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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Preferred the sections about Amberle and Wil to the Elves battles scenes. Thought that Ander was a good character with the most progression.
Preferred this when I read it as a teenager though - it's lost some magic in the intervening years (no I'm not saying how many!)
Preferred this when I read it as a teenager though - it's lost some magic in the intervening years (no I'm not saying how many!)
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
DNF. I don't think I'm going to finish this. These books are terrible! I barely made it through the first one. I know a lot of fantasy has familiar elements, but these are almost identical to lotr. There is a lot I can say about how bad this book is, but it was also incredibly boring. I rarely say this, but thr TV show is much better(and it's not that great). I don't know why this series is so popular or has such high ratings.
This book was a BIG disappointment. My only hope is that it came from the translation and that the original version is better because honestly...
But let's start by the beginning! A few years ago, I started reading The Sword of Shannara, and just, it is one of the two or three books IN MY LIFE, I didn't finish. Because it was too slow and I didn't like the writing style that much.
And then, in January, The Chronicles of Shannara series came out and I fell in love with it. So I thought, why not give Terry another chance and read the Elfstones of Shannara. If I love the show so much, it can't be that bad, right?
Well, it was. The narration was a bit clumsy, and when it comes to dialogs, it was just aweful, it just sounded fake.
But even with that aside, there were a lot of tiny elements in the book that didn't fit, for example, the use of a crop on the Roc, after almost a page talking about how the Sky Elves built a relationship with them. I am a horse rider, if you have a close relationship (and they even communicate with th Rocs), you do not use the crop!
Then, when the heroes have to cross the bridge to get out of Pykon, there is a mistake in the number of rivets holding the bridge. They go from 6 (that are all removed) to 7 (which causes the sacrifice of an elf to stop the demon and let Wil a chance to remove the last one- that was not there to start with!!). Or the fact that we move from The Four Races being Gnomes, Trolls, dwarves and humans to them being Elves, humans, trolls and dwarves. why??
And then: Amberle. Just a terrible character. Terrible.
Oh and how could I forget, the complete random chapter on the King of the Siler River who just appears to save the heroes from a desperate situation, magically and pouf! gone.
Ok I could rant over that book again and again. I may still give Terry Brooks another chance and read a book in english.
Ifind it really sad that the narration and mistakes like that ruin a story and a world that are really intersting!
But let's start by the beginning! A few years ago, I started reading The Sword of Shannara, and just, it is one of the two or three books IN MY LIFE, I didn't finish. Because it was too slow and I didn't like the writing style that much.
And then, in January, The Chronicles of Shannara series came out and I fell in love with it. So I thought, why not give Terry another chance and read the Elfstones of Shannara. If I love the show so much, it can't be that bad, right?
Well, it was. The narration was a bit clumsy, and when it comes to dialogs, it was just aweful, it just sounded fake.
But even with that aside, there were a lot of tiny elements in the book that didn't fit, for example, the use of a crop on the Roc, after almost a page talking about how the Sky Elves built a relationship with them. I am a horse rider, if you have a close relationship (and they even communicate with th Rocs), you do not use the crop!
Then, when the heroes have to cross the bridge to get out of Pykon, there is a mistake in the number of rivets holding the bridge. They go from 6 (that are all removed) to 7 (which causes the sacrifice of an elf to stop the demon and let Wil a chance to remove the last one- that was not there to start with!!). Or the fact that we move from The Four Races being Gnomes, Trolls, dwarves and humans to them being Elves, humans, trolls and dwarves. why??
And then: Amberle. Just a terrible character. Terrible.
Oh and how could I forget, the complete random chapter on the King of the Siler River who just appears to save the heroes from a desperate situation, magically and pouf! gone.
Ok I could rant over that book again and again. I may still give Terry Brooks another chance and read a book in english.
Ifind it really sad that the narration and mistakes like that ruin a story and a world that are really intersting!
So unlike the first book, I actually finished this one. I suppose it helps to have a female protagonist (if she can so be called, but more on that later).
The story moves along a bit faster here. Especially with The Reaper on their tails, the stakes feel pretty high throughout the book. The adventure would be more interesting if it wasn't bogged down with excessive descriptions of the landscape. There just comes a point after reading three of his books that I no longer care how misty the swamp is, how rainy it is, how thick the forest is. It just becomes a cumbersome dirge that adds less and less to the story. And although the story follows a very LoTR type formula (with some familiar situations/characters/creatures), it was enjoyable. Allanon was much less info-dumpy this time around.
