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Is the Sword of Shannara worth reading?
- Thread starter Mythic Scribes Bot
- Start date
Poppa Weelee
Apprentice
Yeah, after I posted that I thought of, like 12 series, but for obvious reasons I couldn't retract my statement. This is the Internet for cat's sake! But I stand by my statement that Shannara gets better after Sword.
Donny Bruso
Mystagogue
Well when you start off with a novel that is a shameless example of plagiarism and write it with a crayon on construction paper you really have nowhere to go but up...
Poppa Weelee
Apprentice
I mean "interested enough to have kept me reading for the last decade or so." I read First King almost exactly ten years ago, and I'm still eating his Shannara novels up like candy. Anxiously awaiting Bearers of the Black Staff Book 2.
Edgemaker
Journeyman
For me after Reading the Lord of the Rings, and then hearing about the Sword of Shannara, personally it was like having a gourmet feast and then being offered a candy bar.
Kaellpae
Grandmaster
I heard about this series after I posted here about a world I was wanting to create. Very similar and both in the Northwest U.S. so I looked a bit into it. I will definitely read it and I won't have anything to compare it to as I haven't read Tolkien. I plan to fix that, but when I was in 4th grade I tried reading a copy of The Hobbit and couldn't get past the first few chapters.
Definitely going to be giving them all a second chance though, now that I'm solidly into fantasy and old enough to know better.
Definitely going to be giving them all a second chance though, now that I'm solidly into fantasy and old enough to know better.
Dante Sawyer
Lore Master
Hahah, so true. SoS really isn't good. Not only is it a ripoff of LotR, but even if the idea was original the writing isn't very good. I read this last year for a lit class and it's not something I would recommend. I don't even really think Brooks is that great in his later works. He's better, but just as lacking as in SoS. Read Mistborn or The Dark Tower. Much better choices.Well when you start off with a novel that is a shameless example of plagiarism and write it with a crayon on construction paper you really have nowhere to go but up...
Kaellpae
Grandmaster
I agree with Dante for The Dark Tower. Definitely worth your time.
myrddin173
Scribal Lord
I've never read the Dark Tower. When I first read Sword I didn't think it was reminicent of Tolkien, then again I hadn't read LotR yet. Although I am an avid Tolkien fan, the Shannara books hold a place near and dear to my heart; they are the reason I got into Fantasy so I will always defend their merits.
Angharad
Lore Master
I read the Sword of Shannara when I was a teenager, many years ago, and I loved it. I haven't revisited it since, so I don't know how I would feel about it now. I tried to read The Dark Tower recently and it was so boring I couldn't get through it.
Thistlefizz
Acolyte
I read it when I was about 10 and I loved it. I recently tried to re-read it and was... disappointed. I am glad that I read it before I had read Lord of the Rings, because I was able to read it without knowing that it was so derivative of LotR. At the time, I really enjoyed the story and it was one of the first fantasy books that I ever read. After reading The Sword of Shannara I couldn't get enough of fantasy books. So I'm glad the book is out there because without it, there's a chance that I might not have given fantasy a real chance. But, I do wish that I hadn't tried to re-read it as an adult. A bit of my childhood innocence died when I realized that Shannara didn't live up to my memory of it.
Would I recommend against reading it? No. But I would counsel people to keep in mind that it's not the best pieces of fantasy out there. And if they have a deep and abiding loyalty to Tolkein they might want to stay away from it to avoid getting headaches from how angry they might get.
Would I recommend against reading it? No. But I would counsel people to keep in mind that it's not the best pieces of fantasy out there. And if they have a deep and abiding loyalty to Tolkein they might want to stay away from it to avoid getting headaches from how angry they might get.