Rafael

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So, 36 weeks from now, the latest and final novel in the "Shannara" series of books is scheduled to be released. As "Shannara" was, at the tender age of ten or eleven, the one big series that got me into fantasy literature. In many ways, "Shannara" even got me here, if you will. - So, given that "Shannara" consists of 30-something texts, this seems like a nice opportunity to do a read-along countdown; my idea is, of course, to discuss about one text per week, from here to June.



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannara



I do this both to refresh my memory on the setting, but also because I have sort of a love-hate relationship to especially many of the later books in the series: Around the year 2000, Terry Brooks (the author of the series), increased his literary production substantially, and, since then, about one new book in the series has been published every year. Lamentably, with this increase, the literary quality of the series has suffered highly - at least in parts. While my personal favorites of this series are probably going to be with me forever, I doubt that I'll ever go back and take a serious look at the books in the series that I didn't like



So, what I'm thinking about here is to post my thoughts on each of the books, one by one, in order of their publication. The idea is also very much that you all chime in, however you like: After all, hate them or love them, the history of "Shannara", due to its immense popularity with readers, is also tied with the progress of fantasy literature, and the genre as a whole, over the last forty-something years.







Before I get into the first entry, here's an overview of the texts I'd like to tackle:



In all likelihood, I will reread them, at least in part, or, if time grows short, at least listen to their audiobook versions, as I go along.



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Brooks_bibliography





The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) -

The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) -



The Scions of Shannara (1990) -

The Druid of Shannara (1991) -

The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992) -

The Talismans of Shannara (1993) -



"Shannara - The Video Game" (1995) -



"The Shannara Chronicles" - often referred to as "Shannara TV" (2016) -



First King of Shannara (1996) -



Running with the Demon (1997), A Knight of the Word (1998), Angel Fire East (1999) - a first overview:



Ilse Witch (2000) -

Antrax (2001) -

Morgawr (2002) -



A closer look at the plot of "Morgawr", and of the entire "Voyage" sequence -



Jarka Ruus (2003), Tanequil (2004), Straken (2005), in one sitting. -



Armageddon's Children (August, 2006), notably linking "Word & Void", and "Shannara", The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007), The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008) - Series Highlight, in one sitting.



Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010), The Measure of the Magic (August 2011), in one sitting.



Wards of Faerie (August 2012), Bloodfire Quest (March 2013), Witch Wraith (July 2013), in one sitting. -



"Defenders of Shannara": A First Overview -



The High Druid's Blade (July 2014) -

The Darkling Child (June 2015) - Series Highlight.

The Sorcerer's Daughter (May 2016) - Series Highlight.



"High Druid" and "Dark Legacy", after the reread.



"The Fall of Shannara": A First Overview -

The Black Elfstone (June 2017), The Skaar Invasion (May 2018), The Stiehl Assassin (June 4, 2019), in one sitting.







The Last Druid (to be released on October 27, 2020)







Side stories connected to "Sword" (2012-'13) -



Side stories and shorter sequels to "Wishsong" (2003-2013) -

How the side stories to "Wishsong" mess up the main series continuity -



"Shannara" in Dragon Magazine #286 -



"The World of Shannara" (2001) -



"Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life" (2003), an autobiographical sketch by Terry Brooks.



"Why I write about Elves", (2004/2012), essay by Terry Brooks on his personal take on fantasy. -



My personal thoughts on Grianne Ohmsford -



How would *I* write a Shannara tale, or a Shannara-inspired RPG adventure? -



The Big Overall Suplemental Summary

The Sword of Shannara (1977) - odd74.proboards.com/post/221951 The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222045 The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222091 The Scions of Shannara (1990) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222424 The Druid of Shannara (1991) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222619 The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222754 The Talismans of Shannara (1993) - odd74.proboards.com/post/223454 "Shannara - The Video Game" (1995) - odd74.proboards.com/post/221953 "The Shannara Chronicles" - often referred to as "Shannara TV" (2016) - odd74.proboards.com/post/223562 First King of Shannara (1996) - odd74.proboards.com/post/224154 Running with the Demon (1997), A Knight of the Word (1998), Angel Fire East (1999) - a first overview: odd74.proboards.com/post/231171 Ilse Witch (2000) - odd74.proboards.com/post/224306 Antrax (2001) - odd74.proboards.com/post/225319 Morgawr (2002) - odd74.proboards.com/post/226868 A closer look at the plot of "Morgawr", and of the entire "Voyage" sequence - odd74.proboards.com/post/226870 Jarka Ruus (2003), Tanequil (2004), Straken (2005), in one sitting. - odd74.proboards.com/post/227723 Armageddon's Children (August, 2006), notably linking "Word & Void", and "Shannara", The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007), The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008) -, in one sitting.Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010), The Measure of the Magic (August 2011), in one sitting.Wards of Faerie (August 2012), Bloodfire Quest (March 2013), Witch Wraith (July 2013), in one sitting. - odd74.proboards.com/post/228700 "Defenders of Shannara": A First Overview - odd74.proboards.com/post/229227 The High Druid's Blade (July 2014) -The Darkling Child (June 2015) -The Sorcerer's Daughter (May 2016) -"High Druid" and "Dark Legacy", after the reread."The Fall of Shannara": A First Overview - odd74.proboards.com/post/229629 The Black Elfstone (June 2017), The Skaar Invasion (May 2018), The Stiehl Assassin (June 4, 2019), in one sitting.The Last DruidSide stories connected to "Sword" (2012-'13) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222247 Side stories and shorter sequels to "Wishsong" (2003-2013) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222202 How the side stories to "Wishsong" mess up the main series continuity - odd74.proboards.com/post/222425 "Shannara" in Dragon Magazine #286 - odd74.proboards.com/post/224486 "The World of Shannara" (2001) - odd74.proboards.com/post/224661 "Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life" (2003), an autobiographical sketch by Terry Brooks."Why I write about Elves", (2004/2012), essay by Terry Brooks on his personal take on fantasy. - odd74.proboards.com/post/224299 My personal thoughts on Grianne Ohmsford - odd74.proboards.com/post/222326 How would *I* write a Shannara tale, or a Shannara-inspired RPG adventure? - odd74.proboards.com/post/225288 The Big Overall Suplemental Summary





Hope this is as much fun to you as it will be to me.



- R

Hi all,So, 36 weeks from now, the latest and final novel in the "Shannara" series of books is scheduled to be released. As "Shannara" was, at the tender age of ten or eleven, the one big series that got me into fantasy literature. In many ways, "Shannara" even got me, if you will. - So, given that "Shannara" consists of 30-something texts, this seems like a nice opportunity to do a read-along countdown; my idea is, of course, to discuss about one text per week, from here to June.I do this both to refresh my memory on the setting, but also because I have sort of a love-hate relationship to especially many of the later books in the series: Around the year 2000, Terry Brooks (the author of the series), increased his literary production substantially, and, since then, about one new book in the series has been published every year. Lamentably, with this increase, the literary quality of the series has suffered highly - at least in parts. While my personal favorites of this series are probably going to be with me forever, I doubt that I'll ever go back and take a serious look at the books in the series that I didn't likeSo, what I'm thinking about here is to post my thoughts on each of the books, one by one, in order of their publication. The idea is also very much that you all chime in, however you like: After all, hate them or love them, the history of "Shannara", due to its immense popularity with readers, is also tied with the progress of fantasy literature, and the genre as a whole, over the last forty-something years.In all likelihood, I will reread them, at least in part, or, if time grows short, at least listen to their audiobook versions, as I go along.Hope this is as much fun to you as it will be to me.- R

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Entry, the first: "The Sword of Shannara", 1977.



Spoilerific Mini-Review



Shea Ohmsford, a tavern keeper's adopted son, is revealed to be the last descendant of a legendary Elven king, and a proverbial "pawn of prophecy". He is called to confront the local dark lord of doom, and he does so. But the real treasure are the friends he makes along the way.





The Best



The intense storytelling: "Sword" is fast-paced, and manages to bring tension to scenes that, even in 1970s fantasy, had likely been overused to the point of becoming literary tropes. That's perhaps Brooks' defining gift as an author, and not something to take lightly, or to dismiss: He doesn't "subvert" those scenes, like later writers, but he presents them in ways that are especially pleasant to read. Especially in the first half of the novel, when it's not yet completely clear where the story is going, he manages to create a realistic threat level for his protagonists - characters, mind you, that are on the book's cover, and that usual literary conventions command not to be overly harmed, or to die. That Brooks manages to (re-) tell this oft-told tale in a way that doesn't come off as heavy-handed or boring is what basically "makes" the novel, from three Southlanders getting lost in the Black Oaks, to two Elven brothers trying to defend a human fortress later in the story.





The Worst



The setting and the plot. "Sword" has justly been described as some sort of "dumbed-down, more action-oriented 'Lord of the Rings'", and it really is. That his is a charming tale, nonetheless, doesn't take away from the fact that Brooks' overall world-building abilities appear quite limited, a fact that will continue to haunt the series in later installments. For an adult reader of 2019, this story holds no surprises, and the worldbulding is a joke.





Notable Characters



Speaking as someone who was very impressed by the book, I have quite the list for you.



First, there's Flick, the grumpy, even occasionally quite acerbic step-brother to Shea, the book's hero: Starts out as "Surrogate Sam Gamgee", ends up as fantasy "Working Class Hero", also later appearing briefly in "Elfstones". The most relatable of Brooks' fantasy party, and woefully underused.



Second, there's Palance, the delightfully mad prince-regent of "Surrogate Gondor" Tyrsis: With Palance, Brooks shows that he can do more than just copy Tolkien; extremely well-written character, this one, even though he only appears in a small number of chapters.



Plus, there's Menion Leah, every kid's dashing, flawless hero; his portrayal in the books is quite noteworthy, as well, if only because Brooks will never be so obviously be in love with a character, in later novels.





