[Red King]

Well, as I sit and wait for my paycheck to obtain TCG, I've been looking at other books I could re-read in sort time and came across my Uncle actually got me into reading, is the Shannara series. Terry Brooks wrote this and I really like his series. IMO, the first trilogy he wrote was not very good at all, I hardly remembered any of it right after it and still vaguely recall some interesting characters. After that trilogy, however, the books really picked up for me and kept me very interested in the series. My absolute favorite series he has i called The Word & The Void. I liked this one above the others because its written in modern times, but magic does have an influence but nothing as significant as Malazan. My favorite character was actually the main hero, John Ross. I typically favor the villain in the books I read so it was an interest change of pace for me. Anyways, I wondered if anyone else has read any of his books and wanted to drop their opinions on it.


- Ultor

[King Bear]

First Sword Ultor, on 20 March 2011 - 11:26 PM, said:

Well, as I sit and wait for my paycheck to obtain TCG, I've been looking at other books I could re-read in sort time and came across my Uncle actually got me into reading, is the Shannara series. Terry Brooks wrote this and I really like his series. IMO, the first trilogy he wrote was not very good at all, I hardly remembered any of it right after it and still vaguely recall some interesting characters. After that trilogy, however, the books really picked up for me and kept me very interested in the series. My absolute favorite series he has i called The Word & The Void. I liked this one above the others because its written in modern times, but magic does have an influence but nothing as significant as Malazan. My favorite character was actually the main hero, John Ross. I typically favor the villain in the books I read so it was an interest change of pace for me. Anyways, I wondered if anyone else has read any of his books and wanted to drop their opinions on it.


- Ultor

I read most of them as a teenager. I enjoyed them at the time but I'm not sure how they would stand up now, and I don't think I could go near Sword of Shannara. Elfstones was always my favourite so I may re-read that sometime. I liked the heritage books and the voyage trilogy was interesting. The high druid trilogy was flat, boring and sometimes silly. I never read Word and Void for some reason, even though I have book one banging around somewhere. I may never pick it up now, since I've moved on from Brooks.

And if you favour the villan you should read ASOI&F, if you haven't already.

[Roldom]

i enjoyed the shannara novels, like bombur elfstones was probably my favorite.

the word and void is good. I especially like the one where john ross falls in love with the daemon and nearly changes sides.

[Red King]

Bombur, on 21 March 2011 - 01:12 AM, said:

First Sword Ultor, on 20 March 2011 - 11:26 PM, said:

Well, as I sit and wait for my paycheck to obtain TCG, I've been looking at other books I could re-read in sort time and came across my Uncle actually got me into reading, is the Shannara series. Terry Brooks wrote this and I really like his series. IMO, the first trilogy he wrote was not very good at all, I hardly remembered any of it right after it and still vaguely recall some interesting characters. After that trilogy, however, the books really picked up for me and kept me very interested in the series. My absolute favorite series he has i called The Word & The Void. I liked this one above the others because its written in modern times, but magic does have an influence but nothing as significant as Malazan. My favorite character was actually the main hero, John Ross. I typically favor the villain in the books I read so it was an interest change of pace for me. Anyways, I wondered if anyone else has read any of his books and wanted to drop their opinions on it.


- Ultor

I read most of them as a teenager. I enjoyed them at the time but I'm not sure how they would stand up now, and I don't think I could go near Sword of Shannara. Elfstones was always my favourite so I may re-read that sometime. I liked the heritage books and the voyage trilogy was interesting. The high druid trilogy was flat, boring and sometimes silly. I never read Word and Void for some reason, even though I have book one banging around somewhere. I may never pick it up now, since I've moved on from Brooks.

And if you favour the villan you should read ASOI&F, if you haven't already.

What is ASOI&F? Or is that the title?

[King Bear]

ASOI&F = A Song of Ice and Fire. You've probably heard of it since it's very popular. In case you haven't, it's a fantasy series by George RR Martin. The first book is A Game of Thrones. It's currently being adapted for TV by HBO.

http://www.digitaltr...hrones-trailer/

[Use Of Weapons]

Elfstones -- I had a bit of a crush on Wil Ohmsford as depicted on the original cover I loved the story of the Ellcrys, and the demons behind the Forbidding were really well depicted. One quote always stays with me:

Spoiler

Seek the Reaper's face!

