Reviews

The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks, Darrell K. Sweet

jberry19's review against another edition

5.0

I was surprised by how much I liked these books. Allanon is a great character and I really enjoyed each quest. The wishsong was the best one. Overall a wonderful series.

matt_hanson's review against another edition

5.0

I highly recommend this series, as well as his other works.  I found myself talking to the protagonists in stressful climatic moments and immersed in the Four Lands of this fantasy world.  And, as a sign to me of a great read with great characters, I continue to think about the Four Lands. 

I have read over ten books by Terry Brooks.  In his many books, Terry has created a compelling fantasy world that is both an origin story that dates back to the time of Faerie and Elves that is filled with magic; to the contemporary world of today that is destroyed by a Great War; to the Four Lands in a world born anew over several thousand years.  The Four Lands is populated by four types of humans: Elves; Dwarfs; Gnomes; and Man.  The Sword of Shannara Trilogy is set in the Four Lands; the Druid Allanon, who is a powerful wielded of magic, and the Ohmsford family with magical qualities inherited from an Elven heritage, are all that stand between the Four Lands and emerging dark magical forces.  Terry is gifted writer of prose.  I find myself turning the words over in my mind as I re-read passages.  Thank you Terry!

patricko0317's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

writh's review against another edition

2.0

It might just be me, but I was totally unable to get into these books. I hear them praised to the stars, but I just couldn't abide the writing style.

nikolas_fox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

It is well known that Brooks was heavily influenced by JRR Tolkien. That being said, this was not a Lord of the Rings fanfiction or re-write. This was something inspired by Tolkien, but it's own thing entirely. This book did take me quite a long time to complete, with taking breaks between the 3 books, but all in all it was a great read. I also enjoyed that the trilogy spanned generations, and it wasn't one long story. The stories were intertwined and some characters were in more than one of the books, but they were entirely different stories. I know this series seems to get very mixed reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to continue with the Heritage of Shannara series.

keesreads's review against another edition

✔️

luaucow's review against another edition

3.0

I remember absolutely nothing about this book, except that I read it in Junior high and enjoyed it, but not enough to continue the series.

wordsofclover's review against another edition

1.0

The Sword of Shannara 2.5/5 Stars
*************

Coming into this series, I had already watched and read a lot of mediocre reviews. I was well aware that this book was very heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings and I'm glad I was prepared for this because even though I knew it, throughout the book I found myself saying 'Lord of the Rings', 'Lord of the Rings,' and 'oh, more Lord of the rings!'

I wish I liked The Sword of Shannara more than I did because I do feel, despite being inspired by Tolkien's Middle Earth, that Brooks really created an amazing world with a fabulous history. The land of Shannara is basically our world years and years and years in the future and has become home to a number of different man-like species besides humans.

The book was just far too heavy with description that it became borderline tedious for me. There were a few times that my eyes were drooping and I almost fell asleep more than once while reading. I had to start skimming now and again because otherwise I would just be reading paragraph after paragraph of description rather than actual dialogue or important content that moved the story along. Some description was repeated a lot such as the description of Allanon and I got sick and tired of hearing about his 'dark figure'. I was pretty glad when this was over but still eager to move on to Elfstones.

The Elfstones of Shannara 3 Stars
*******************
Overall, this may be my favorite book of the series. I definitely felt a lot more for the characters of Will, Amberle and Eretria than I did for Shea and Flick. It was also perhaps a little bit more original. I did ship Will with Eretria a lot more, as I do in the TV show, and I liked the twist in the ending. I also really wanted something to happen between Ander and Stee Jan XD

The Wishsong of Shannara 2.5 Stars
******************

The first half of this book was good. I liked Jair and Brin and learning about them, their personalities and the wishsong. Allanon was really annoying in this one as usual. He's actually a bit of a bully but I liked that in this one it's acknowledged by everyone. I also feel that Wishsong has a lot more real Allanon moments. We see him weak, and afraid and we also see some moments of tenderness with Brin. However, I really love Jair's group of comrades and in particular his relationship with Slanter. Unfortunately this book eventually fell the same way as its predecessors and just became boring and I eventually began to skim.

I'm really glad I finally finished this bind-up because I really just stopped enjoying it. It began to feel like homework and I dreaded picking it up. When it comes to any more Terry Brooks reading, I'm sticking with Landover.

nedgirl's review

4.0

The Sword of Shannara was the first fantasy book I ever read and it hooked me on the genre for life.

rachelunabridged's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

5.0