.
i don't just want to be entertained without the depths of my feelings, desires and opinions being mostly engaged.

i read terry brooks at the time and was often captivated by his world and his imagination.I think i will always love elves and dwarves and all mythical races but i tire of the darker aspects of his storytelling.
i hunger for a new kind of story...

 

[BAYLOR]

It's a good series.

 

[biodroid]

I couldn't finish Sword so I started Elfstones of Shannara, and what a vast improvement on writing. It just feels tighter and he seems to not over explain and refer to things that happened multiple times in the story just to make sure we didn't forget what happened. The story feels more original and it's more gripping than the first book. I heard a lot of people say it's ok to skip book one as they are loosely related and info in the second will spoil book one for you, which is fine by me.

 

[Wo7f]

I think Wishsong is my favorite, but I really enjoyed all the ones I read thus far.

 

[scientia]

As I recall, I read the original trilogy and the four books in the Heritage series after that. I was constantly annoyed by the lack of imagination. I was more annoyed by the hand-waving of the plot. What I mean by hand-waving is when you introduce something in a book that has no foundation in any of the previous books. He certainly hasn't been the only author to do this. For example, Rowling's hand-waving reached unforgivable proportions in the final book of the Harry Potter series. And, as I recall, Brooks did a good job with the main characters. The antagonists were more like comic book characters which wasn't so good. There were series flaws with the logic of his plots and settings. Brooks seems to be terrible at world building; his worlds were slapped together with cardboard and and paint (don't look at them too closely). I give him credit for creating reasonably good main characters, somewhat good secondary characters and a few interesting items scattered here and there. And, of course, you can't fault his volume. He did crank out the stories.

 

[Bob S]

Use this thread to voice your opinions about the Shannara series. I'll go first, since I started this forum.

In my personal opinion, I don't think the Shannara series is now quite as impressive as it was before. Fantasy is much more common than it was before. I have read the first two books in the original Shannara trilogy, and am half-way through with the Wishsongs of Shannara. However, I have apparently lost interest in the series..

It pains to me say this. Terry Brooks was once my favorite author. But I've stopped reading his books.

In the 80s, the next Shannara book was a thrill. Back then, it was all new, and Terry was arguably the best of the new fantasy writers.

But now, every Shannara book has repeated the same old story, a Druid's quest, an Ohmsford gets captured, a Leah protector, Paranor invaded, again and again, ad nauseum.

Anyone who likes traditional fantasy should read one Shannara book or trilogy, but stop there.

 

[dekket]

I've just finished reading the latest Brooks book, The High Druid's Blade, and it is quite different to the standard Brooks plot. I quite enjoyed it, with a Leah as the protagonist.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

But now, every Shannara book has repeated the same old story, a Druid's quest, an Ohmsford gets captured, a Leah protector, Paranor invaded, again and again, ad nauseum.
Anyone who likes traditional fantasy should read one Shannara book or trilogy, but stop there.

Maybe more than one. They are not ALL the same...
It rains a lot too in the first few.
They certainly seem to vary a lot in enjoyability. At the start I bought them new. Now I'd only pick up one at 50c to €1 in a Charity shop. But I would.