But, as with the last novel, I have serious issues with the (lack of) good female characters. But wait, you must be wondering. What about Amberle, who is one of the main characters? As I previously said, I question whether she can be considered a character at all. In addition to being referred to as a girl (when the narrative claims Chosen are elves who have just become adults) and grossly described as having a child's face, she has no agency. She makes no choices. She resigns herself to going on the quest because she is being hunted by demons. She resigns herself to Wil's plans and decisions (in spite of her once getting huffy about him deciding everything. He apologized and then continued to do it). I was hoping with this interaction she'd be a strong character, but afterwards she mostly devolves into crying whenever she feels a strong emotion. Male characters literally just manhandle her from place to place. Allanon places her on and off horses. Wil places her onto the boat. Wil pulls her around, carries her around, lifts her around. She does nothing of consequence the entire time. If you replaced her with a literal lamp, the effect would be the same. The only thing she kind of chose to do was to become the tree. Big whoop. It comes off as so predestined that I don't believe she had a choice to make.
But, you may interject, what about Eteria? I would argue that she's a little bit better (As she does pick the lock to help them escape in The Hollows), but again, her life revolves around men. Involuntarily around The Rovers and Cephelo and then she just orbits Wil for.... no reason? Because they are meant to be together? She still mostly follows Wil around and listens to what he does. And fails to have any real meaningful interaction with other women. Her and Amberle barely exchanged words.
And don't get me started on the LITERAL cat fight between the two ancient witches who have lived thousands and thousands of years. Whose quarrel started over a MAN, and who hurl insults at each other like "ugly" and "lizard" etc.
And then we have the whole ending where a bunch of men got together and decided since only women can bring life into the world, they would create the Ellcrys from a girl. And of course this girl tree would only surround herself with men, unless she thought she was dying and needed a replacement, then she might choose a girl. So unimaginative.
And I honestly couldn't give a fig about the entire fight between the elves and demons and skipped a lot of those parts (because it not only includes mainly a lot of characters that I don't care about and that you haven't spent a lot of time with), but the real action gets bogged down in more of Brooks' excessive, superfluous descriptions.
In the end, I guess I'm just over books (especially of the fantasy genre) that sidelines/omits female characters. This really feels like it should have been a book about Amberle, and even though the day is saved by her journey, her choices, and her sacrifice, it's told through Wil's perspective and loses its poignancy. As I said before, it reads as Wil's journey taking the seed to the bloodfire, making sure it's enchanted, and then taking it back to Arborlon to be planted. Removing Amberle from the story would change very little.
The story moves along a bit faster here. Especially with The Reaper on their tails, the stakes feel pretty high throughout the book. The adventure would be more interesting if it wasn't bogged down with excessive descriptions of the landscape. There just comes a point after reading three of his books that I no longer care how misty the swamp is, how rainy it is, how thick the forest is. It just becomes a cumbersome dirge that adds less and less to the story. And although the story follows a very LoTR type formula (with some familiar situations/characters/creatures), it was enjoyable. Allanon was much less info-dumpy this time around.
But, as with the last novel, I have serious issues with the (lack of) good female characters. But wait, you must be wondering. What about Amberle, who is one of the main characters? As I previously said, I question whether she can be considered a character at all. In addition to being referred to as a girl (when the narrative claims Chosen are elves who have just become adults) and grossly described as having a child's face, she has no agency. She makes no choices. She resigns herself to going on the quest because she is being hunted by demons. She resigns herself to Wil's plans and decisions (in spite of her once getting huffy about him deciding everything. He apologized and then continued to do it). I was hoping with this interaction she'd be a strong character, but afterwards she mostly devolves into crying whenever she feels a strong emotion. Male characters literally just manhandle her from place to place. Allanon places her on and off horses. Wil places her onto the boat. Wil pulls her around, carries her around, lifts her around. She does nothing of consequence the entire time. If you replaced her with a literal lamp, the effect would be the same. The only thing she kind of chose to do was to become the tree. Big whoop. It comes off as so predestined that I don't believe she had a choice to make.
But, you may interject, what about Eteria? I would argue that she's a little bit better (As she does pick the lock to help them escape in The Hollows), but again, her life revolves around men. Involuntarily around The Rovers and Cephelo and then she just orbits Wil for.... no reason? Because they are meant to be together? She still mostly follows Wil around and listens to what he does. And fails to have any real meaningful interaction with other women. Her and Amberle barely exchanged words.