Legacy



Apart from the fact that this novel would go on to spawn over 30 bestselling sequels, and can likely take a good portion of credit for aiding to create the fantasy genre as we know it, the book is also notably for its 2012 "anniversary" edition, as that one came with footnotes and comments by the author - and that makes it a pretty interesting look into what could perhaps be described as "an author's journey to create a very conventional adventure tale". This might seem a pretty backhanded comment, but for storytellers just like us here, who have to come up with a pretty conventional and easy-to-follow story for their players every second weekend of the month, this might provide an interesting number of insights.





Read now, later, or never?



Now.



Being one of the defining works of fantasy fiction of the 20th century, and one of the most popular titles of the "Golden Age of D&D", most of us know this one already, anyway. But if you happen to not know it, give it a look, if only for historical reasons. The book is well-written, charming, free of controversy or misplaced literary ambition, and the story is, if nothing more, then at least pretty uncomplicated, straight-forward, and easy to follow.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Entry, the second: "Shannara - The Video Game", 1995.



Spoilerific Mini-Review



Immediately following up to my mini-review of "Sword" with this; first, because I find that I like this format, and second, because I'm woefully aware that a proper review of the entire series will likely take me way more than 36 weeks. So, I'm doing quick stuff in between the larger reviews. (That also require way more extensive reading because I have surely forgotten many details). Plus, quite frankly, I want to keep things fresh: Reviewing forty-year-old books usually doesn't lead one to all-too surprising conclusions. Now, this video game, itself a crisp 24 years old, is probably something that's not already on people's radar. Everybody might have expected me to review "Elfstones" next, so this is why I'm doing something else.



So, this game, a classic "Legend Entertainment"-style point-and-click-adventure, follows Jake Ohmsford, son of Shea, in his quest to defeat the Warlock Lord once more. That notorious evil-doer has been resurrected by a Shadowen (a member of the later group of primary antagonists from "The Heritage of Shannara", 1990-1993) using a magic book called "The Ildatch" (the center of the "Wishsong" plot, from 1985).



In a fashion not entirely without comparison to a certain Guybrush Threepwood, Jake and his friends tour all of the Four Lands, bringing peace and love to wherever destiny calls them.





The Best



The visuals: This game, unlike the later 2016 TV series, gets all the visuals right. Obviously, it does so optimized for "Windows 95"-style SVGA standards, but still so, it manages to deliver a gratifying experience. The world you are traveling through looks and sounds just like a reader of the novels might have imagined. Especially from today's perspective, this might be the chief reason for any prospective player to consider this - you get handed a tourist's visa to the Four Lands, and exploring that world in an interactive way is perhaps as much fun as the main story you're supposed to follow.



The gaming experience: The game itself is solid, well-balanced, and overly entertaining. Obviously, again, it's old, by today's standards, but back in the day, it was counted as one of the best adventures around. There is even a (then, much-debated and criticized) "travel mode", in which you can move between the game's different main locations: That travel mode introduces some basic action-adventuring and fighting to the otherwise very pointy-and-clicky game. It also has the pleasant side effect of letting you explore even further parts of the world than just what the main story supplies.





The Worst



The runtime: This is a '90s adventure, so expect it to be easy and fast to play through. Any experienced gamer will complete "Shannara" in one or two long evenings. While that, per se, is not bad, in consequence it does mean that you will not spend tremendous amounts of time exploring the world and its perils. Consequently, especially when coming from the novels, your journey through the setting feels a bit rushed, and some parts of the story (particularly the one where you are introduced to Hendel's son) feel quite bland because of this hastiness.



The main plot: Even if only unintentionally, the game has some parodistic tendencies, and that kind of has always bugged me. The game rushes you through a number of scenes that, in the serious context of the book universe, could not have happened like this. While that surely might make for a quick chuckle, here and there, it also takes from the overall experience. Think of the flair, in the less serious parts of the game, being comparable to what Disney did with "The Black Cauldron", as opposed to how Lloyd Alexander presents it in his "Taran" novels: The adaptation is surely good, and worthy of praise - just not what you expect to see as a reader.





Notable Characters



Overall, the game is sold by the character-to-character interaction. On one side, because the player gets the chance to meet many characters from the books; seeing them put on scene like this is pleasant and fun. On the other side, the characters you collect for your adventuring party are well-written and interesting, and within the context of the novels, their backstories and motivations are exceptionally plausible, which is one of the game's major accomplishments.



Of the book characters, aged king Balinor of Tyrsis is perhaps the most remarkable "NPC" you meet. Of the new characters, Shella, daughter to Menion Leah, and another of Shannara's "Token Leahs", as well as Jake's love interest, has by far the best story. That their relationship doesn't work out - to say the least - is one of the most impacting moments in my personal gaming history. Especially within the otherwise comical, comic-book atmosphere of the game, this part of the story is bound to hit you like a truck.





Legacy



Well, "Shannara" apparently was a hit title, back in the day, and it helped manifest "Legend Entertainment" as the prime provider of video game adaptions from literary sources, at least for a time. But today, the game - and this entire style of making adventure games - is utterly forgotten, like so many gems from the days of yore.



The game has been declared "abandonware" a while ago, though, and so it's available online for free, to the best of my knowledge. It's one of those games that I always consider playing during Christmas season: It's quick, it will make me feel wholesome, and it brings back childhood memories of all sorts.





Play now, later, or never?



Later.



Unless you're a huge fan of the series, or of old video games, in general, this is likely not a title that you need to have played. However, if you are a fan of the series, consider that this is likely the best and most faithful adaptation the series will ever get. Not considering this game is like being a self-professed a "Greyhawk" fan, but refusing to check out Troika's "Temple of the Elemental Evil", or being a reader of the comic book series "Fables", yet not looking at "The Wolf Among Us".



Immediately following up to my mini-review of "Sword" with this; first, because I find that I like this format, and second, because I'm woefully aware that a proper review of the entire series will likely take me way more than 36 weeks. So, I'm doing quick stuff in between the larger reviews. (That also require way more extensive reading because I have surely forgotten many details). Plus, quite frankly, I want to keep things fresh: Reviewing forty-year-old books usually doesn't lead one to all-too surprising conclusions. Now, this video game, itself a crisp 24 years old, is probably something that's not already on people's radar. Everybody might have expected me to review "Elfstones" next, so this is why I'm doing something else.So, this game, a classic "Legend Entertainment"-style point-and-click-adventure, follows Jake Ohmsford, son of Shea, in his quest to defeat the Warlock Lord once more. That notorious evil-doer has been resurrected by a Shadowen (a member of the later group of primary antagonists from "The Heritage of Shannara", 1990-1993) using a magic book called "The Ildatch" (the center of the "Wishsong" plot, from 1985).In a fashion not entirely without comparison to a certain Guybrush Threepwood, Jake and his friends tour all of the Four Lands, bringing peace and love to wherever destiny calls them.The visuals: This game, unlike the later 2016 TV series, gets all the visuals right. Obviously, it does so optimized for "Windows 95"-style SVGA standards, but still so, it manages to deliver a gratifying experience. The world you are traveling through looks and sounds just like a reader of the novels might have imagined. Especially from today's perspective, this might be the chief reason for any prospective player to consider this - you get handed a tourist's visa to the Four Lands, and exploring that world in an interactive way is perhaps as much fun as the main story you're supposed to follow.The gaming experience: The game itself is solid, well-balanced, and overly entertaining. Obviously, again, it's old, by today's standards, but back in the day, it was counted as one of the best adventures around. There is even a (then, much-debated and criticized) "travel mode", in which you can move between the game's different main locations: That travel mode introduces some basic action-adventuring and fighting to the otherwise very pointy-and-clicky game. It also has the pleasant side effect of letting you explore even further parts of the world than just what the main story supplies.The runtime: This is a '90s adventure, so expect it to be easy and fast to play through. Any experienced gamer will complete "Shannara" in one or two long evenings. While that, per se, is not bad, in consequence it does mean that you will not spend tremendous amounts of time exploring the world and its perils. Consequently, especially when coming from the novels, your journey through the setting feels a bit rushed, and some parts of the story (particularly the one where you are introduced to Hendel's son) feel quite bland because of this hastiness.The main plot: Even if only unintentionally, the game has some parodistic tendencies, and that kind of has always bugged me. The game rushes you through a number of scenes that, in the serious context of the book universe, could not have happened like this. While that surely might make for a quick chuckle, here and there, it also takes from the overall experience. Think of the flair, in the less serious parts of the game, being comparable to what Disney did with "The Black Cauldron", as opposed to how Lloyd Alexander presents it in his "Taran" novels: The adaptation is surely good, and worthy of praise - just not what you expect to see as a reader.Overall, the game is sold by the character-to-character interaction. On one side, because the player gets the chance to meet many characters from the books; seeing them put on scene like this is pleasant and fun. On the other side, the characters you collect for your adventuring party are well-written and interesting, and within the context of the novels, their backstories and motivations are exceptionally plausible, which is one of the game's major accomplishments.Of the book characters, aged king Balinor of Tyrsis is perhaps the most remarkable "NPC" you meet. Of the new characters, Shella, daughter to Menion Leah, and another of Shannara's "Token Leahs", as well as Jake's love interest, has by far the best story. That their relationship doesn't work out - to say the least - is one of the most impacting moments in my personal gaming history. Especially within the otherwise comical, comic-book atmosphere of the game, this part of the story is bound to hit you like a truck.Well, "Shannara" apparently was a hit title, back in the day, and it helped manifest "Legend Entertainment" as the prime provider of video game adaptions from literary sources, at least for a time. But today, the game - and this entire style of making adventure games - is utterly forgotten, like so many gems from the days of yore.The game has been declared "abandonware" a while ago, though, and so it's available online for free, to the best of my knowledge. It's one of those games that I always consider playing during Christmas season: It's quick, it will make me feel wholesome, and it brings back childhood memories of all sorts.Later.Unless you're a huge fan of the series, or of old video games, in general, this is likely not a title that you need to have played. However, if you are a fan of the series, consider that this is likely the best and most faithful adaptation the series will ever get. Not considering this game is like being a self-professed a "Greyhawk" fan, but refusing to check out Troika's "Temple of the Elemental Evil", or being a reader of the comic book series "Fables", yet not looking at "The Wolf Among Us".