But I preferred Wishsong, as I thought it was an interesting talent, and Brooks explored it via both Brin and Jair into territory that not many would associate him with -- the potential for power to corrupt one, because if one can essentially rewrite reality, what can you use as a moral constant?

My favourite Brooks series has always been the Magic Kingdom For Sale series

[QuickTidal]

Word & Void, definitely. Then the new Shannara series that bridges apocalyptic WORD & VOID earth to a pre-historic Shannara, called THE GENESIS OF SHANNARA and stars Nest's child/gypsy morph as main character.

His later books are way better than his first few...case in point...of the traditional Shannara books the prequel he wrote in the late 90's FIRSt KING OF SHANNARA is unarguably the best. At least to me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 21 March 2011 - 01:48 PM

[Abyss]

ELFSTONES was actually one of the first fantasy books i ever read. I totally loved it and have reread multiple times since. Then i read SWORD, which was... just ok. I actually didn't bookthump it as a LoTR rip as many seem to, but the characters in 'STONES were just much more interesting
WISHSONG, while not as strong as 'STONES, was all good. The song itself was fairly original for its time, and of course, there's Garret Jax.

Then came the HERITAGE series. I thought this dragged at points but overall I enjoyed it and it expanded the world very nicely. I thought Walker Boh was the only breakout character but there were some neat moments.

FIRST KING.... well, after the last seven books, FIRST KING was strictly Shannara by the numbers. It was back to just ok.

And then we have THE WORD AND THE VOID. I read the whole thing but honestly i found it bleh. Dull. Too much angst, not enough stabby 'sploody. Great villains, and i like how the Knight's visions work, but the main characters were otherwise just dull, and Brooks followed the 'slow build to big finish' pattern that i'm just not much of a fan of to begin with.

VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA was good fun. Not brilliantly original, but a solid quest series and i really liked how the skyships were written. Plus we had some original characters like the shapeshifter, Walker Boh trying not to turn into Allanon, and Grianne was a great anti-hero/villain. Plus brianwashed cyborg elf terminators! Morgawr himself was a bit of a letdown at the end, but not horribly so.

I stoped the series there. i'll pick up the rest of it eventually but i'm not feeling any massive drive to do so, especially since Brooks started linking the Shannara stuff with the WORD/VOID series.


- Abyss, also liked the big cyber-spider thingy.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 21 March 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

I stoped the series there. i'll pick up the rest of it eventually but i'm not feeling any massive drive to do so, especially since Brooks started linking the Shannara stuff with the WORD/VOID series.
- Abyss, also liked the big cyber-spider thingy.

You should read GENESIS as it is very good, and you get two rather badass knights of the word...

the followup to that (LEGENDS OF SHANNARA) is simply okay...not great but fun.

[Rhand]

Abyss, on 21 March 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

ELFSTONES was actually one of the first fantasy books i ever read. I totally loved it and have reread multiple times since. Then i read SWORD, which was... just ok. I actually didn't bookthump it as a LoTR rip as many seem to, but the characters in 'STONES were just much more interesting
WISHSONG, while not as strong as 'STONES, was all good. The song itself was fairly original for its time, and of course, there's Garret Jax.

Then came the HERITAGE series. I thought this dragged at points but overall I enjoyed it and it expanded the world very nicely. I thought Walker Boh was the only breakout character but there were some neat moments.

FIRST KING.... well, after the last seven books, FIRST KING was strictly Shannara by the numbers. It was back to just ok.

And then we have THE WORD AND THE VOID. I read the whole thing but honestly i found it bleh. Dull. Too much angst, not enough stabby 'sploody. Great villains, and i like how the Knight's visions work, but the main characters were otherwise just dull, and Brooks followed the 'slow build to big finish' pattern that i'm just not much of a fan of to begin with.

VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA was good fun. Not brilliantly original, but a solid quest series and i really liked how the skyships were written. Plus we had some original characters like the shapeshifter, Walker Boh trying not to turn into Allanon, and Grianne was a great anti-hero/villain. Plus brianwashed cyborg elf terminators! Morgawr himself was a bit of a letdown at the end, but not horribly so.

I stoped the series there. i'll pick up the rest of it eventually but i'm not feeling any massive drive to do so, especially since Brooks started linking the Shannara stuff with the WORD/VOID series.


- Abyss, also liked the big cyber-spider thingy.

Pretty much agree with you, except that I haven't read W&V and that I found First King really boring because it was practically the same as SoS and you already knew much of the outcome. Garret Jax in the Wishsong was pretty awesome.

By the way, was I the only one who, whilst reading the earlier books, slapped his head a few times exclaiming: "My God, Goodkind totally stole this idea!". Perhaps it's because I read Shannara right after the first SoT-books that it was so obvious to me.

This post has been edited by Rhand: 02 May 2011 - 02:23 PM

[Abyss]

Rhand, on 02 May 2011 - 02:22 PM, said:

...By the way, was I the only one who, whilst reading the earlier books, slapped his head a few times exclaiming: "My God, Goodkind totally stole this idea!". ...

I can state with utter and complete confidence that you were not the only one.

[MecnunK]

The wishsong of Shanara was probably the first or 2nd fanstasy book I read as a child and got hooked into the genere. I went on to read elfstones, sword and the rest that was available, then moved on to Belgariad, war of powers, feist etc.. I loved wishsong and my favourite character was the weapons master garet jax?

[McLovin]

This will probably threaten my 80s fantasy street cred, but I never read a Shannara book after Sword. Just didn't grab me enough to read the sequel.

[Rhand]

Truth be told, I found SoS one of the "worst" books in the series. Seeing as Elfstones is much shorter and less cliche-riddled you could always try it out if you ever find yourself without a decent read.

[QuickTidal]

McLovin, on 10 May 2011 - 08:38 PM, said:

This will probably threaten my 80s fantasy street cred, but I never read a Shannara book after Sword. Just didn't grab me enough to read the sequel.

Sword was the worst book....it was a Tolkien clone, and after that they veered away and got MUCH better...if monster of the week-ish.

[worry]

I like them all except, as Quickie Ben mentions above, the High Druid trilogy just plummets way down after what I think was a steadily improving series (Voyage is awesome and fairly brutal). And I haven't read the Genesis series, but it's gotten good word of mouth. And indeed First King was kinda boring. So I guess I agree with almost everyone else, but I do like SoS too, Tolkien-biting and all.

[King Bear]

McLovin, on 10 May 2011 - 08:38 PM, said:

This will probably threaten my 80s fantasy street cred, but I never read a Shannara book after Sword. Just didn't grab me enough to read the sequel.

I'll jump on the bandwagon and encourage you to read at least Elfstones. It's much better than Sword and a good book. But if you don't like Elfstones there's no point in reading further into the series.

[McLovin]

Based on recommendations here and elsethread, I am working my way through Elfstones. It isn't bad, I like that we're focusing on mostly different characters. There is a lot of obligatory recapping in the early bits, which kinda drags. Plus Brooks is a tad long-winded sometimes. Still, it's decent and exactly what I was looking for.

One dumb question: Allanon needs a horse to ride from Arborlon to Paranor, but...how did he get to Arborlon in the first place? Maybe I missed something there.

[maro]

MecnunK, on 09 May 2011 - 10:27 PM, said:

The wishsong of Shanara was probably the first or 2nd fanstasy book I read as a child and got hooked into the genere. I went on to read elfstones, sword and the rest that was available, then moved on to Belgariad, war of powers, feist etc.. I loved wishsong and my favourite character was the weapons master garet jax?

Myself also. Who couldn't love the Jax!

[McLovin]

So, I have dipped my toes into the HERITAGE quad with SCIONS OF SHANNARA. Not bad, actually, although IMO

Spoiler

killing Coll off the way he did was a bold choice and when it's revealed a few pages later that it wasn't him, it took all the punch out of the ending for me.