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lootgoblin's review against another edition
5.0
The Sword of Shanara Trilogy by Terry Brooks is an easy to read, engaging fantasy adventure. The author’s writing starts of rather poor with annoyingly short sentences and repetitive descriptions that disrupt the flow of the story, but it gets better after the first book. He doesn’t use any bad language or write anything obscene in these first books. However, his characters do become more intimate in later books.
Brooks’ creates an amazing in-depth world for his books, writes fantastic battle scenes (a few in each book), and the story is well paced, intriguing, and not very violent. Even though his story is rather predictable he still managed to keep me interested.
Although I liked these books, I believe I would have enjoyed them a lot more as a teenager since it seems to be more for early fantasy readers. I tend to like more unpredictable and in-depth stories.
His characters are not as well developed as they could have been. I learned to like his characters and they were believable, but I did not absolutely love and care for them as much as I would have liked. An interesting aspect of his books is that many of the characters after the first book are decedents from characters in the previous book. It was unique to keep characters in the same family line for hundreds of years within his series. Even though I only liked his characters, I loved his creatures, especially the Moor Cat and the creatures from inside the forbidding.
It is said by many reviewers that this trilogy is similar to Lord of the Rings. I believe that Tolkien was his inspiration and he wanted to attract the readers who loved Tolkien’s fantasy. Many fantasy books written after Tolkien are going to have some likeness to Lord of the Rings. It’s to be expected.
I really enjoyed these books and many of the ones that followed. If you enjoy this trilogy, then I would suggest reading through his series until after the Jerle Shannara books. The books that follow are not as good and seem to be the same plot written with different characters. I also skipped any pre-shannra books and just read Sword, Heritage, Jerle, and some others. These first three books are very suitable for anyone 12 or older, but some consideration should be taken for the others in the series
Brooks’ creates an amazing in-depth world for his books, writes fantastic battle scenes (a few in each book), and the story is well paced, intriguing, and not very violent. Even though his story is rather predictable he still managed to keep me interested.
Although I liked these books, I believe I would have enjoyed them a lot more as a teenager since it seems to be more for early fantasy readers. I tend to like more unpredictable and in-depth stories.
His characters are not as well developed as they could have been. I learned to like his characters and they were believable, but I did not absolutely love and care for them as much as I would have liked. An interesting aspect of his books is that many of the characters after the first book are decedents from characters in the previous book. It was unique to keep characters in the same family line for hundreds of years within his series. Even though I only liked his characters, I loved his creatures, especially the Moor Cat and the creatures from inside the forbidding.
It is said by many reviewers that this trilogy is similar to Lord of the Rings. I believe that Tolkien was his inspiration and he wanted to attract the readers who loved Tolkien’s fantasy. Many fantasy books written after Tolkien are going to have some likeness to Lord of the Rings. It’s to be expected.
I really enjoyed these books and many of the ones that followed. If you enjoy this trilogy, then I would suggest reading through his series until after the Jerle Shannara books. The books that follow are not as good and seem to be the same plot written with different characters. I also skipped any pre-shannra books and just read Sword, Heritage, Jerle, and some others. These first three books are very suitable for anyone 12 or older, but some consideration should be taken for the others in the series
logecatt's review against another edition
Just feels like a more boring rip off of LOTR. May finish at some point but not anytime soon.
larry4444's review against another edition
1.0
Dnf at about 50% I gave this book way to many chances. It's basic, doesn't do anything well, boring, and at no point did I care.
serenedeer's review against another edition
slow-paced
Soooo agonizingly slow. Just couldn’t keep going.
tiegongji's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I could give half stars. I really liked the story and the characters but often got confused as to what was happening to whom at any point in time. I find this odd because I normally don't encounter this issue. I also am still interested in investing more time into this series, despite mediocre rating I gave it. That's a testament to the overall quality of the characters and the story, even if I often found it hard to follow.
ladymair's review against another edition
2.0
Enjoyable when you’re sick but the lack of female characters and the one female character that does appear falls for one of the main characters? Reduced my rating
A book for where you want to read and not think/be mindless.
A book for where you want to read and not think/be mindless.
shaijis's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.75
If I wanted to read The Lord of the Rings, I would read The Lord of the Rings. I understand the book is from a different era and it helped define the genre, but just being old is no excuse to having no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Text is dry and repetitive, and saying the characters are like cardboard is an insult to cardboard as material. Even the setting ended up being disappointing; I came for the post-apocalyptic Earth-turned fantasy world, got left with a vague feeling of confusion and, ultimately, boredom.
I only finished this title because I bought the Shannara book bundle from Humble Bundle and didn't want to admit right away it was a mistake.
I only finished this title because I bought the Shannara book bundle from Humble Bundle and didn't want to admit right away it was a mistake.
alliebebbs9's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
catharmonica's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
kennethtcox's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? No
4.0