Finarvyn

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Member Back to Top Post by Finarvyn on



I love flying ships, so the Jerle Shannara series was intriguing but I never got "into" it for some reason.



When the tv series came out I rushed out to buy the books that matched the series, but they took me forever to plow through.



I keep thinking that Shannara would be a great D&D world but I can't get motivated enough to work on it.



Anyway, perhaps this thread will inspire me to rush out and buy a bunch of the books again. If not, reading your reactions will probably be a lot of fun, too. I will be interested in seeing how this thread goes. I have this love-hate relationship with Shannara. I remember reading it in '77(?) when it first came out, and I liked it even if it was sort of Tolkien-derivative. I've bought many of the books at one time or another and tried to read them, only to find that I just don't like Brooks' writing style for some reason. So I sell the books and a few years later rebuy some of them all over again.I love flying ships, so the Jerle Shannara series was intriguing but I never got "into" it for some reason.When the tv series came out I rushed out to buy the books that matched the series, but they took me forever to plow through.I keep thinking that Shannara would be a great D&D world but I can't get motivated enough to work on it.Anyway, perhaps this thread will inspire me to rush out and buy a bunch of the books again. If not, reading your reactions will probably be a lot of fun, too.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Finarvyn said: I will be interested in seeing how this thread goes. I have this love-hate relationship with Shannara. I remember reading it in '77(?) when it first came out, and I liked it even if it was sort of Tolkien-derivative. I've bought many of the books at one time or another and tried to read them, only to find that I just don't like Brooks' writing style for some reason. So I sell the books and a few years later rebuy some of them all over again.



The thing is, looking at Brooks' evolution as a writer is one of my more private endeavors in this retrospective: He changes his style a number of times, and his literary skill ranges from engaging to extremely tiresome. - Like other writers, namely Raymond Feist with "Midkemia", or Mercedes Lackey with Valdemar, Brooks continued to write "Shannara" novels way beyond where other writers would have taken them. So, at some point, it also becomes their testing ground, so to speak.



I love flying ships, so the Jerle Shannara series was intriguing but I never got "into" it for some reason.



This one reads better today than it did when it came out: First, now we know where Brooks really wanted to take things, and second, most of the ideas now don't seem like he had borrowed them from a '90s video game.





When the tv series came out I rushed out to buy the books that matched the series, but they took me forever to plow through.



Hated that one with the fire of a thousand hells, will review it more properly later. - That said, the general idea of filming "Elfstones" and "Wishsong" could well have worked under different circumstances.





I keep thinking that Shannara would be a great D&D world but I can't get motivated enough to work on it.



Will tackle this later on, as well. Basically, a few attempts were made, but none all too successful, and none of them managed to garner a significant following. My theory why this keeps happening is the same reason why people usually prefer bigger settings over smaller ones - because finding an individual niche, and fresh ideas, 30 books into a series, is really difficult.



Anyway, perhaps this thread will inspire me to rush out and buy a bunch of the books again. If not, reading your reactions will probably be a lot of fun, too.



Hehe, thanks. I hope so. The books - some of them, at least - are quite good, and this has been something I've been wanting to do for a while. The thing is, looking at Brooks' evolution as a writer is one of my more private endeavors in this retrospective: He changes his style a number of times, and his literary skill ranges from engaging to extremely tiresome. - Like other writers, namely Raymond Feist with "Midkemia", or Mercedes Lackey with Valdemar, Brooks continued to write "Shannara" novels way beyond where other writers would have taken them. So, at some point, it also becomes their testing ground, so to speak.This one reads better today than it did when it came out: First, now we know where Brooks really wanted to take things, and second, most of the ideas now don't seem like he had borrowed them from a '90s video game.Hated that one with the fire of a thousand hells, will review it more properly later. - That said, the general idea of filming "Elfstones" and "Wishsong" could well have worked under different circumstances.Will tackle this later on, as well. Basically, a few attempts were made, but none all too successful, and none of them managed to garner a significant following. My theory why this keeps happening is the same reason why people usually prefer bigger settings over smaller ones - because finding an individual niche, and fresh ideas, 30 books into a series, is really difficult.Hehe, thanks. I hope so. The books - some of them, at least - are quite good, and this has been something I've been wanting to do for a while.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on I actually like the original trilogy best, I think - if only because they might very well have been the very first fantasy books I did ever read. As to them holding up to more modern genre or general literary standards - spoiler alert - I think the "Heritage" quartet takes the cake. The rest of the books are, I think, not entirely bad - just noticeably not as good as the books Brooks wrote before.



As to the general concept of Brooks' worldbuilding and naming/linguistic coherency skills, I tend not to focus on that, all too much - because they are terrible to begin with. "The Four Lands"-concept surely has a certain bluebook-ish sense of aestheticism, but if you're looking at a map where the bad guy's place is literally signaled by skull, the drawing of a skull, then I'm inclined not to measure that world with the same standards that I use for concepts that rely



Notably, I think this also where Brooks later fails: As soon as he tries to increase his setting's realism, and introduces things like more advanced technology, or a more elaborated structure to things like government, or the Druid order, then that starts being alien to his readers. - It's not that the quality of those structures is bad, it's just that it doesn't quite seem to fit with the faery tale, "basic D&D" Four Lands. There are other instances where Brooks creates more complex settings, notably in "The Word and the Void" - and they are pretty awesome. It's just that he ends up completely overloading "Shannara".

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Entry, the third: "The Elfstones of Shannara", 1982.

Spoilerific Mini-Review

Tonight's review is easy, because this book is universally regarded one of Brooks' finest - and it really is: Will Ohmsford, grandson of Shea (and presumably son to Jake, from the video game) is visited by the Druid Allanon to help save the Elven king's favorite houseplant. Which also happens to be the seal to a demonic netherworld, and therefore should better get back to good health really soon.



The Best

While "Sword" was a completely Tolkienesque fetch-the-magic-item-and-fulfill-the-prophecy novel, "Elfstones" can be described as military fantasy with horror elements. That significant change of tone and pace is what keeps it fresh for the readers of the first book, and what makes the book a novel of note within its genre. - This probably sounds like very little, but really isn't: Brooks doesn't spend a lot of time on worldbuilding and "add-on exposition", which is usually with what most modern fantasy novels explain their copious page counts; Brooks but jumps right into the action. Instead of trying tell a "bigger" tale than in his previous novel, he works with literary elements of reduction, and, that way, manages to up the ante for the reader. Focusing on Will, Ander, Allanon, and Eventine instead of on a bigger ensemble of characters (like in "Sword") does allow Brooks to tell more intimate stories, and to explore the personal struggle against this supernatural ender-of-times-style threat to a way higher degree than he did in "Sword".

The crowning achievement of the novel are its supernatural villains, though - and that, for "vanilla fantasy" from thirty-five years ago, should be noted as something that's pretty remarkable. - In "Sword", the villains have so few defining traits, their actions often seem almost random. In "Elfstones", he gives them way more attention and space, telling entire chapters from their points of view - but without committing the storytelling flaw of so many other writers, which would be, to fall in love with them. In the Shannara novel series, and in fantasy, in general, I'd say that the three demonic captains are among the finest villains we've ever got.



The Worst

Will Ohmsford and his love triangle with Amberle and Eretria is what keeps this very good book from becoming a great one: As long as Allanon, Ander, and other, more mature characters are involved, "Elfstones" is a remarkably gritty tale about how a false sense of security can outright "kill" an otherwise functioning society. - As soon as Will and his two female companions are involved, however, "Elfstones" becomes a soft-hearted teenage drama. Some of it - again - is written quite well, no doubt: Especially the very last scene of the books stands out as one of the best chapters I personally recall to have read - in any genre. Also, Will's last conversation with Allanon is among the best that fantasy literature may ever offer. ...But overall, the love story plot is neither very complex nor very unconventional, and any experienced reader will anticipate the ending quite early into the tale.



Now, that I name this as "the worst" trait of the book might mislead some to believe that I didn't like the love story: In fact, I did like it, and I repeat that it is very well written, which is also something you don't automatically expect to find in "vanilla fantasy". Rather than "bad", I just think it's the least engaging part of the book, compared to the rest. But it's still entertaining, and the ending of the novel, again, is quite masterfully told by Brooks.



Notable Characters

Making Allanon a central character of this novel, instead of keeping him as the Ersatz-Gandalf he had been in the first book, is one of Brooks' strokes of genius. We learn a lot about the Druid's internal motivations, we have him talk and explain his decisions to others - as an equal, not as a teacher. From a plot device, he develops into an engaging character, and we even get a hint at some inner struggle that characters of this kind usually don't display in other works of the genre.

Next to Allanon, there's Ander Elessedil, son of Eventine, the Elven king Flick had saved back in "Sword". Ander acts as a foil to Will Ohmsford, and contrasts the teenage drama surrounding the Ohmsford chapters of the book with the level-headed and adult perspective of a political thinker trying to protect his own family in a time of crisis. Especially Brooks' descriptions of Ander becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the events that transpire before him take the novel out of the realm of faerie tales, and, at least for those chapters, turn it into a thriller.

