just re-read the sword of shannara.....

[peter]

Just re-read 'the sword of shannara' by terry brooks. my god - how did he get away with it! it's lord of the rings without the long words. still enjoyed it though. don't know whether to be pissed at such a bald faced plagerism or to laugh at the cheek of it and take my hat of to him for providing tolkein for the masses.

[Mr. Broken]

Not only did he get away with it, his own story spawned a series of succesful sequels, prequels, and an extensive mythology of its own. This however is not exclusive to Brooks. Tolkien has a way of influencing most of the fantasy now written.

[peter]

Yes, agreed - but surely Brooks's is the most explicit and unashamed exemplar.

[Fist and Faith]

I remember enjoying the fights quite a bit. And I especially love the way-too-short fight between Garet Jax and the jachyra in Wishsong.

[peter]

Seem to remember that I read 'Elfstones' and 'Wishsong' many moons ago and quite enjoyed them, but don't think I read any of the others. Any reccomendations?

[Fist and Faith]

Nope. So many years ago, I went on to the next series. Scions. It was as enjoyable as the original trilogy. But nothing in all those pages captured me enough to read any of the next couple dozen books. He just doesn't do it for me. Never enough of the kind of depth I'm looking for. But it was good as an intro to the genre, back when I was a teenager.

[Avatar]

Just re-read 'the sword of shannara' by terry brooks.

Now why would you want to do that?

--A

[wayfriend]

I read Shannara back in high school or junior high or something. It was very early on in my reading career, and Brooks along with some others solidified in me the hypothesis that nothing can top LOTR. (A hypothesis which wasn't disproven until I read the First Chronicles.) Still, it was also a breakthrough for me at the time, in that I didn't think there was anything except Tolkien. So I suppose I should thank Brooks for that. And, in the quest for something good to read, I ended up discovering Burroughs and Asmimov and ended up reading sci-fi, too. So I suppose I should thank Brooks for that, too.

I didn't notice at the time that it was an LOTR knock-off. It didn't occur to me that something might not be, probably.

(The Iron Tower Trilogy still wins hands down in the Tolkien plaguerism catgery, BTW.)

[rdhopeca]

When I am in the mood to read simply for relaxation over depth and power I tend to migrate towards Brooks and others like him (Duncan). I find that as I begin to seriously consider writing my own fantasy novels that I will likely end up more like Brooks than Donaldson...

[peter]

Just re-read 'the sword of shannara' by terry brooks.

Now why would you want to do that?

--A

The triumph of hope over experience!

[Zarathustra]

The Iron Tower Trilogy still wins hands down in the Tolkien plaguerism catgery, BTW

Absolutely. This can't be stressed enough.

A Tolkien Zealot's View on "The Iron Tower", November 29, 2001
By A Customer

The only question that really plagues me after reading "The Iron Tower" is simple - why was it written? Mr. McKiernan is obviously a fan of Tolkien and, to be more precise, "The Lord of the Rings," which he even admits in the preface. No shame in that. I too adore Tolkien's work, and, in my mind, "The Lord of the Rings" is the greatest fantasy story ever told. But in spite of McKiernan's admiration for said genre pioneer, he was content to take "The Lord of the Rings" and recycle it, albeit with a handful of different character names. And while he was busy attempting to pass this story off as his own, he forgot everything that made Tolkien so wonderful in the process - and anything that makes good fantasy in general.
"The Iron Tower" isn't only a shameless copy of a beloved tale, but it's also quite poorly written. One has to wonder if McKiernan was out of elementary school when he began jotting it down. Dialogue between characters is particularly absurd, and again it is because McKiernan attempts (and severely fails) to copy the more classical style of Tolkien. One example of thousands is this: "Hai! You have named it well; for Jet it was: no horse is blacker!" And aside from the poor quality of this tidbit, any Tolkien fan, even unfamiliar with McKiernan, will think to themselves, "Hmmm... Shadowfax, anyone?"

The book opens with very clear parallels to "The Lord of the Rings," but, at first, there are at least a few interesting touches to keep things mildly entertaining. But things get steadily more offensive as the story progresses. Complete with a party of three Warrows (or Hobbits, if you prefer), an Elf, a Dwarf, and a future King with a magical sword, the party of heroes is forced by perilous circumstance to enter an abandoned Dwarven mine (aka, Moria) that was evacuated for fear of the Ghath (aka, Balrog) - a beast who still lingers in the mines. But as McKiernan might say, "Hai! Lo! That be not all!" For as the companions are debating a course of action, they are attacked by a tentacled beast that lurks in the water just outside the magically concealed gateway. Where have I heard this before? Except, of course, it was much more thrilling in its original format, to say the very least.