And don't get me started on the LITERAL cat fight between the two ancient witches who have lived thousands and thousands of years. Whose quarrel started over a MAN, and who hurl insults at each other like "ugly" and "lizard" etc.
And then we have the whole ending where a bunch of men got together and decided since only women can bring life into the world, they would create the Ellcrys from a girl. And of course this girl tree would only surround herself with men, unless she thought she was dying and needed a replacement, then she might choose a girl. So unimaginative.
And I honestly couldn't give a fig about the entire fight between the elves and demons and skipped a lot of those parts (because it not only includes mainly a lot of characters that I don't care about and that you haven't spent a lot of time with), but the real action gets bogged down in more of Brooks' excessive, superfluous descriptions.
In the end, I guess I'm just over books (especially of the fantasy genre) that sidelines/omits female characters. This really feels like it should have been a book about Amberle, and even though the day is saved by her journey, her choices, and her sacrifice, it's told through Wil's perspective and loses its poignancy. As I said before, it reads as Wil's journey taking the seed to the bloodfire, making sure it's enchanted, and then taking it back to Arborlon to be planted. Removing Amberle from the story would change very little.
This book has been sitting on my shelf for a long, long time because I was kind of afraid of it. The Sword of Shannara wasn't my favourite read, but this one worked a lot better for me (far less adjectives, that helped). I especially liked the Wil/Amberle storyline (I'm not a big fan of big, confusing fights, like with the demons, but it wasn't too much for my taste, luckily). The Will development was nice to follow along.
adventurous
medium-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:
Yes
Picked this book up on a whim at my local used book store. I’m not sure what attracted me to it, I think it was the cover being done in such a classic fantasy fashion. Hadn’t read Terry Brook’s works before, but I thought why not? Started it that night, and two weeks later, I can safely say I enjoyed every second of it and can’t wait to dive into the other Shannara books.
The first three books in Brook’s epic saga are stand alone novels, they have some carryover but they serve mostly as world builders. I almost skipped the three, as I read that they weren’t very good (specifically the first one) but I’m glad I didn’t! Brooks did such a great job here of not just telling a really good story, but also giving the reader lots of background into the history and lore of Shannara.
I believe this book deserves five stars. Is it as deep as say, a Brandon Sanderson novel from Stormlight? No, definitely not. But it’s a story that, in just 654 pages, pulls you in, makes you cheer for the protagonists, fear the antagonists, and really makes you want to return to the world and learn more. I found myself legitimately worried for the characters in the book at times. Brooks wasn’t shy in this when it came to killing off characters, so I found it gave you a bit of worry during some of the book’s more intense scenes. The characters themselves were fairly well crafted for a story that wasn’t even 700 pages long. You could feel the growth of characters, namely Wil, Amberle and Ander.
In closing, this was a simple, straightforward fantasy novel, written in a time when fantasy was just that. To me, it was a perfect first entry (for me, as I stated above I didn’t read the Sword of Shannara, not yet) into a series spanning 30+ novels. If you’re a fantasy fan, read this. If only for the fact that you’re reading some of the earliest books that showed publishers that fantasy was in fact a genre, wanted by the masses, and not just a one hit Tolkien wonder.
Ps, Allanon is so damn cool. Just read the book, you’ll know what I mean.
The first three books in Brook’s epic saga are stand alone novels, they have some carryover but they serve mostly as world builders. I almost skipped the three, as I read that they weren’t very good (specifically the first one) but I’m glad I didn’t! Brooks did such a great job here of not just telling a really good story, but also giving the reader lots of background into the history and lore of Shannara.
I believe this book deserves five stars. Is it as deep as say, a Brandon Sanderson novel from Stormlight? No, definitely not. But it’s a story that, in just 654 pages, pulls you in, makes you cheer for the protagonists, fear the antagonists, and really makes you want to return to the world and learn more. I found myself legitimately worried for the characters in the book at times. Brooks wasn’t shy in this when it came to killing off characters, so I found it gave you a bit of worry during some of the book’s more intense scenes. The characters themselves were fairly well crafted for a story that wasn’t even 700 pages long. You could feel the growth of characters, namely Wil, Amberle and Ander.
In closing, this was a simple, straightforward fantasy novel, written in a time when fantasy was just that. To me, it was a perfect first entry (for me, as I stated above I didn’t read the Sword of Shannara, not yet) into a series spanning 30+ novels. If you’re a fantasy fan, read this. If only for the fact that you’re reading some of the earliest books that showed publishers that fantasy was in fact a genre, wanted by the masses, and not just a one hit Tolkien wonder.