Finally, an aged Flick Ohmsford making an appearance early in the book was a beautiful idea by Brooks: Without learning all too many specifics about society's progress since "Sword", Flick makes the sequel seem natural within the inner logic of its universe. Whether his change of view concerning the events of "Sword" is necessarily natural, though, or whether Brooks used it to facilitate a plot device, I'm not going to speculate about. But to see him back is quite heartwarming, and also quite effective storytelling.



Legacy

More than "Sword", "Elfstones" is probably what established "Shannara" as a brand in the 1980s: It's a d**n fine novel with the ideal length for the story it wants to tell, and it tells its story - which again takes a lot of inspiration from Tolkien - in an efficient and entertaining way. As a kid, this was certainly my favorite novel in the entire series, next to "Sword".

Nowadays, "Elfstones" is mainly known for serving as the inspiration for the horrible and unnecessary 2016 "Shannara" TV series. - Going to review that one as well, as we go along, but for the moment, let's just say that the 2016 adaptation has about as much to do with the book as, whatever, the recent movie adaptation of "The Dark Tower" has in common with the series by Stephen King that it is supposedly based on.

- As a D&D player, there's another thing about which I have wondered, over the years: Is Brooks' Arborlon perhaps really the first (prominent) occasion in which we get a humanized description of otherwise very Tolkienian elves? Of the sort that we later meet in Dragonlance, FR, Mystara, and so many other "2e" era stories and game products? I have no answer to this, but looking at many of the books from back in the day, I'm inclined to say... It might well be.



Read now, later, or never?

Later.

Even though this is likely the most famous book in the entire series, it's also a book of de-facto transition, comparable perhaps on that level to Frank Herbert's "Dune Messiah", in its relation to "Children of Dune": The more important book in the trilogy will be "Wishsong", because it will be there where the rules for the setting in future installments will be defined - how magic works, how Druids are, uhm, retired and re-made, what the evil forces in this world generally might want, and where the story will go for the next five-hundred years.

That's a bit of a backhanded statement to make, because "Elfstones" is likely one of the very best novels in oldschool fantasy - at least before the "Thomas Wolfes" of the genre, Tad Williams and George R. R. Martin, came along. For the Shannara series as a whole, though, the novel ultimately ends up being the story of "how the parents of the protagonists of 'Wishsong' met each other", and preciously little else. If you're reading the series out of order, this is probably the easiest book to skip, or to postpone.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Entry, the fourth: "The Wishsong of Shannara", 1985.

Spoilerific Mini-Review

Because trilogies need a third book to be complete, the great-grandchildren of Shea Ohmsford (and thusly, the children of Will and Eretria) embark on an epic journey to fix a number of plot holes from the first book, and also to open the door for a plethora of later sequels. There is a joke about "El Guapo" here that I'm too lazy to make.



The Best

The plot and the journey: Plotwise, this is easily the most efficient book I've ever read (except, whatever, books like "The Forsythe Saga", or stuff John Steinbeck writes) when it comes to rounding up a series. Allanon gets closure, the Warlock lord gets closure, the Ohmsford family gets closure, Leahs and Elessedils get closure, and, obviously, with the journey to the East, the setting itself gets closure. Structurally, this book is nothing less but masterful - and I mean what I write here.



The Worst

There is a difference between a good plan and a good plan's execution. Brooks might have learned that the hard way, with this book: "Wishsong" has the doubtful distinction of, at least on the drawing board, being one of the very best books in the Shannara series. Had Brooks persevered here, this could have become one of the seminal novels of fantasy literature, easily on par with the greatest post-Tolkien works the genre was still going to get. - But Brooks didn't. Or, he missed a deadline, and his publisher took the manuscript away from him. Or, he was pressed into writing a YA novel, something that doesn't seem to come to him naturally.



And so, the novel we actually get feels remarkably rushed and incomplete: About two-hundred pages too short for its own plot, really. And yet, loaded with filler chapters about teenage angst. Introducing two dozens of fitting and interesting characters, only to discard them almost immediately in favor of a very doubtful focus on only a few of them. A "miss" on a narrative level, quite simply.

Now, all that doesn't make "Wishsong" a "bad" book yet; its well-thought-out structure saves it from that. But it does make it a fairly conventional "80s vanilla fantasy" novel that likely would have become quite forgettable if the titular "Wishsong" hadn't plays such an important role in later books. It's certainly the weakest of the Shannara books up until 1985, and will remain so for quite a while.





Notable Characters

Apart from a group of Jair's companions whose main function in the novel it is to die, the most remarkable character of the story is Rone Leah, great-grandson of Menion from "Sword". He is the first in a line of token characters that will, from then on, feature in all future Shannara adventures as "the bearers of the black sword". - Menion wasn't quite a "foil" to Shea and Flick, but Rone is to Brinn and Jair. He's brave, optimistic, and extroverted, and even occasionally funny in a novel in which the main personality trait of the protagonists is their never-ending anxiety. Rone's presence keeps those chapters readable, and the fact that - like his ancestor - he gets the girl in the end, gives a heartwarming conclusion to the whole story.



Another character that deserves a honorable mention is Cogline, who might best be described as "an old stoner living on a mountaintop": Cogline's backstory is only hinted at in this novel, but will be expanded in later installments of the series. It's difficult to see from what we get from him in "Wishsong", but he might well be Brooks' best character in the whole world of "Shannara".



Legacy

This is likely the most important book of the first trilogy, possibly the most important book of the series, in total. - The titular "Wishsong" becomes the binding element between all of the later sequels, and, that way, something like "the core" of the Shannara universe, even above the different talismans.

"Wishsong" is also interesting because what I write above - it feeling rushed, it feeling like stuff was left out - seems to also be something that Brooks himself seems to consider: The first two Shannara short stories Brooks has published, "Indomitable" and "Dark Wraith", from 2003 and 2008, respectively, do fix some of the novels evident flaws. But that is for another chapter of this retrospective. Now, Brooks has gone on record saying that, while he doesn't intend to advance the Shannara timeline beyond the events of 2020's upcoming "The Last Druid", he might write more stories and novels that accentuate past events within the series. - My bet is that, among others, we are going to see a direct sequel to "Wishsong", at some point.







"Wishsong" is also interesting because what I write above - it feeling rushed, it feeling like stuff was left out - seems to also be something that Brooks himself seems to consider: The first two Shannara short stories Brooks has published, "Indomitable" and "Dark Wraith", from 2003 and 2008, respectively, do fix some of the novels evident flaws. But that is for another chapter of this retrospective.Now, Brooks has gone on record saying that, while he doesn't intend to advance the Shannara timeline beyond the events of 2020's upcoming "The Last Druid", he might write more stories and novels that accentuate past events within the series. - My bet is that, among others, we are going to see a direct sequel to "Wishsong", at some point. Read now, later, or never?

Now.

Flawed as it is, "Wishsong" is the beginning of the "real" Shannara. And even a rushed Brooks is still noticeably better than other authors. Especially as a one-book story, "Wishsong" can still entertain if you know what you're going to get. Flawed as it is, "Wishsong" is the beginning of the "real" Shannara. And even a rushed Brooks is still noticeably better than other authors. Especially as a one-book story, "Wishsong" can still entertain if you know what you're going to get.

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Member Back to Top Post by tkdco2 on Dragon #286 has articles on turning Shannara into a D&D campaign. The system used is 3e, so you'll have to make a few conversions. Some folks may have used 5e for their Shannara campaigns.



As for the books:



Sword was fun. I read it after Elfstones, so there were a couple of spoilers.



Elfstones was enjoyable, except for the ending. I was pretty upset about the way the book ended.



Wishsong was okay. I don't remember much about it, though I remember enjoying the story.



I only saw the pilot of the TV series and decided it wasn't for me. So I can't say much about it.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on tkdco2 said: Dragon #286 has articles on turning Shannara into a D&D campaign. The system used is 3e, so you'll have to make a few conversions. Some folks may have used 5e for their Shannara campaigns.



Never warmed up to that concept, but, then again, never really tried this myself. "Walker Boh standing on the ship", as seen on the cover of Dragon mag, was my "default" avatar on many fora for many years, though.



Elfstones was enjoyable, except for the ending. I was pretty upset about the way the book ended.



Hehe, yeah, this was certainly one of the first prominent "twist endings" we got in the genre. - Now, as I had played the "Seiken Densetsu" game for the Game Boy the year before I read "Elfstones" in 1993 or 1994, and since that game is heavily inspired by Brooks' trilogy, I already had an inkling about what was going to happen in the novel. Plus, I had kind of always favored Eretria over Amberle, if only because I've never quite liked Elves in fiction. (The Elves of the Pinis, maybe. Tolkien's or Brooks' Elves, strangely not so much.)



Wishsong was okay. I don't remember much about it, though I remember enjoying the story.



Because I in fact do love the "Shannara" books, and have great admiration for Terry Brooks as a writer, I'm trying not to be too mean-spirited in my reviews here: So, I want to repeat what I said earlier, that "Wishsong" is a good book, just very, very bland. - How bland? So bland that could just talk about the novel extensively without naming or detailedly describing any of its two centrla protagonists, Jair and Brinn. Yet, my little review doesn't feel incomplete.



I only saw the pilot of the TV series and decided it wasn't for me. So I can't say much about it.