Yet there's more still. "The Iron Tower" is complete with its own version of Ringwraiths, wargs (called vulgs), orcs, and more. Surprisingly, the only thing that's missing is a Gandalf character. But I can assure you, had McKiernan included one, the company would have temporarily lost him in the Dwarven mines to the dreaded whip of the Ghath. For goodness sakes, the book even comes complete with an appendix at its conclusion! Perhaps McKiernan thinks that his world of Mithgar is as detailed and as rich as Middle-earth just because every creature, character, or place encountered has a different name to each race. ("Kraken!" cried Galen. "Maduk!" shouted Brega.)And just to note, to fuel further audacity, Tuck (aka, Frodo) carries a short sword called Bane that glows at its edges when enemies are about. Stings, doesn't it? Get it? STINGS?

Simply put, "The Iron Tower" is a fraud. It should never have been published. In fact, there should be some sort of law against it. I have in my day read and even enjoyed many Tolkien knock-offs ("The Sword of Shannara," or "The Eye of the World," for example), so I am open-minded about these matters. But "The Iron Tower" goes too far. It is shameful. It is outright theft. Fans of Tolkien should heed this advice well: steer clear unless you're looking for a good laugh. And for those who are not familiar with Tolkien, don't you dare accept McKiernan as a suitable replacement, for your own sake. There are a handful of interesting moments, but not enough to outweigh the wrongs that were done in allowing this series publication. With more work, McKiernan might have paid homage rather than desecrating sacred ground.

[jelerak]

In reading these above posts, I guess that I was fortunate to have never read LOTR in lieu of both the Shannara and the Iron Tower series, so I was able to thouroughly enjoy both in my ignorance.

[Cagliostro]

I enjoyed Sword of Shannara back in the day when I read it. I don't know if I read before or after Thomas Covenant, but the second book in the series left me so flat I couldn't be bothered to get through it. This is rare for me to quit a book halfway through.

[Mr. Broken]

I had the same problem with Anansi Boys I almost didnt finish it due to my complete disappointment over it not being the sequel to American Gods. 7 months I think to plod through it.

[Fist and Faith]

I think the original Shannara trilogy is probably still a good, fun read. Worth it if you haven't.

[aliantha]

I really liked "Anansi Boys" -- but I read it first, before I read "American Gods", which then sort of disappointed me. I suspect the problem is the difference in style between the two books. "Anansi Boys" is played for laughs much more than "American Gods". Some of the same characters appear in each -- but if you expect one book to be just like the other, you'll be disappointed.

Oh! Shannara! I've read all of 'em, except I think the most recent one. I must have read them before I read Tolkien because the ripoff issue wasn't apparent to me. Anyway. I think I might have re-read the first trilogy once. Lost the series in a move and have never once thought about replacing them. So there you have my opinion in a nutshell -- they're brain candy.

[drew]

I only read the first three Shannara books.

I never actually like Sword very much.

I didn't like how all the bad guy had to do in the end was to hold the sword.

It was pretty cool, how Brooks brought all the LOTR races back, in his own way...its too bad the Characters were all the same as LOTR.

ElfStones; and Wishsong...although, like Sword had pretty much the same characters from LOTR...the story line was deffinatley its own.

[lucimay]

so yeah, read the first book the year it came out.
ya know why? because i was a big fan of the hildebrandt brothers'
art work. i had a hildebrandt LotR calendar.
when i saw their artwork on the cover of the book, i bought it,
the very year it came out. about 5 paragraphs into it i thought
to myself, whoa, how'd this brooks guy get away with this???
what a freakin ripoff.
but i read it. i did not then nor would i now, pick up any of the
subsequent books. one was plenty!

if i remember the sequence of events correctly, the next book i
bought and read was Lord Foul's Bane. sorta blew mr. brooks
right outa the water. heh. (good job donaldson)

[High Lord Tolkien]

so yeah, read the first book the year it came out.
ya know why? because i was a big fan of the hildebrandt brothers'
art work. i had a hildebrandt LotR calendar.
when i saw their artwork on the cover of the book, i bought it,
the very year it came out.

I was scrolling down thinking about how I was going to mention that in my tweens (sic) any book that had Hildebrandt art on the cover was pretty much going to be bought by me.
I liked the Sword, I think I liked the Stones but then I lost interest.

I also laughed when WF mentioned the Iron Tower. I bought that too thinking I could never get enough Tolkien like stuff.....I was wrong.
It's funny though, when I read the first book I was reminded about the tale in the Shire about the small group of Hobbits who answered the Kings call and fought against the Witch King.
No idea why though.

Lucimay, or anyone, do you remember a book chock full of Hildebrandt art. Not just the cover but several more throughout the book. I remember one page with a cottage in a forest surounded by trees but in a small clearing, and there was dazzling sunlight shining down....
Premise was that the bad guys were coming.....
I had that book up until last year but only read it once about 20 years ago so I can't remember the name or the story.

[drew]

I would have read Shannara and LFB the year that they came out...but unfortunately, that was the year that I was born