Scan barcode
jsheil1's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was a really good fantasy book. Will I read more from this author, probably. However, my list of to read books is very long. But this book was very well written. I enjoyed the story immensely.
aliciaallisonmorgan's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jmartin31545's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
echoingbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Okay so this book took me awhile to finish as I only read like a few pages each night. The reason for that was because I was in the mood for horror and thriller books. I have also been reading a lot of fanfictions of my favorite TV Series so I kept putting this of.
This book was an all right read as I did enjoy it. Though this is my first time reading this even though this book have been released in 1977 but sadly I kept comparing this book to The Lord of the Rings trilogy which I know I should not have done but I just could not help it. LOTR is from the same genre though…. This book was nice and action packed but sadly the start of the book was a bit slow for my taste but it did get better after awhile. I just needed to push trough in the beginning.
Shea was my favorite character in this book. He was so stubborn and he never gave up and I loved how loyal he is. He is also very brave, I mean he left the home that he knew all his life to go into danger looking for a Sword that only he could use with virtual strangers as he only knew two of the people at the start of the adventure.
This book had nice character development and the writing was good but sometime there was a bit too much information all at once. All in all this was a good read and I most probably will read again when I am in the mood for fantasy books.
eighthsamurai's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to give this book a try because when I was young, I read the Scions of Shannara and remember being quite fond of it. It's the 4th Shannara book. After reading The Sword of Shannara, I've come to the conclusion that either Terry Brooks got much, much better at writing, or more likely, I was one DUMB kid. I hadn't read LOTR at that point either.
I saw all of the Lord of the Rings rip-off criticisms before I started and decided to give it a go anyway as it's an accusation that gets thrown at a lot of fantasy books, simply because LOTR is the pinnacle. However, I was totally unprepared for just how shockingly plagiarised it was. I thought it might be the abstract sense of the world or the vague plot. Not so - characters, action scenes, plot points, politics, it's all been stolen. You would think that coming some time after LOTR, the author would at least improve on the original. Nope. This is as poor as it gets.
Here is a list of things I really didn't like:
- The backstory alluding to an interesting deviation from the LOTR world building is left behind after just one chapter - it was the only original and intriguing aspect of the whole book and it was left unexplored and therefore a clunky, and ultimately unnecessary, add-on.
- There are clumsy plot holes littered throughout but especially at the start of the book. At one point characters know about things they simply have no way of knowing. It's a minor story element but it makes you lose confidence in the writing.
- Characters randomly infer correct conclusions about key plot elements, which is just lazy. "Oh, X must be at Y". It's like everyone in the book is mildly psychic just so the author doesn't have to work at moving the plot along in a sensible way.
- There are NO female characters until about 2/3 of the way through, and even then she's not a real person. She's a love interest, so it's sufficient to describe her beauty and her hair over and over again but not really discuss her emotions or motivations or give her any real agency.
- The first time the villain is revealed, it's like a cross between Skeletor's lair and the intro to Trap-door. The whole thing is ridiculously cartoony. If they ever met, Sauron would make Brona seem like Gilbert Gottfried playing Gargamel in a Smurfs musical.
The thing I hated most was the terrible writing. Each chapter features dozens of consecutive pages of long, bloated, verbose paragraphs which achieve little. Dialogue is minimal even where it would be obvious to use, which means we get less of a sense of the interaction between characters and never actually grow to like any of them. They're all humourless and one-dimensional. The writing is clunky, drawn out, lacks tension and is badly paced.
Avoid it. It's the worst book I've read in a while. The fact it spawned so many sequels is baffling to me.
I saw all of the Lord of the Rings rip-off criticisms before I started and decided to give it a go anyway as it's an accusation that gets thrown at a lot of fantasy books, simply because LOTR is the pinnacle. However, I was totally unprepared for just how shockingly plagiarised it was. I thought it might be the abstract sense of the world or the vague plot. Not so - characters, action scenes, plot points, politics, it's all been stolen. You would think that coming some time after LOTR, the author would at least improve on the original. Nope. This is as poor as it gets.
Here is a list of things I really didn't like:
- The backstory alluding to an interesting deviation from the LOTR world building is left behind after just one chapter - it was the only original and intriguing aspect of the whole book and it was left unexplored and therefore a clunky, and ultimately unnecessary, add-on.
- There are clumsy plot holes littered throughout but especially at the start of the book. At one point characters know about things they simply have no way of knowing. It's a minor story element but it makes you lose confidence in the writing.
- Characters randomly infer correct conclusions about key plot elements, which is just lazy. "Oh, X must be at Y". It's like everyone in the book is mildly psychic just so the author doesn't have to work at moving the plot along in a sensible way.
- There are NO female characters until about 2/3 of the way through, and even then she's not a real person. She's a love interest, so it's sufficient to describe her beauty and her hair over and over again but not really discuss her emotions or motivations or give her any real agency.
- The first time the villain is revealed, it's like a cross between Skeletor's lair and the intro to Trap-door. The whole thing is ridiculously cartoony. If they ever met, Sauron would make Brona seem like Gilbert Gottfried playing Gargamel in a Smurfs musical.
The thing I hated most was the terrible writing. Each chapter features dozens of consecutive pages of long, bloated, verbose paragraphs which achieve little. Dialogue is minimal even where it would be obvious to use, which means we get less of a sense of the interaction between characters and never actually grow to like any of them. They're all humourless and one-dimensional. The writing is clunky, drawn out, lacks tension and is badly paced.
Avoid it. It's the worst book I've read in a while. The fact it spawned so many sequels is baffling to me.
spitzig's review against another edition
3.0
I'd probably give this 7 out of 10. But, since I save 4 stars for books that get me EXCITED in at least one way, I'm not rounding up.
This was Tollkien Lite. I'd rather just read Tollkien.
This was Tollkien Lite. I'd rather just read Tollkien.
krosebiblios's review against another edition
2.0
I couldn’t finish this book which says a lot... From the 300 pages I read it is obvious that Terry Brooks is an avid Tolkien fan but frankly he didn’t achieve the success of Tolkien’s storytelling. The plot moves slowly between action scenes with very little character development and the dialogue is often laughable. I was looking for a new fantasy series to dive into and unfortunately this one isn’t for me. What a disappointment...
arithonfi's review against another edition
5.0
Great book. Fully self contained story which is a huge plus for this book. One of the first fantasy books that I ever read, so to see that it holds up on a reread was a lovely surprise.