I'll take a closer look at that one as I review "Dark Legacy of Shannara" at a later point. - Basically, apparently Brooks lays out some of the concepts that are later used in the series in "Daark Legacy", to the point when "Dark Legacy" is perhaps a bigger influence on the TV series than the actual "Elfstones". (At least how I remember things now.) - It doesn't quite help things that "Dark Legacy" is easily the worst sequence in the whole "Shannara" series. Never warmed up to that concept, but, then again, never really tried this myself. "Walker Boh standing on the ship", as seen on the cover of Dragon mag, was my "default" avatar on many fora for many years, though.Hehe, yeah, this was certainly one of the first prominent "twist endings" we got in the genre. - Now, as I had played the "Seiken Densetsu" game for the Game Boy the year before I read "Elfstones" in 1993 or 1994, and since that game is heavily inspired by Brooks' trilogy, I already had an inkling about what was going to happen in the novel. Plus, I had kind of always favored Eretria over Amberle, if only because I've never quite liked Elves in fiction. (The Elves of the Pinis, maybe. Tolkien's or Brooks' Elves, strangely not so much.)Because I in fact do love the "Shannara" books, and have great admiration for Terry Brooks as a writer, I'm trying not to be too mean-spirited in my reviews here: So, I want to repeat what I said earlier, that "Wishsong" is a good book, just very, very bland. - How bland? So bland that could just talk about the novel extensively without naming or detailedly describing any of its two centrla protagonists, Jair and Brinn. Yet, my little review doesn't feel incomplete.I'll take a closer look at that one as I review "Dark Legacy of Shannara" at a later point. - Basically, apparently Brooks lays out some of the concepts that are later used in the series in "Daark Legacy", to the point when "Dark Legacy" is perhaps a bigger influence on the TV series than the actual "Elfstones". (At least how I remember things now.) - It doesn't quite help things that "Dark Legacy" is easily the worst sequence in the whole "Shannara" series.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Follow-ups to "Wishsong", 2003, 2008, 2013.



Premise



As I wrote above, "Wishsong" is easily the most important novel in the whole "Shannara" cycle. At the same time, it's easily the worst in the series, until the later "Grianne" novels. - And I'm pretty sure Brooks realized this at some point, because he has kept doctoring on "Wishsong" more than on any other of his works. I might be projecting here, but Brooks strikes me as a craftsman and a disciplinarian. For a person like that, leaving bad work alone is a really hard thing to do.



Consequently, it comes at no surprise that it is "Wishsong" that Brooks returns to the most, in the form of shorter stories. Before we move on, I wanted to take a look at those, if only because I wanted to find out whether my fairly low opinion of "Wishsong" was maybe biased by, whatever, my possible dislike for some characters, or other, exterior influences while reading it.





"Indomitable", released in the famous anthology "Legends II", by Robert Silverberg, 2003.



Jair is called back into the Eastland, this time by Kimber Boh, to destroy the Ildatch's last, loose page. - This one received some considerable praise when it came out, IIRC, and while I'm still sour after the rather sobering experience of rereading "Wishsong", I liked this one way better. One key factor here is language - the poetic style that Brooks applies here, and the sullen soliloquies of Jair, even though rather stereotypical, those two elements work well here. It's a piece of well-done, effective storytelling, and revisiting the characters, knowing that all of them have a considerable influence on the later books in this very long series, to me felt quite welcome. For my own taste, the story could be darker, but then - it's supposed to be the sequel to the most vanilla of all fantasy books. So, it's likely to be very, very vanilla.





"Dark Wraith of Shannara", released as a graphic novel, 2008.



Being the result of choices a writer doesn't make without his publisher, "Shannara" got a manga-style graphic novel, at the pinnacle of the manga/anime craze in the US. Story-wise, "Dark Wraith" is a sequel to "Indomitable", having Jair return to the Eastland for a third time, with a vengeance. Style-wise, it's a black-and-white graphic novel, sold as one single trade paperback in pocket-size format. And overall, it's a disappointment. - The plot of "Dark Wraith" is a slightly more theatrical rehash of "Indomitable", this time featuring additional appearances of Allanon, Slanter (Jair's best friend in "Wishsong"), and a supposedly cinematic boss fight with a character that is apparently meant to foreshadow another more prominent one, the "Ilse Witch". And while that, in itself, is not completely artless, we've heard the tale of the young Jair's journey to the Eastland before. Twice.



More importantly, though, for a graphic novel, the art just doesn't work. This is partly due to the terrible, terrible format, but also due to the fact that "Shannara" is not suited to be a manga-style tale. The same story, illustrated by Gary Gianni or Tim Sale, would surely have worked better - or, at least, differently. Instead, this looks like the concept art for the doomed "Dragonlance" animated movie. There are times this looks like some high school kid's summer project, honestly. - Maybe, in normal comic-book size, this could have been a little bit better, but as it is, it seems like it's designed, on every level, not to please.



The only redeeming element of the story is that Jair, Slanter, and several other characters, are left at an interesting narrative crossroads. If it's not a third rehash of the original book, a sequel to this one could even work.





"The Weapon Master's Choice", released as part of the "Paladins of Shannara" series of e-books, 2013.



Brooks trying something new here, telling a Howardian and Conan-esque tale of one of the central characters of "Wishsong", the "Weapons Master" Garet Jax, whom those who haven't read the novels may well imagine as an epic-level OD&D Assassin. The setup of this story is quite well done, again, as happens often with Brooks, the planned structure itself is better than the project's execution. And that's what's the case here as well:



Garet Jax is called by a mystery woman to kill a vampire-like creature that has enslaved a remote colony of lepers: So far, so engaging. Now, what could be a fantastic setup for an adult-oriented tale - and one we know that Brooks is capable to write - is used to tell a terribly bland YA-oriented tale that is devoid of any real passion for it's actual plot, and focuses on Garet Jax' mostly pointless infatuation with the mystery woman. Putting this out as I felt when I read it: A miss of biblical proportions.





Legacy



So, has Brooks "redeemed" Wishsong through its follow-ups, in my personal opinion? Maybe. "Indomitable" was perhaps already enough to do that. Beyond that, the stories form a very mixed sub-series: They are clearly designed as attempts to get away from the "Tolkienian epic quest" formula that is both the biggest pleasure and the worst bane of the "Shannara" series, but both attempts at making something new with the older material clearly do fail. They already foreshadow the rather fundamental - and terribly misguided - redesign the world of "Shannara" would get in the TV series.





Read now, later, or never?



"Indomitable": Later. If you liked "Wishsong", which is easier than my earlier review makes it appear, it's going to be very easy to like this story, as well.



"Dark Wraith" and "The Weapon Master's Choice": Never. Both have little, if any, significance for the later novels, and both are essentially experimental texts. If you've read everything else of "Shannara", then these might be worth a look. But if you have still a few books to go, even just the de-facto prequels that are "Word & Void", then my personal advice would be: Go with those.



Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Follow-ups to "Sword", 2012-2013.



Premise



In 2013, Brooks released the annotated 35th-anniversary edition of "The Sword of Shannara". Again, Brooks was sort of the low-fi pioneer within his genre, here, because in the years after "Sword 35th", several other classic fantasy writers would publish annotated versions of their books. For me, who considers "Sword" one of his favorite "non-serious" books, the anniversary edition was a thing of beauty, and it's the only English edition of the book that I keep today. - To promote "Sword 35", Brooks wrote a series of short stories, under the mothership title, "Paladins of Shannara", of which "The Weapon Master's Choice" is also nominally a part of. The complete "Paladins" series also marks Brooks' first ebook-only publication, via Amazon's Kindle.





"Allanon's Quest", 2012.



An immediate prequel to "Sword", this story is quite nice because it nails the tone of the original novel. It's likely the best short story within the "Shannara" universe so far: It adds some much-needed background to the whole "Elven arc" of the novel, and it arguably makes one of the most glaring plot holes of the original novel at least sound more plausible to the willing reader. - From a fan's perspective, there is not much else one can want for a text so short: Rarely do any of these "side story"-type tales in general add anything substantial or interesting to their main series, regardless of who the author is; this one does.





"The Black Irix", 2013.



A direct sequel to "Sword", this one deals with a question that was already touched in the "Shannara" video game, many years earlier: What became of Keltset the Troll's talisman, the "Black Irix"? - Lamentably, it does so in a way that is distinctively un-memorable, on its own merits: Shea and Flick return to adventure with Panamon Creel, but the story stops just as things start to get interesting. Moreover, the whole point of this story seems to be to re-establish Panamon and Shea as an adventuring duo, with a literal forecast that there will be more stories with those two (and Flick, in tow) to come. - That forecast is mildly charming, even though we are in YA territory here, again. But by itself, the story doesn't really hold its own ground.



Legacy



Elements from both stories - Allanon taking a few detours while looking for the last heir of "Shannara, and Shea suffering from a PTSD-like illness - would later appear, how not, in the dreadful TV series. To me, personally, especially "Allanon's Quest" showed that Brooks can still get out of the YA cage, now and again, and write stuff that I, as an adult, could find engaging. After all, this was before "The High Druid's Blade" would come out, in'14, and Brooks sort of rehabilitated himself among his fans, after the not-so-good-very-bad "Dark legacy" series. The whole "35th anniversary project" was why I would later consider to give Brooks another try.





Read now, later, or never?



"Allanon's Quest": Now. It's a quality story with some significance for "Sword". If you're not entirely sure whether you'll like Brooks' stlye, this story is probably a good starting point to test this.



"The Black Irix": Later, if the story really turns out to be a prologue to more stories about Shea, Panamon, and Flick. Never, if this rermains a prologue into nowhere.



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I then read the two sequels and experienced them in a manner similar to the Star Wars sequels - Elfstones felt dense and dark like Empire (and I suspect I would enjoy it more now in the same way) and Wishsong was the return to form (though I was disappointed Garet Jax died). Then the Landover novels, which were delightful, and finally the exciting new Heritage quadrology, which I read as each one came out. I again enjoyed them (the part with Quickening was particularly memorable) but haven't read anything since then. I recently found an original trade paperback of Elfstones - with the Darrell Sweet cover - and thought I might read the original trilogy again.



