| Terry Brooks Shannara |
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| To Books |
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| Shannara Series First King of Shannara (1996) The Sword of Shannara (1997) The Elfstones of Shannara (1982) The Wishsong of Shannara (1985) The Heritage of Shannara Series The Scions of Shannara The Druid of Shannara (1991) The Elf Queen of Shannara The Talismans of Shannara (1993) Publisher Del Rey Link Terry Brooks' Official Site |
| This series is absolutely wonderful. I read it before Tolkein's series, though, so The Lord of the Rings was a bit spoiled for me (they have nearly identical plotlines). Anyhow, the characters are great and the books are impossible to put down. This series jumps around in time a lot. First King of Shannara is first chronologically, and gives much of the history behind the books, though I would wait until the end of the first three books to delve into it (you don't want anything spoiled). The Sword of Shannara to The Wishsong of Shannara are set relatively closely in time, with the main characters Shea Ohmsford (a half-elf Luke Skywalker-like hero), Amberle Elessidil, and Brin Ohmsford. Alannon, a Druid, (mcuh like Gandalf) fights the forces of evil with the help of other righteous men. The last four books skip ahead three centuries to another menace of evil lurking on the horizon and the heros of a new era who must overcome it. The first few books are mirror of Tolkien almost exactly, but the rest of the series diverges a bit. It is incredibly well-written, and is worth a read. I give it an A- (merely for lack of originality). |
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