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The Sword of Shannara
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The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
If I didn't have so many hefty fantasy novels already on my dusty shelf, I'd love to join you. It's been years since I read Shannara. Hmmm.........
I hear ya! But...maybe you can read vicariously through my read! You can feel free to jump in on the discussion from memory, too! I notice that I usually set up a thread for discussion..and it's usually just me having a conversation with myself about what may or may not happen!
Oh, I could do that. However, drawing from memory in this case is probably drawing from 1989 or so. But, it is calling my name now, so I may go ahead and pick it up when I finish The Princess Bride. I have no will-power when it comes to such things!
Funny! I'm sorry to have caused you such trouble! :) But, Yay for me to have someone to discuss with! I'm still muscling my way through Paradise Lost..then to pick up the Sword! :)
Yeah, Paradise Lost is a TOUGH one to get through. I was "lucky" in some respects that I HAD to read it in such a short time period for class or I doubt that I would have ever finished.
I'll do the same as Stefan, and follow your discussion and if I can remember enough to make some comments... In my case, I did reread it a few years ago, so maybe more will come back to me!I read Paradise Lost in college, but don't remember much about it. I hated my professor in that class, so I probably blocked it out of my mind.
Found my copy this evening, so I'm in when I finish The Princess Bride.
Yay! This is gonna be fun:) I'm having a lot of trouble holding off...I have it on my kindle..(it's due back to the library in a few days, good thing I'm getting my mom's!:) But...I know if I pick it up before I finish Paradise Lost (and I'm almost done with Three Musketeers:) I won't finish those! Plus I'm having a feeling that when I'm finished with Sword of Shannara..I'm gonna want to keep going:)
Denise wrote: "I'll do the same as Stefan, and follow your discussion and if I can remember enough to make some comments... In my case, I did reread it a few years ago, so maybe more will come back to me!I rea..."
Paradise Lost isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be...but it is poetry...and I'm not all that good at 'getting it'...But, it's kind of like...I already got the BIG PICTURE...from the cover picture..and just knowing what it's about...but some of it's interesting (so I think I'll be glad I read it) but in another year...I probably won't be able to retain much outside of that big picture again....and it's not like it ends well! :) Anyway..I'm powering through today and tomorrow...so my reading schedule is freed up for more..."fantastical' things!:)
I know a lot of people hated this book becuase it was almost a scene for scene rewrite of Lord of the Rings. Also this was the first fantasy to make it on to the New York Times Bestseller in both hardcover and trade paperback, which came out at the same time.
I actually had fun going through and reading some reviews the other day... More liked it than not..but the people who disliked it were brutal! I guess I figure if I liked LotR (which I did) and Brooks was able to re-write it, but with enough new that it captivated me..hey, I'm game! :) I guess I look at it this way..there's nothing new under the sun! My boys and I read an Irish (could be Scottish, I'm not sure now:) folktale that was written well before Tolkien wrote LotR about a ring that two brothers fought over because it had magic powers....I can't for the life of me remember it now...but I'm gonna have to go find it again. We wondered if that was what gave him the idea in the first place...that whole 'nothin' new under the sun' thing again! Which leads me back to...if Brooks had some fun with it, and I enjoy it...I have no problem reading LotR again in a new and different way..so it will be fun to see what I think!
My feelings exactly. As long as it's well-written and entertaining, I really don't care where the ideas came from.
I also felt the same way. It was not anything special, but it was something light, fun, and entertaining. Also I feel this book was one of those gateway drugs to fantasy, if a person read this in their younger year, they would enjoy it a lot more as I first read this almost ten years ago.
Got started on this today and just finished Chapter 2. After seeing all of the reviews on this I can't help but see some of the similarities to LoTR, but I think that Brooks has done a fine job of creating his own history to his stories and I like his discussion of the development of the races. I also saw several reviews that panned his writing which I TOTALLY disagree with as I have found the style to be engaging up to this point. I think that I will continue to enjoy this novel on my second go-round.
haha! yes. I started today. I like Flick. . . and Yes, it's hard..to not see the similarities to LotR, but it's got its own flare. I'm not to chapter two yet, but hoping to get some reading in today! Onward to the Vale! :) (and there are lots of books that have big winged creatures in them . . .so we'll see...I'm putting LotR outta the brain for a bit, and I'm just gonna enjoy Flick and his new friend, the giant person...and their story!
Working my way through chapter two..and honestly, it's got a little bit of Legend of Zelda feeling I'm picking up! (Orphan..livin' with elves for a while...good stuff!:) So is it pronounced She or Shay or She A...What say you, previous readers?!? Whatever the critics say...I'm having fun!:)
I would pronounce it Shay.