I don't think I can re-read the original trilogy without the original covers, the first by the Hildebrandts and the other two by uber-1980s Darrell Sweet:







The rest of the Hildebrandts' art for the first book can be seen





Thanks for this series, Rafael, I'm enjoying reading each new installment. When I was middle school I found a paperback of Sword of Shannara at the public library and immediately realized it was something I would enjoy - I had read LOTR and was looking for more books like it. I read it on a family vacation and greatly enjoyed it. I named an AD&D Dwarf character Hendel.I then read the two sequels and experienced them in a manner similar to the Star Wars sequels - Elfstones felt dense and dark like Empire (and I suspect I would enjoy it more now in the same way) and Wishsong was the return to form (though I was disappointed Garet Jax died). Then the Landover novels, which were delightful, and finally the exciting new Heritage quadrology, which I read as each one came out. I again enjoyed them (the part with Quickening was particularly memorable) but haven't read anything since then. I recently found an original trade paperback of Elfstones - with the Darrell Sweet cover - and thought I might read the original trilogy again.I don't think I can re-read the original trilogy without the original covers, the first by the Hildebrandts and the other two by uber-1980s Darrell Sweet:The rest of the Hildebrandts' art for the first book can be seen here

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Zenopus said: Thanks for this series, Rafael, I'm enjoying reading each new installment. When I was middle school I found a paperback of Sword of Shannara at the public library and immediately realized it was something I would enjoy - I had read LOTR and was looking for more books like it. I read it on a family vacation and greatly enjoyed it. I named an AD&D Dwarf character Hendel.



Hehe, thank you, brother. - I half-mockingly named one of my best friends Hendel as a kid, which resulted in a good deal of tragedy, as he took it as an insult. Character-wise, I think I have played a few Menions, and at least one Kinson, at some point. I first read the LotR books around when I was about eighteen, I guess, and for most of my teenie days, I was blissfully unaware of how closely Menion Leah was really modelled after Aragorn. So, whenever I would take on a "ranger"-type character, it would basically be him.



...I created a good deal of tragedy by half-mockingly naming one of my best friends in high-school "Hendel". I think he got a thorn in the butt, or something, like Menion does with a gnome.



I then read the two sequels and experienced them in a manner similar to the Star Wars sequels - Elfstones felt dense and dark like Empire (and I suspect I would enjoy it more now in the same way) and Wishsong was the return to form (though I was disappointed Garet Jax died). Then the Landover novels, which were delightful, and finally the exciting new Heritage quadrology, which I read as each one came out. I again enjoyed them (the part with Quickening was particularly memorable) but haven't read anything since then. I recently found an original trade paperback of Elfstones - with the Darrell Sweet cover - and thought I might read the original trilogy again.



Going to be honest - "Heritage" is probably why I'm doing this reread. The books have probably not aged as well as other fantasy, but the Heritage series is stil extremely well done. Rereading "Talismans" right now, or, rather, listening to it as an audiobook, and it's absurdly good. It's a bit of a shame that Brooks decided to continue the series after that one, because, by itself, this would have been a classic. As it is, the better parts of the series will always be kind of outshone by the weaker parts that followed.



I also thought that Garet Jax could have been used more; that Brooks keeps bringing him back in the follow-up stories is probably a sign that he, too, understands that this was a mistake. If we ever get the "Wishsong" sequel that I assume to be in Brooks' head already, then I would strongly suspect that Jax is the likeliest dead character to make a comeback - even before Allanon.



I don't think I can re-read the original trilogy without the original covers, the first by the Hildebrandts and the other two by uber-1980s Darrell Sweet:



Which is why it's such a shame that the TV series discarded all of this: "Shannara", for its time, had some of the greatest visuals ever done within the genre. "Elfstones", in particular, might be in the contendership for the "best" cover in genre history to embody what '80s fantasy was really about. ...And somebody looked at it, and decided to go on with stuff Hehe, thank you, brother. - I half-mockingly named one of my best friends Hendel as a kid, which resulted in a good deal of tragedy, as he took it as an insult. Character-wise, I think I have played a few Menions, and at least one Kinson, at some point. I first read the LotR books around when I was about eighteen, I guess, and for most of my teenie days, I was blissfully unaware of how closely Menion Leah was really modelled after Aragorn. So, whenever I would take on a "ranger"-type character, it would basically be him....I created a good deal of tragedy by half-mockingly naming one of my best friends in high-school "Hendel". I think he got a thorn in the butt, or something, like Menion does with a gnome.Going to be honest - "Heritage" is probably why I'm doing this reread. The books have probably not aged as well as other fantasy, but the Heritage series is stil extremely well done. Rereading "Talismans" right now, or, rather, listening to it as an audiobook, and it's absurdly good. It's a bit of a shame that Brooks decided to continue the series after that one, because, by itself, this would have been a classic. As it is, the better parts of the series will always be kind of outshone by the weaker parts that followed.I also thought that Garet Jax could have been used more; that Brooks keeps bringing him back in the follow-up stories is probably a sign that he, too, understands that this was a mistake. If we ever get the "Wishsong" sequel that I assume to be in Brooks' head already, then I would strongly suspect that Jax is the likeliest dead character to make a comeback - even before Allanon.Which is why it's such a shame that the TV series discarded all of this: "Shannara", for its time, had some of the greatest visuals ever done within the genre. "Elfstones", in particular, might be in the contendership for the "best" cover in genre history to embody what '80s fantasy was really about. ...And somebody looked at it, and decided to go on with stuff like this . An example of dramatically bad decisionmaking.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on Got a new piece for you, right away...







Let's talk about Grianne Ohmsford.





This is something other reviewers would probably do later, but I felt like it might be better to discuss this beforehand, so the approach is less one of "surprise and outrage", and more one of "looking at how this could happen". - So, over the next few weeks, I'm going to discuss a couple of books that, by general consensus, are considered to be very, very good. "Heritage of Shannara", "First King of Shannara", and "Word & Void" are certainly among the best books Brooks has written so far, and might even be considered to be part of the literary canon of the world-wide fantasy genre. That they are generally less well-known today than books by other writers, like Tad Williams ("Osten Ard", 1988-1993), Robert Jordan ("The Wheel of Time", starting 1990), or George R. R. Martin ("Game of Thrones", starting in 1996), mainly has to do with the fact that Brooks' series was very much considered "over" by 1993: All storylines had been resolved, all questions answered, all locales in the setting explored. Just "done". - Sure, there was the 1995 video game, and there was the 1996 gem that is "First King of Shannara", but the series wasn't considered to be up for a large-scale return, even though that is in fact what would later be attempted. Like the tales of, what, "Hawklan the Healer", of "Thieves' World", or of Dave Duncan's "Seventh Sword", "Shannara" was just not considered to have another, what, fifteen novels in its future - also, because Brooks had mostly resisted the usual, almost inevitable sellout: No RPGs, no comic books and graphic novels, no 90s-style merchandising items. Just a very good series of books - one that had concluded at its logical end.



...And then, in the year 2000, and for us, if we continue this pace, just around Christmas, "Ilse Witch" arrives, as part of a new six-part series that will try to reinvent the series - and fails, by the overwhelming consensus of its audience. Or, rather than being so harsh, it's even worse; in almost all serious reviews that are even mildly positive, one will find the one betraying conclusive statement - not verbatim, but more or less: "Fans of the series will enjoy this, but people who don't know Brooks yet might try one of the older books first." Which is really just a reviewer's way of saying, "this is a thoroughly mediocre novel, and I'm not even sure it makes sense in a wider context".



So, let's look a little bit into how this could happen.







First, let's establish a certain terminology as we go on.



The "Shannara" series is certainly long. So, let's make some easy divisions here: The "Allanon Cycle" is what I will from now on refer to as the first eight novels in the series, all "Shannara" books published between 1977 and 1996, as Allanon is, one way or another, one of the central characters of all of them. A second cycle, starting in 1997 with the "Word & Void" series, and later being retconned to be part of the "Shannara" universe, in my very debatable linguo would be the "Hawk Cycle", as their central plot revolves around a character of that name.



The "Grianne Cycle", finally, after the character of the same name, is the third, and, as of today, the largest part of the "Shannara" series: It includes all novels that touch events in the in-universe timeline that take place later than "Talismans of Shannara", and, arguably, is not finished, pending one or two key revelations in the upcoming last book of the series in 2020.



Generally, "Allanon" and "Hawk" get pretty good reviews, and are regarded as substantial contributions to the genre - "Allanon" more than "Hawk", but still so. "Grianne", however, is considered the terrible terrible. This is ever the more remarkable because Brooks developed "Hawk" at the same time he developed "Grianne".







"Was it Brooks?"



One argument to be made about why a series could fall out of favor with its fans is usually that the series author simply lost a step. I don't necessarily think that's the case here because, from a point of narrative structure, the "Grianne" sub-series of Shannara is very smartly layed out: After several generational jumps, we arrive at a character that Brooks surprisingly doesn't drop after one story arc. That is a nice change of pace, and perhaps even a conscious, self-aware borrowing out of a certain Frank Herbert's playbook.



Brooks' general, substantially intensified attempts at worldbuilding aren't that terrible, either. The world is, generally, quite believable, even after a second, substantial update of its society and politics. Whether the Four Lands are necessarily a good base to build, well, anything, is another matter, but with what he has, Brooks does a decent-enough job.



Brooks' biggest problem, IMO, will become over the course of the "Grianne" cycle that he stops inventing new elements to his story, and contents with expanding on the existing lore: I'll go into specifics later on, but the big issue with this is, things get very, very repetitive quite soon. With the possible exception of the "Voyage" trilogy, most later books associated with Grianne - even the good ones - all feature scenes or character constellations that we have already seen in earlier installments. Like, say, visits to the Hadeshorn: In the original trilogy, they had a certain mysticism about them; in "Heritage" they are exciting because the people calling on the spirits of the dead really put themselves in danger by doing so. - But later, after the sixth, or seventh time? Filler, and of the boring kind.







"Was it the readers?"



