Above all, the Sword of Shannara is a gateway to much better sequels, which have a lot more originality - and marginally more subtlety - in the writing. One improvement on LotR is that no races are portrayed as irredeemably bad. The ending is satisfying enough to be worth getting to, and there are some decent minor plot twists along the way. It is, eventually, different enough from LotR to be engaging. This book could never be used for an English Literature class, because Brooks has already written the students' essays for them! THE GOOD: The story is fun. Brooks tells me that deserters are the worst form of coward so that is what they are). Worst of all, readers are never allowed to form their own opinions (good for Orl Fane for being independent-minded enough to escape an unjust war. Where Middle Earth has depth in its place and languages, the Four Lands is a hodge-podge: rivers flow in implausible directions, and geopolitics is debated by the equivalent of medieval peasants. Where Tolkien develops characters through their actions, Brooks describes everyone's personality traits to the reader. Against him, the Elven King Jerle Shannara wielded the fabled sword that bore his surname and triumphed. THE BAD: It is to some extent a reimagining of Lord of the Rings, and suffers by comparison to a great work of literature. The narration is competent though not to my taste. Shea Ohmsford is the protagonist of the Sword of Shannara.

This is an enjoyable but extremely flawed fantasy story. Allanon often called on the aid of the Ohmsford family in the novels, as they are descendants. Worth it as a gateway to the much better sequels

Download allanon sword