A review by gracie_mac
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
2.0
I heard a lot of good things about the Shannara Chronicles, so I thought I'd give it a go. Oh god. Had I never read or even heard of the plotline of Lord of the Rings I probably wouldn't have disliked it as much as I do. But DUDE, what a bad rip off.
Okay, okay. Proper review time. So first things first; the characters. Shea: not particularly an exciting character. Seriously. I get wanting to have an average Joe who suddenly gets thrown into a crazy adventure (Mr. Baggins ahem), but Shea has no appeal whatsoever. I could have cared less about him. Flick was a little better, but not much. He actually had some qualities to be admired, and I would have been a little sad if he was killed off. Weird, it's sort of the way I felt with Frodo and Sam in LotR. How strange.
Of course you've then got Balinor, a perfect mockery of Aragorn, Handel, the Elven brothers, Menion, and let's not forget Gandalf, I mean Allanon. Soz. I don't think I need to clarify my thoughts on their characters to anyone who's read LotR.
You've got Gondor, oh sorry. Tyrsis. The Warlock Lord....??? Whaaat?? He is literally referred to as the dark lord multiple times?? The skull bearers, once men and now corrupt?? I haven't a clue what they seem to remind me of.
Aside from the obvious plagiarism by Brooks, it's not the only problem I had with the book. It dragged, was predictable (who would have guessed the elves would save the day), was quite tedious at times, and parts were so unrealistic. (I am aware it is fantasy, therefore nothing should be realistic, but I mean in the sense that it is highly highly unlikely that someone like Menion would SUDDENLY, as Brooks likes to say when describing an incredible revelation made by a character at an incredibly convenient time, realise that he was in love with a woman he has known for all but a week and knows feck all about.
Anyway. I could keep going but I won't. It took me too long to read (did I mention I thought I had reached the end a third of the way through, but oh no jk there's another 400 pages of waffle to go) but hey, I'm gonna read the second one anyway.
Evidently I am insane.
I've heard that the rest of the books are much better and Shea will no longer plague me, so I will continue.
Okay, okay. Proper review time. So first things first; the characters. Shea: not particularly an exciting character. Seriously. I get wanting to have an average Joe who suddenly gets thrown into a crazy adventure (Mr. Baggins ahem), but Shea has no appeal whatsoever. I could have cared less about him. Flick was a little better, but not much. He actually had some qualities to be admired, and I would have been a little sad if he was killed off. Weird, it's sort of the way I felt with Frodo and Sam in LotR. How strange.
Of course you've then got Balinor, a perfect mockery of Aragorn, Handel, the Elven brothers, Menion, and let's not forget Gandalf, I mean Allanon. Soz. I don't think I need to clarify my thoughts on their characters to anyone who's read LotR.
You've got Gondor, oh sorry. Tyrsis. The Warlock Lord....??? Whaaat?? He is literally referred to as the dark lord multiple times?? The skull bearers, once men and now corrupt?? I haven't a clue what they seem to remind me of.
Aside from the obvious plagiarism by Brooks, it's not the only problem I had with the book. It dragged, was predictable (who would have guessed the elves would save the day), was quite tedious at times, and parts were so unrealistic. (I am aware it is fantasy, therefore nothing should be realistic, but I mean in the sense that it is highly highly unlikely that someone like Menion would SUDDENLY, as Brooks likes to say when describing an incredible revelation made by a character at an incredibly convenient time, realise that he was in love with a woman he has known for all but a week and knows feck all about.
Anyway. I could keep going but I won't. It took me too long to read (did I mention I thought I had reached the end a third of the way through, but oh no jk there's another 400 pages of waffle to go) but hey, I'm gonna read the second one anyway.
Evidently I am insane.
I've heard that the rest of the books are much better and Shea will no longer plague me, so I will continue.