"Shannara's" return with a proper novel sequence back in 2001, after a seven- or eight-year break since 1993, was made difficult by the general evolution of the genre since the publication of "Talismans": George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Robin Hobb were the leaders of the genre at the time, and they were writing very different books than Brooks did. "Lord of the Rings" was making it to the theaters. Final Fantasy, Grandia, Warcraft, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, EverQuest, or Zelda were names that every fantasy buff would know. - In short, fantasy had begun to slip into the mainstream, and the audience had changed with it: Vanilla quest fantasy of the style that Brooks writes like perhaps no other had simply gone out of fashion; TSR's demise a few years earlier is certainly an indicator for that. And while the genre would bounce back a few years later, among other things, certainly also through d20, 2001 was perhaps the single worst year in recent history to release a book like "Ilse Witch".



In addition to this, and this cannot be understated, the ending of "Talismans" had been, really, really conclusive. A revamp of the series with new, modernized protagonists, and, notably, a female central character, was a new negotiation with the audience. And while Grianne is hardly a feminist Mary Sue, but really, a pretty consistent and well-written character, her storyline through the "Voyage" trilogy is pretty much telegraphed. - So, for people to fall out of love with the character, despite a few very dense and atmospheric introductory chapters, seems somewhat understandable to me.







"Was it the publisher?"



One big blow for the "Shannara" series - and for fantasy literature, in general - was the death of Lester Del Rey, who can perhaps best be described as Brooks' mentor, back in 1993. If you don't know who Lester Del Rey was, please consider reading up: Basically, without him, no modern fantasy. - And Del Rey's absence as Brooks' editor is felt in all later novels, mainly because of one fundamental decision:



The "Allanon Cycle" had been vanilla, but quite experimental, and, except for the setting, not at all simplistic. With the start of the "Grianne Cycle", however, "Shannara" fully becomes a "young adult" series. And while that, whatever, doesn't make the books "dangerously unreadable", the usual YA perks will ail the series for the next dozen books: Teenage protagonists, teenage problems, teenage perspectives, and, of course, nothing ever gets explained satisfactorily any more because, uh-oh, things might be too complex for the audience. Deus-Ex-Machina becomes a real problem for the series because of this.



Finally, and this really makes me mad: With the start of the "Grianne Cycle", something begins in "Shannara" that I've not observed in any other book series of this degree of sophistication and renown: Continuity editing and proofreading take a freaking nosedive. Starting with "Ilse Witch", spellings of names will start to vary, protagonists and locales will start to change vital characteristics between books, and when, in one particularly stupid turn of events, even the wrong druid appears to rise from the Hadeshorn, that's when I'd like to... Talk to your supervisor, that is.



Not cool. Not cool at all. That this is not a more widely discussed issue is really beyond me. SHAME.







If these younger books are so bad, why even re-read them?



- Quite frankly, because the whole situation is so exemplary. Here we have one of the most able writers of his time, with his work slowly becoming "corporatized". Whenever Brooks is left to create something on his own, he excels. Whenever he creates something designed to please his supposed target demographic, the final product just simply sucks. The development of the "Grianne Cycle" as we have it today might be financially astute; but it undoubtedly has cost Brooks his reputation as one of the very best in the business, and it has certainly altered his body of work in ways he himself might not necessarily have liked. - There is a lot to learn from this for all of us who create content for games, or otherwise.







...So, where does this leave us, going forward?



In difference to the earlier "Shannara" novels, I've read most of the novels of the "Grianne Cycle" only once. Understandably so, because I hated most of them. So, my memory of them is rather foggy, and re-reading them will certainly be an interesting experience. Let's see if my very, very negative opinion of them will hold up as I go along. Certainly, both "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara", as well as "The Defenders of Shannara" have their moments of honest and pure genius, in my personal opinion. ...But that's another story, for another time.

This is something other reviewers would probably do later, but I felt like it might be better to discuss this beforehand, so the approach is less one of "surprise and outrage", and more one of "looking at how this could happen". - So, over the next few weeks, I'm going to discuss a couple of books that, by general consensus, are considered to be very, very good. "Heritage of Shannara", "First King of Shannara", and "Word & Void" are certainly among the best books Brooks has written so far, and might even be considered to be part of the literary canon of the world-wide fantasy genre. That they are generally less well-known today than books by other writers, like Tad Williams ("Osten Ard", 1988-1993), Robert Jordan ("The Wheel of Time", starting 1990), or George R. R. Martin ("Game of Thrones", starting in 1996), mainly has to do with the fact that Brooks' series was very much considered "over" by 1993: All storylines had been resolved, all questions answered, all locales in the setting explored. Just "done". - Sure, there was the 1995 video game, and there was the 1996 gem that is "First King of Shannara", but the series wasn't considered to be up for a large-scale return, even though that is in fact what would later be attempted. Like the tales of, what, "Hawklan the Healer", of "Thieves' World", or of Dave Duncan's "Seventh Sword", "Shannara" was just not considered to have another, what, fifteen novels in its future - also, because Brooks had mostly resisted the usual, almost inevitable sellout: No RPGs, no comic books and graphic novels, no 90s-style merchandising items. Just a very good series of books - one that had concluded at its logical end....And then, in the year 2000, and for us, if we continue this pace, just around Christmas, "Ilse Witch" arrives, as part of a new six-part series that will try to reinvent the series - and fails, by the overwhelming consensus of its audience. Or, rather than being so harsh, it's even worse; in almost all serious reviews that are even mildly positive, one will find the one betraying conclusive statement - not verbatim, but more or less: "Fans of the series will enjoy this, but people who don't know Brooks yet might try one of the older books first." Which is really just a reviewer's way of saying, "this is a thoroughly mediocre novel, and I'm not even sure it makes sense in a wider context".So, let's look a little bit into how this could happen.The "Shannara" series is certainly long. So, let's make some easy divisions here: Theis what I will from now on refer to as the first eight novels in the series, all "Shannara" books published between 1977 and 1996, as Allanon is, one way or another, one of the central characters of all of them. A second cycle, starting in 1997 with the "Word & Void" series, and later being retconned to be part of the "Shannara" universe, in my very debatable linguo would be the, as their central plot revolves around a character of that name.The, finally, after the character of the same name, is the third, and, as of today, the largest part of the "Shannara" series: It includes all novels that touch events in the in-universe timeline that take place later than "Talismans of Shannara", and, arguably, is not finished, pending one or two key revelations in the upcoming last book of the series in 2020.Generally,andget pretty good reviews, and are regarded as substantial contributions to the genre - "Allanon" more than "Hawk", but still so. "Grianne", however, is considered the terrible terrible. This is ever the more remarkable because Brooks developed "Hawk" at the same time he developed "Grianne".One argument to be made about why a series could fall out of favor with its fans is usually that the series author simply lost a step. I don't necessarily think that's the case here because, from a point of narrative structure, the "Grianne" sub-series of Shannara is very smartly layed out: After several generational jumps, we arrive at a character that Brooks surprisinglydrop after one story arc. That is a nice change of pace, and perhaps even a conscious, self-aware borrowing out of a certain Frank Herbert's playbook.Brooks' general, substantially intensified attempts at worldbuilding aren't that terrible, either. The world is, generally, quite believable, even after a second, substantial update of its society and politics. Whether the Four Lands are necessarily a good base to build, well, anything, is another matter, but with what he has, Brooks does a decent-enough job.Brooks' biggest problem, IMO, will become over the course of the "Grianne" cycle that he stops inventing new elements to his story, and contents with expanding on the existing lore: I'll go into specifics later on, but the big issue with this is, things get very, very repetitive quite soon. With the possible exception of the "Voyage" trilogy, most later books associated with Grianne - even the good ones - all feature scenes or character constellations that we have already seen in earlier installments. Like, say, visits to the Hadeshorn: In the original trilogy, they had a certain mysticism about them; in "Heritage" they are exciting because the people calling on the spirits of the dead really put themselves in danger by doing so. - But later, after the sixth, or seventh time? Filler, and of the boring kind."Shannara's" return with a proper novel sequence back in 2001, after a seven- or eight-year break since 1993, was made difficult by the general evolution of the genre since the publication of "Talismans": George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Robin Hobb were the leaders of the genre at the time, and they were writing very different books than Brooks did. "Lord of the Rings" was making it to the theaters. Final Fantasy, Grandia, Warcraft, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, EverQuest, or Zelda were names that every fantasy buff would know. - In short, fantasy had begun to slip into the mainstream, and the audience had changed with it: Vanilla quest fantasy of the style that Brooks writes like perhaps no other had simply gone out of fashion; TSR's demise a few years earlier is certainly an indicator for that. And while the genre would bounce back a few years later, among other things, certainly also through d20, 2001 was perhaps the single worst year in recent history to release a book like "Ilse Witch".In addition to this, and this cannot be understated, the ending of "Talismans" had been, really, really conclusive. A revamp of the series with new, modernized protagonists, and, notably, a female central character, was a new negotiation with the audience. And while Grianne is hardly a feminist Mary Sue, but really, a pretty consistent and well-written character, her storyline through the "Voyage" trilogy is pretty much telegraphed. - So, for people to fall out of love with the character, despite a few very dense and atmospheric introductory chapters, seems somewhat understandable to me.One big blow for the "Shannara" series - and for fantasy literature, in general - was the death of Lester Del Rey, who can perhaps best be described as Brooks' mentor, back in 1993. If you don't know who Lester Del Rey was, please consider reading up: Basically, without him, no modern fantasy.- And Del Rey's absence as Brooks' editor is felt in all later novels, mainly because of one fundamental decision:The "Allanon Cycle" had been vanilla, but quite experimental, and, except for the setting, not at all simplistic. With the start of the "Grianne Cycle", however, "Shannara" fully becomes a "young adult" series. And while that, whatever, doesn't make the books "dangerously unreadable", the usual YA perks will ail the series for the next dozen books: Teenage protagonists, teenage problems, teenage perspectives, and, of course, nothing ever gets explained satisfactorily any more because, uh-oh, things might be too complex for the audience. Deus-Ex-Machina becomes a real problem for the series because of this.Finally, and this really makes me mad: With the start of the "Grianne Cycle", something begins in "Shannara" that I've not observed in any other book series of this degree of sophistication and renown: Continuity editing and proofreading take a freaking nosedive. Starting with "Ilse Witch", spellings of names will start to vary, protagonists and locales will start to change vital characteristics between books, and when, in one particularly stupid turn of events, even the wrong druid appears to rise from the Hadeshorn, that's when I'd like to... Talk to your supervisor, that is.Not cool. Not cool at all. That this is not a more widely discussed issue is really beyond me. SHAME. SHAME!!! - Quite frankly, because the whole situation is so exemplary. Here we have one of the most able writers of his time, with his work slowly becoming "corporatized". Whenever Brooks is left to create something on his own, he excels. Whenever he creates something designed to please his supposed target demographic, the final product just simply sucks. The development of the "Grianne Cycle" as we have it today might be financially astute; but it undoubtedly has cost Brooks his reputation as one of the very best in the business, and it has certainly altered his body of work in ways he himself might not necessarily have liked. - There is a lot to learn from this for all of us who create content for games, or otherwise.In difference to the earlier "Shannara" novels, I've read most of the novels of the "Grianne Cycle" only once. Understandably so, because I hated most of them. So, my memory of them is rather foggy, and re-reading them will certainly be an interesting experience. Let's see if my very, very negative opinion of them will hold up as I go along. Certainly, both "The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara", as well as "The Defenders of Shannara" have their moments of honest and pure genius, in my personal opinion. ...But that's another story, for another time.

