Kevin's Watch

Now this series is the one where Brooks finally finds himself as a standout author of fantasy (well ok - maybe that's pushing it a bit, but hey?)

Unlike the previous (post 'sword of' books in the story's chronology) outings, this is a series of four books that all concentrate on a single continuous story, making it a chunky read. But I'm near about finished book 2 (The Druid of .....) and your man is seriously getting it done. The story is well constructed and imaginative in a way that the author never really managed with the three original books. Not that they were bad - I really enjoyed them - but in this series Brooks is showing that he has an imagination of his own, rather than simply reworking the usual tropes of quest based fantasy fiction. The extended length of a four book stage allows for a greater level of character development, more concentration on the individual stories of the protagonists and for a richer development of the world of Shannara in all of its aspects.

The splitting of the story into three separate but related quests undertaken by three of the Ohmsford decendents is a good ploy; we can jump from one to the other at suitable points to maintain tension, but concentrate for an extended period on one particular questline when it is appropriate to do so. Brooks has also made each questline sufficiently different, each major protagonist given the depth of background, to make the whole an intriguing experience that has you wanting to get back into it each time you have to put it down to get on with 'real life'..

Good on you Brooks! I always thought you could do it! And my thanks to the anonymous guy who I heard in a bookshop telling his mate or someone that the series was his all-time favourite. Without him I'd never have returned to look at anything beyond the original trilogy that I read so many moons ago (for the first time).

I'm about halfway into the first book of the series, and I'm really enjoying it. Writing a series with the same main characters is a huge improvement over the previous three books.

Pretty sure I read the Shannara series right as these were coming out... Before the publication of the final one, I think. I never did go back and finish it.

Let us know what you think when you're done!

Will do Rigel.

Farm Ur-Ted, do you mean the first book of the Shannara series as a whole (Running with Demons, I believe) or the first book in the Heritage series (Scions of Shannara). If the latter I fully agree (actually, rereading your post I think you do mean that one). Alas I struggled with the first one - the Running with Demons trilogy. I just found that the mixing of our world and fantasy didn't hold my attention. Shame because I'd have liked to take the whole Shannara series on board, book by book - but life is too short for reading books that you don't like just for the sake of it.

I recently watched season one of the series and I have to ask-- are the elves as dumb in the books as in the tv series?

I may or may not have read at least book one, forever ago, and didn't continue with it, I don't think I need to explain why. But this sounds promising!

It's Terry Brooks...of course they're dumb.

--A

Avatar wrote:It's Terry Brooks...of course they're dumb.

--A

lol so true.

Not really a Brooks fan but I think Peter’s assessment is right - it’s the first series with possibility.

I much preferred the tv series though even that had its issues. A fun romp though

Avatar wrote:It's Terry Brooks...of course they're dumb.

--A

:LOL:

I actually enjoyed the series a lot more than the books 📚