That's how I've been pronouncing it...cause She just sounds silly! :)
Shay is my preference as well.
Well, I finished Chapter 3 and started on Chapter 4. Strange (and scary) things are afoot. Of course, we knew that they wouldn't camp out in their quiet little town for the duration of a 700+ page novel. But I still liked the return to normalcy and the build up of something coming.
See...now because I've never read this..I don't know who the "main" character is/was...well...I'm getting the Shea vibe, but I loved the fact that Flick's got his brother's (or half brother however you'd call it:) back! There was alot of information in Allanon's history lesson, phew! Well...I'm starting chapter 3 today....awww...do we really have to leave Shady Vale:(
Oh, and a big PS...I loved when Allanon told them they were in no immediate danger...(in book, that means...stuffs gonna start happening...sooner than you think!!!! Bwwaahahahahaha!:)
Like I said, it's pretty much impossible to not know what's coming, but I think that Brooks does a nice job keeping the tension there in the back-ground.
No time Busy getting the house cleaned up for company on the 4th! Didn't get a chance to read another chapter last night and most probably not tonight. AAAARRRGGGHHH!
It'll be ok! I didn't get to read "this" book yesterday afternoon because I had to finish up another that someone was waiting on...but, my wee girl was sick last night...and I was like a bad kid. I had to stay by her bed, but I wasn't tired...so I had a flashlight and made it half-way through chapter 4! :) Hoping to get some more in today! Flick and Shea aren't quite out of the Vale yet...but I'm guessing they fare better than the wolf-dog did...or there wouldn't be much of a story left..but sounds like it's gonna be a rough journey! (and...whatever the likenesses to the LotR...yup, I've lost them. I'm totally immersed in Brooks' world..they're still there, I get that..but I'm worried about Flick and Shea now...not Frodo or Merry or Pippin! And I hope the Vale remains safe...and where did Allanon rush off to, hmmm! :)
That's what I don't get about all of the criticism for this novel. It's well-written and good despite any similarities to anything else.
Well..some people, I'm guessing, just read things to criticize rather than to have fun (which, in my humble opinion, haha...is why people write books for us:) It's certainly different enough, that if you don't keep actively looking for the similarities, you can forget about them...besides...if you look for it, you can find similarities to SOMETHING in EVERYTHING! :)
That's because the same stories have just been re-hashed over and over since the beginning of time! Homer took from the oral legends, Virgil took from Homer and so on and so on and so on.
To me, if you love LotR, Tolkien didn't do another series, so what else would you read for more of the same? Luckily, Brooks came along and filled that gap! Plus, he's written quite a few Shannara books. I suppose there might be other similar series out there that I am unaware of, but I think Brooks did a great job of creating a new world and characters, with good quality of writing, that are similar enough to LotR that fans of that series should love this one, too! But of course, there are those rabid fans that are so protective of 'their' favorite that they can't stand anyone else doing something similar.
Yes! Denise, totally! What do you do when you just get finished reading a really great book? You look for more by that author..and if that author hasn't done anything else (or at least in that same vein) . . .then, at least I do..look for something similar! Great books are such a happy and sad thing for me..I'm so glad to finish, but I'm so sad I'm finished! And the same/ but different..that's even better! Because, there is always Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series..which, I loved and got to book 8. . .until I could take it no longer...because I needed something similar..but different!
I think, at least the three of us, are on the same page:) Write a good book with a good story and I'm in...it's ok if it resembles Lord of the Rings, Swiss Family Robinson, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or yes! Even Twilight!....I guess I'm an escapist...I like to read about new worlds, those down-trodden souls that overcome incredible odds to save, not only themselves, but THE WORLD! I don't care if someone has saved it before...
Sorry, I kind of dropped the ball on this to finish up The Gunslinger. Now back to my regularly scheduled programming. I forgot to use spoiler tags in earlier conversations about what's going on in the plot, so I'm going to try to post the chapter that I'm in followed by spoilers before posting discussion. Chapter VIII (view spoiler)
I hear ya! Me too...it's been busy here...4h and swim lessons etc, etc! :) But, that's good...sounds like we're in about the same spot....Alanon is giving me some more back story with the histories currently:) Good to know stuff...but I can tell, it's only a matter of time before we get hit with something big...and hmmm....do I trust Menion yet? Not sure, but there has to be a reason Flick is so suspicious ? ? ? ? :)
Yep, creating Allanon's character as an historian is a pretty smart move when you have a lot of world building info that you want to convey to the readers.
