The Sword of Shannara
category: fantasy, author:
Terry Brooks
book 1 of Shannara
published by Orbit, original copyright 1977, read in Jun 2010
(and before, years earlier)
Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10
First, an admission: I read this book years ago and, from memory, I would have rated it as a
five. I think that I just didn't like the characters... they are not heroic. But...
This time round, I enjoyed Sword a lot more. Sure, the characters are reluctant to be heroes. They hold back, have doubts, get frozen with fear... Yet they continue, and grow. On this second reading -- the author begins with realistic characters and allows them to develop into heroes. Which, I guess, makes for a very good book!
This is Brooks' first published book. It's good but not great. The plot flows well and there are no obvious gaps (as long as you remember that this book is a "fantasy"!). In the style of a fantasy epic, there are plenty of major characters and several major plot threads. Brooks manages to keep the threads under control.
He also manages to sustain our interest in all of the main characters; they are each unique enough -- and well enough described -- to keep separate in my mind. As we flick from character to character, I have no trouble remembering who they are and what they are supposed to be doing.
Some of the shifts in story are too obviously cliff-hangers. Quite often, a character will think, "Oh no! We're all gonna diiiiieee..." ... and will be left there, for many pages. Unsubtle! No worries, this is, after all, Brooks' first novel.
One interesting departure from the epic fantasy standard: the chief villain is actually defeated! The standard approach is to kill a henchman in the first novel, a sub-villain in the second and the chief villain in the third (often, though, with no definite dead body). In Sword, the villain definitely dies. Glancing at further titles, Brooks seems to introduce new villains in each novel -- a very praiseworthy effort!
And finally, two notes: This is "Book 1 of Shannara". It's the first book written. First King of Shannara was written later but is a prequel. Perhaps it should be "book 1"? Or perhaps not...
Note 2: A far more recent Brooks book is The Gypsy Morph. In my opinion, Sword is a better book than Morph. In Sword, Brooks uses "I'm not going to tell you," as a device to build pseudo-suspense. Okay, so does every author... By the time he wrote Morph, it seems that "I'm not going to tell you," and "I don't know what I'll do until I have to do it," are the only devices in use.
Read Morph because it completes a link between two sets of books. Read Sword for enjoyment.
===
20sep20: And I read it again. With much the same opinion as in the above review. Except:
Good grief! it's a direct steal from Lord of the Rings!
A powerful magician leads a group of elves, dwarves and men to destroy a dark lord. Of the group, only one can wield the item which will destroy the baddie. There's even a Gollum lookalike. A final trek across a bare and desolate land, a city under siege, only the destruction of the dark lord saves the city.
Differences? Elves are short, dwarves don't like dark, enclosed spaces. A thief joins the group and thieves were introduced in D&D games. Unless you count the Conan stories. But not in LotR.
So the story is a direct steal -- but the author says that his book is an attempt to place LotR in a different world. Which he has done. Quite well.
My 2010 score is seven, Well worth reading. Today I would rate it six, Read to pass the time. Given the author's stated intent, I am happy to leave the rating at seven.
..o0o..
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