[Skywalker]

So I noticed that one of the big remaining holes in my reading of popular fantasy literature is Terry Brooks' huge Shannara series. (EDIT: for a bibliography of things I've read so far click on the link in my sig) Wikipedia tells me that in the continuity/ chronological order, these books are:

The Word/Void Trilogy
The Genesis of Shannara Trilogy
First King of Shannara

The Original Shannara Trilogy
The Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy
High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

That is 22 freaking books! And I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic reboot of the Earth based on magic and whatnot (I had thought up the idea independently meself *grumbles*)

So I was fiddling with the idea of starting on the series and wanted your thoughts on: a) whether that would be a good idea, or a waste of time and recommended reading order. EDIT: Raves/ rants more than welcome

Thanks!

[tickhill43]

I read Sword of Shannara about a decade ago. I picked it up at a car boot sale and paid 10p for it and I was still disgusted that I wasted my money on it. It was one of the worst novels I had ever read, I only got to the end of it because of pig headedness when it comes to finishing books i've started. Its the only book of his I've read but I have no inclination to read annother. My advice is avois this author at all costs.

[Dancer+]

I would recommend the order of:
The Original Shannara Trilogy
The Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy
The First King of Shannara
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy
High Druid of Shannara Trilogy
The Word/Void Trilogy
The Genesis of Shannara Trilogy

I've read all of these save the bottom two, although I have the Word/Void trilogy. They are good, light entertaining reading with occasional shimmers of brillance but by the time you've read the first 3 or 4 of these you'll definitely see a pattern of repetition unfortunately and it lets it down. It's no way in the class of SE, but might be better than a Goodkind read I did read these books when I was about 15 however.

[Quick~]

I read the original Shannara trilogy and was particularly dissapointed, whether the others are any better I don't know and didn't really fancy finding out.

[Vengeance]

I read the Original Shannara trilogy and the Heratige trilogy about 14 or 15 years ago...They were ok then. I don't know how his later stuff is. I did pick up one of his books to flip through at the book store about a year ago and it seemed like he was repeating his earlier stories...I would tell you to read the Amber series...Which I see you haven't yet made time to do. Forgett about starting on Brooks....Think of him in the same league as early Eddings. Alright if you are 13 or so but now, not so much. Especially after reading Erikson. If you are looking to round out your reading go back and pick up THE GREAT BOOK OF AMBER. It will be worth it, better writing and story then Brooks.

[Skywalker]

Thanks everyone...

Based on your feedback and Amazon reviews I gather this is a Tolkein derivative, and more geared for a YA crowd then?

@ Vengeance - I do have the Great Book of Amber... but haven't read it yet

[Vengeance]

Well get to work man...It is a good read....Much better then Brooks at this stage in your game...

[Coco with marshmallows]

sky_walker;244097 said:

That is 22 freaking books! And I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic reboot of the Earth based on magic and whatnot (I had thought up the idea independently meself *grumbles*)

wait wait wait, i only read the first 4/5 books in order published (original trilogy + couple of heritage)

WHEN did it become a post-apocalyptic reboot of earth? i always assumed it was just derivative fantasy world #317A or something.

[QuickTidal]

The word and the void books are fun, and the only (original....not counting The genesis books) Shannara book I could stand was The First King of Shannara.....which was actually quite good, but the original trilogy and it's followers are crap. Brooks seems to have his strengths and originality ain't one of them....as the original Shannara trilogy could be a carbon copy of LOTR.

That being said I would be curious to read the Genesis books to see what he does with them....combining two worlds.

I like that, and I always get the feeling that Eriksons world could very well be ours millions of years from now.....so I like the thought pattern that lead Brooks there.

[Optimus Prime]

Terry Brooks isn't bad...but I'm not a big fan.

Without trying to spoil anything...they all seem repetitive...kinda like Feist if you read him..

[Battalion]

I thought the Sword of Shannara was a pretty good book -- basically Lord of the Rings without all the biblical nonesence and homosexual side stories. The books that have Alanon in them are all good books, those that follow are pale versions of the original three books. Same charactors, different names.

He does write a good death scene, too, in my opinion.

[polishgenius]

I've read the first two books, way back. Sword was crap, Elfstones was really quite good. I've never really had the inclination to go get more of his books, but they're not bad, and I probably will eventually.

[QuickTidal]

Xander;244375 said:

Terry Brooks isn't bad...but I'm not a big fan.

Without trying to spoil anything...they all seem repetitive...kinda like Feist if you read him..

This comparison to Feist is quite accurate actually.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I've never gotten around to reading him. I think I missed the window to enjoy it when I was about 12.

[Imperial Historian]

I enjoyed Brooks when I was younger, but he quickly gets old, and the Shannara stuff quickly gets repetitive.

That said I have enjoyed and still would read some of his other works, I liked the Word and the Void series, and I enjoyed the first book in his magic kingdom for sale series.

If you've got nothing else to read, read Shannara, but if not your not missing much and theres much better books out there.

[Spindrift]

Battalion;244393 said:

basically Lord of the Rings without all the biblical nonesence and homosexual side stories.

This.
if you feel like you need to read lord of the rings again, as interpreted by an inferior but not awful writer, then Sword of Shannara is for you.
Otherwise you can probably live without having read them, and there are other older series more worthy of your time. AMBER is one of them.

[Aptorian]

Not having any plans of actually reading these books could someone elaborate on this "post-apocalyptic earth with magic reboot" idea someone mentioned earlier?

[Dancer+]

Basically, there was some type of apocalypse with science at the forefront (I think, if I'm wrong someone correct me because it was a long time ago), something on the scale of a nuclear bomb wipied out almost all of mankind. Everyone lost their knowledge, and barely any knowledge was retained. Mankind losely got itself together, along with the giants, dwarves and gnomes and they expanded their knowledge, after first undergoing a period of evolution etc., eventually they stepped on the idea of magic once again. The druid council tries to keep a balance and reunite all the separate races, the main enemy is a rogue druid in the first few books.

In the old pre-apocalypse days, there was two theories of thought, science and magic as weapons. It's not until the voyage of Jerle Shannara you really get a taste of the full complexity and power of the scientific domain.

[Zanth13]

Dancer;244957 said:

Basically, there was some type of apocalypse with science at the forefront (I think, if I'm wrong someone correct me because it was a long time ago), something on the scale of a nuclear bomb wipied out almost all of mankind. Everyone lost their knowledge, and barely any knowledge was retained. Mankind losely got itself together, along with the giants, dwarves and gnomes and they expanded their knowledge, after first undergoing a period of evolution etc., eventually they stepped on the idea of magic once again. The druid council tries to keep a balance and reunite all the separate races, the main enemy is a rogue druid in the first few books.

In the old pre-apocalypse days, there was two theories of thought, science and magic as weapons. It's not until the voyage of Jerle Shannara you really get a taste of the full complexity and power of the scientific domain.

Also I think after said apocalypse the other creatures (elves, dwarves ect) came back out of hiding on earth... to my understanding the event changed the face of the earth and also the rules of reality, when the faerie creatures came back so did magic and demons ect...

Through out the books you see glimpses of the old world ruins ect... doesnt effect early books at all, but later books actually have huge plot points tied to these leftovers (like a huge frikin AI computer thingy)

[Optimus Prime]

And doesn't it say that the races of dwarves, trolls and some others evolved after the Apocalypse? Like from the twisted races of humanity left over?

The Elves are separate I believe.