I think all the mentor character like Allanon have to be a historian. Just look like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Merlyn from King Arthur just to name too. Its one of the tropes of fantasy.
I guess that you're right there, I just hadn't seen one actually named as a historian officially, but they all do serve the role.Just finished chapter XI, pace is picking up and there have been a couple of good actiony scenes. One thing strikes me as odd though (view spoiler)
Oh, and does Balinor own the only suit of armor in the land or what? ;)Don't quite get the slimy feeling from Menion that you do. He's reckless and brash, and I think Flick doesn't like him because of that (and becuase Flick is a bit grumpy.) But, you could be right. Besides a couple of minor things, I'm really not remembering much at all from when I read it before.
Don't know what all the hubbub is though, I don't really see it as being that similar to LoTR and I find the writing and storyline to be very good. I got hooked pretty well over the weekend and I'm currently in chapter XV now.
I know! I saw your status update and thought...looks like I need to put in some reading time today! I could be wrong...I had some different ideas from Stephanie Meyer when reading Twilight on where that was going....but . . .
..and I agree with you. Besides the major fact that it's an epic quest (oh and aren't there hundreds of those!!??!!). . . . while they may be similar in nature, there are just as many differences too...and it's a different story with the character struggles and such. I honestly don't really think of LotR at all when I'm reading it! Well I need to stop yapping and start reading and catch up!~
I'm going to post this here instead of on your review, April, because it has more visibility (to me) here. I was glad to read that you've changed your mind about Menion! I didn't want to say anything before because it would have been a spoiler of sorts, but I think he is my favorite character!A comment I wanted to make about the LotR comparison is that both authors wrote trilogies, but only the first in the Shannara trilogy mirrors the LotR trilogy; the other two books are different stories/quests.
I've really been enjoying it! One thing I can certainly say about the difference in Shannara and LotR is that this is CONSTANT....I Love LotR! But, there were sleepy parts...especially when you get to Treebeard:) But, Terry Brooks does not like to give his characters too many breaks from peril, that is for sure!Honestly..if you read ANY book, you can pretty much liken it to something else you've read (or watched or heard about!:) So...the fact that Mr. Brooks let Mr. Tolkien jump start his imagination...He really does have enough different that I can't fault him...some things are similar...but he used his own ideas enough to make it a good, exciting, enjoyable adventure. (And in my opinion...there's just no need for all the Brooks hate! But, I guess people some how take offense at someone who may have borrowed a few elements from something they had no part in creating and turning it into something else successful???? Oh well... The books I choose to read are for MY enjoyment...and Mr. Brooks is meeting that currently...so..Yay for me!
And...Yes! Menion is not angering me as much. At first his questioning lead me to believe he had motives of his own, but I am loving watching his character grow...and his willingness to learn from people he's learning to look up to! Balinor!
Thanks all for the discussions! It always makes a read more fun! :)
Also I feel like in the last 35 years, all of Terry Brooks' book still has the exact same formula of your average quest adventure story to save the land from the evil dark lord. His books to many including me is a good gateway to fantasy right after Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but overdone in the 70s and 80s, especially at Del Rey, his publisher. Now with all the authors that have came since then, especially in the last 5 years or so the quest story is not enough anymore, and getting old.
I have no problem with the quest adventure story as long as it's well-written. To me this is the kind of thing that makes fantasy so enjoyable to read. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with gritty fantasy filled with political intrigue and plot twists galore, as a matter of fact I enjoy them greatly as well. But sign me up with an adventure fantasy any day and I'll happily go on that journey.
Just a progress update for today. I'm finished up through chapter XXII now. Holy cow, things are getting CRAZY! Can't wait til you get here! I'm going to limit myself to a chapter a night and read something else during any other reading time that I have. Still loving the book, but I kind of want to pace myself a bit.
I read this book last year and loved it. also i pronounced it She-a so yeah. Although the first one is rather lord of the rings esk. the second one Elfstones of Sharanara is AMAZING and totally unique! :) Happy Reading
Anna, good to hear from another Shannara fan. Feel free to join in on the conversation as we go along!Also, since committing myself to "a chapter a night," I haven't picked up the book (or any other) in the evenings as I've been drawn into watching the Olympics. I should have known that would happen!
I know what you mean, Stefan! I should have taken the Olympics into account when I decided what book discussions I was going to participate in this month! I'm still getting some reading in, but staying up WAY too late at night to do it!
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