Rafael

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on The Division of "Shannara" into Three Different Main Story Cycles





So, above, I postulate the following:



Rafael said: First, let's establish a certain terminology as we go on.



The "Shannara" series is certainly long. So, let's make some easy divisions here: The "Allanon Cycle" is what I will from now on refer to as the first eight novels in the series, all "Shannara" books published between 1977 and 1996, as Allanon is, one way or another, one of the central characters of all of them. A second cycle, starting in 1997 with the "Word & Void" series, and later being retconned to be part of the "Shannara" universe, in my very debatable linguo would be the "Hawk Cycle", as their central plot revolves around a character of that name.



The "Grianne Cycle", finally, after the character of the same name, is the third, and, as of today, the largest part of the "Shannara" series: It includes all novels that touch events in the in-universe timeline that take place later than "Talismans of Shannara", and, arguably, is not finished, pending one or two key revelations in the upcoming last book of the series in 2020.



Generally, "Allanon" and "Hawk" get pretty good reviews, and are regarded as substantial contributions to the genre - "Allanon" more than "Hawk", but still so. "Grianne", however, is considered the terrible terrible. This is ever the more remarkable because Brooks developed "Hawk" at the same time he developed "Grianne".

The "Shannara" series is certainly long. So, let's make some easy divisions here: Theis what I will from now on refer to as the first eight novels in the series, all "Shannara" books published between 1977 and 1996, as Allanon is, one way or another, one of the central characters of all of them. A second cycle, starting in 1997 with the "Word & Void" series, and later being retconned to be part of the "Shannara" universe, in my very debatable linguo would be the, as their central plot revolves around a character of that name.The, finally, after the character of the same name, is the third, and, as of today, the largest part of the "Shannara" series: It includes all novels that touch events in the in-universe timeline that take place later than "Talismans of Shannara", and, arguably, is not finished, pending one or two key revelations in the upcoming last book of the series in 2020.Generally,andget pretty good reviews, and are regarded as substantial contributions to the genre - "Allanon" more than "Hawk", but still so. "Grianne", however, is considered the terrible terrible. This is ever the more remarkable because Brooks developed "Hawk" at the same time he developed "Grianne".





These three basic story cycles refer to these books, listed above more or less after they date of publication:





The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) -

The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) -



The Scions of Shannara (1990)

The Druid of Shannara (1991)

The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992)

The Talismans of Shannara (1993)



"Shannara - The Video Game" (1995) -



First King of Shannara (1996)



Word & Void (1997-1999)



Ilse Witch (2000)

Antrax (2001)

Morgawr (2002)



Jarka Ruus (2003)

Tanequil (2004)

Straken (2005)



Armageddon's Children (August, 2006), notably linking "Word & Void", and "Shannara".

The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007)

The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008)



Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010)

The Measure of the Magic (August 2011)



Wards of Faerie (August 2012)

Bloodfire Quest (March 2013)

Witch Wraith (July 2013)



The High Druid's Blade (July 2014)

The Darkling Child (June 2015)

The Sorcerer's Daughter (May 2016)



The Black Elfstone (June 2017)

The Skaar Invasion (May 2018)

The Stiehl Assassin (June 4, 2019)

The Last Druid (according to Amazon, to be released on June 3, 2020)



Side stories connected to "Sword" (2012-'13) -



Side stories and shorter sequels to "Wishsong" (2003-2013) - The Sword of Shannara (1977) - odd74.proboards.com/post/221951 The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222045 The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222091 The Scions of Shannara (1990)The Druid of Shannara (1991)The Elf Queen of Shannara (1992)The Talismans of Shannara (1993)"Shannara - The Video Game" (1995) - odd74.proboards.com/post/221953 First King of Shannara (1996)Word & Void (1997-1999)Ilse Witch (2000)Antrax (2001)Morgawr (2002)Jarka Ruus (2003)Tanequil (2004)Straken (2005)Armageddon's Children (August, 2006), notably linking "Word & Void", and "Shannara".The Elves of Cintra (August 28, 2007)The Gypsy Morph (August 26, 2008)Bearers of the Black Staff (August 2010)The Measure of the Magic (August 2011)Wards of Faerie (August 2012)Bloodfire Quest (March 2013)Witch Wraith (July 2013)The High Druid's Blade (July 2014)The Darkling Child (June 2015)The Sorcerer's Daughter (May 2016)The Black Elfstone (June 2017)The Skaar Invasion (May 2018)The Stiehl Assassin (June 4, 2019)The Last DruidSide stories connected to "Sword" (2012-'13) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222247 Side stories and shorter sequels to "Wishsong" (2003-2013) - odd74.proboards.com/post/222202







To give you a more concise overview, I've decided to regroup them in this fashion:



Mind you that the books are listed here in the order in which their stories HAPPEN in the Shannara universe, NOT by order of publication.





Hawk Left blank. Allanon Left blank.

Grianne Running With The Demon

First King of Shannara

Ilse Witch A Knight of The Word

Allanon's Quest

Antrax Angel Fire East

The Sword of Shannara

Morgawr Armageddon's Children

The Black Irix

Jarka Ruus The Elves of Cintra

The Elfstones of Shannara

Tanequil The Gypsy Morph

The Weapon Master's Choice

Straken The Bearers of The Black Staff

The Wishsong of Shannara

Wards of Faerie The Measure of the Magic

Indomitable

Bloodfire Quest



Dark Wraith of Shannara

Witch Wraith



The Scions of Shannara

The High Druid's Blade



The Druid of Shannara

The Darkling Child



The Elf Queen of Shannara

The Sorcerer's Daughter



The Talismans of Shannara

The Black Elfstone





The Skaar Invasion





The Stiehl Assassin







The Last Druid





...As I already discuss above, "Allanon" is generally considered Brooks' best, with "Hawk" also receiving a lot of praise for its storytelling and conceptual setup as well. "Grianne", arguably the "main" Shannara series at this point, as been receiving mixed to bad reviews, with one of the major criticisms being made that it's YA-oriented tone doesn't fit with the rest of the series.



To give you the briefest of general overviews on the series:



"Hawk" begins as a cycle of urban fantasy stories set in the real world of the 20th century, eventually morphing into a series of full-fledged post-apocalyptic tales, as the series goes on. Especially the first few books are horror and survival novels, likely inspired by Stephen King's "It" and "The Stand", rather than that they would belong to the fantasy genre.



"Allanon" denominates the sequence of book that Brooks is arguably best known for, a series of vanilla quest-style epic fantasy tales, with Brooks' main inspirations within the genre likely being Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and authors like Poul Anderson.



"Grianne", finally, builds on the world established in "Allanon", introducing us to a steampunk-flavored/powder-punk fantasy setting with dark fantasy elements. While his main inspirations within the genre remain the same as above, Brooks has repeatedly mentioned William Faulkner's dynastic stories of the American South as an influence for his portrayal of the evolution of the Ohmsford family through the centuries.

Rafael

OD&D'74 J.A.R.V.I.S.







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OD&D'74 J.A.R.V.I.S. Let's read: "Shannara", 1977-2020. Quote Select Post

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Member Back to Top Post by Rafael on "The Scions of Shannara", 1990.



Spoilerific Mini-Review



This one's easy, because this book is oh-so-good. 300 years after the events of "Wishsong", the descendants of the Ohmsford family, still imbued with the magic of their ancestors, reunite to fight a great evil, in what will eventually develop into a fantasy extravaganza of the finest kind.





The Best



The setup and the pointes: Brooks has previously spent three books establishing a simplistic, "faerie tale"-style fantasy world with simplistic, "faerie tale"-style stories and characters. And with "Scions", and over the course of the entire sequence that is "The Heritage of Shannara", he takes these narrative elements, and begins to undercut and to subvert them: Brooks often quotes Faulkner as his main literary influence: I see why he does this when I look at this novel; it's a tale of dwarves and elves, yes, but it feels like we're moving from Faulkner's "Hamlet" to "The Town". We're still in the same world, but our point of view has changed into something way more complex, and we can't necessarily rely on past experiences to predict how things will turn out.