Ps, Allanon is so damn cool. Just read the book, you’ll know what I mean.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Definitely the most original Shannara book I’ve read so far (though I still really like the OG, even if it is a blatant LotR knockoff,) but it has a few character setbacks. I found Wil, the protagonist, to be quite annoying, and the love triangle between him, Amberle and Eretria was very cringe (also, isn’t Amberle still a kid? What is the age gap here?)
Amberle is still a very cool and sympathetic character, she reminds me of Mareth from “First King of Shannara,” and those two are unfortunately the only well written woman characters I’ve encountered in the three books I’ve read so far. Eretria has her moments, and is constantly saving Wil’s ass, but she suffers from “I’m in love with the protagonist, because, uh, he’s the protagonist” syndrome.
The Reaper absolutely rips though, and the world building continues to be phenomenal.
Amberle is still a very cool and sympathetic character, she reminds me of Mareth from “First King of Shannara,” and those two are unfortunately the only well written woman characters I’ve encountered in the three books I’ve read so far. Eretria has her moments, and is constantly saving Wil’s ass, but she suffers from “I’m in love with the protagonist, because, uh, he’s the protagonist” syndrome.
The Reaper absolutely rips though, and the world building continues to be phenomenal.
¡Por fin he podido leer el final feliz que como fan de la serie merecía!
Siento que tras leer este final me he quitado un peso de encima y por fin podré superar la cancelación de la serie ( ¡QUE HA PASADO MÁS DE UN AÑO DESDE QUE LA VI!)
Sin embargo, he sufrido una gran decepción que ha hecho que este libro se lleve ⭐⭐⭐⭐: ¡Resulta que Amberle NO es una mujer fuerte e independiente como en la serie sino una niñita asustadiza que al final cumple con su deber de milagro! Enfin.... Vaya primer prota femenino que nos regala Terry Brooks....sino hubiera sido por Eretria....
Además, esperaba leer esa primer escena tan poderosa que nos regala la serie de Amberle participando en la carrera para convertirse en elegida pero resulta que ella ni siquiera quería ser elegida...
¡Y no me malinterpreteis ! Que eso de que una niñita asustada se convierta en una heroína de su pueblo y supere sus miedos está muy bien, lo que pasa es que yo venía esperando encontrar a otra persona completamente distinta. Además, creo que hubiera ayudado que el personaje hubiera sido desarrollado más poco a poco y no de golpe al final, ya que así yo como lectora hubiera conectado más con ella y no se me hubiera hecho tan insufrible...
Creo que la idea de superar nuestros miedos y eso es maravillosa y entiendo la intención del autor pero, desde mi punto de vista todo esto se ha quedado en eso, una intención.
Por lo demás, el resto de personajes son maravillosos (sobre todo Wil, Eretria y Anden) y la historia concluye de manera ejemplar
Siento que tras leer este final me he quitado un peso de encima y por fin podré superar la cancelación de la serie ( ¡QUE HA PASADO MÁS DE UN AÑO DESDE QUE LA VI!)
Sin embargo, he sufrido una gran decepción que ha hecho que este libro se lleve ⭐⭐⭐⭐: ¡Resulta que Amberle NO es una mujer fuerte e independiente como en la serie sino una niñita asustadiza que al final cumple con su deber de milagro! Enfin.... Vaya primer prota femenino que nos regala Terry Brooks....sino hubiera sido por Eretria....
Además, esperaba leer esa primer escena tan poderosa que nos regala la serie de Amberle participando en la carrera para convertirse en elegida pero resulta que ella ni siquiera quería ser elegida...
¡Y no me malinterpreteis ! Que eso de que una niñita asustada se convierta en una heroína de su pueblo y supere sus miedos está muy bien, lo que pasa es que yo venía esperando encontrar a otra persona completamente distinta. Además, creo que hubiera ayudado que el personaje hubiera sido desarrollado más poco a poco y no de golpe al final, ya que así yo como lectora hubiera conectado más con ella y no se me hubiera hecho tan insufrible...
Creo que la idea de superar nuestros miedos y eso es maravillosa y entiendo la intención del autor pero, desde mi punto de vista todo esto se ha quedado en eso, una intención.
Por lo demás, el resto de personajes son maravillosos (sobre todo Wil, Eretria y Anden) y la historia concluye de manera ejemplar