Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #409715 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

Customer Reviews

A very easy fantasy read
I have to confess I read this book when I was twelve and up to that point it was the best book I'd ever read. I managed it in less than a week and was gripped by it from start to finish. The sequels were okay but this one was definitely the best.
However, upon just looking up the book on amazon I can see that a lot of other reviewers are pointing out that it's a LOTR rip off. Well, I guess they're probably right, but I hadn't read LOTR when I stumbled across The Sword of Shannara and therefore I enjoyed the book without making the comparisons. And in reality most books are copying some sort of formula. Let's face it 90% of crime thrillers involve a dead body at the start and then a detective / investigator tracking down the killer for the rest of the book. It's therefore inevitable that most fantasy books have dwarves, elves etc all hunting for some magical item that mustn't fall in to the hands of evil. So if you like fantasy there is no reason why you shouldn't like this book. It is formulaic but it's well written and I found it very entertaining.

Can anyone recommend a good book?
I am about half way through this book and decided to see what others think of it. I can only agree with the common theme that it is a blatant copy of LOFTR. I have found myself more intrigued by the copying that I have been about the story itself, with the Frodo, Sam, (+1 person equals Marry and Pippin), Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli characters as in the "Fellowship of the Ring" being copied almost exactly. Ok they are fighting gnomes instead of goblins and the Gandalf and Aragorn characters seem to have been melded into one. But we still have the ancient artifact that holds all the power, the only one person that can weild it, the mines of moria, and EVEN, the fall into the pit whilst fighting a BIG THING.

THIS BOOK IS IRRITATING TO SAY THE LEAST! Unfortunately, I bought another of Terry Brooks at the same time (wont make that mistake again).

I have read all of David Eddings and Stephen Donaldson, most of Robin Hobb and all of Raymond E Feist (probably the best after Tolkien), I was looking forward to a rattling good read from Terry Brooks, what a damp squid that turned out to be!

The second book is better
I thought that Sword was a pretty good book and I won't compare it to LOTR because it's been so long since I've read it. However, the following book, the Elfstones is much better, and the third book as well, the Wishsong. My main complaint: the characters weren't developed to the point where you wanted to read more about them.