The Sword of Shannara is a 1977 epic fantasy novel by Terry Brooks.

The story interweaves two plots into the four lands fantasy realm. Shea Ohmsford sets out on a quest to find the titular sword and use it to confront the evil warlock Lord Brona. The other storyline shadows Prince Balinor Buckhannah’s attempt to oust his crazy brother Callahorn while his country comes under attack from the warlocks Armies.

Shea is a half-elf and the last of the bloodline of Shannara, a fact that he learns when the Druid Allanon comes to visit him in the sleepy shady vale. Only the heir of Shannara can stop the dark lord’s plot to destroy the world.

I’ll be honest, the tv show Shannara chronicles introduced me to this fantasy series. The only book I had read by Terry Brooks was his adaptation of The phantom menace, way back in 1999. That book turned out to be better than the film it was based on. I really enjoyed the show, with its cheesy dialogue and low-fi production values. What could have been a low-rent Lord of the Rings knock-off trying to cash in on the Game of Thrones mania sweeping television in the mid-noughties turned out to be a fun adventure show, largely down to the charisma of the leads. After binging the show on netflix , I thought I would try the books, and what better place to start than the beginning.

Lets start things off by saying that Sword of Shannara is a story that wears it influences on its sleeve. But if one accepts that every single story you can ever imagine has already been told a thousand times, then one can overlook its overt references to Tolkien’s ring saga. It’s not the story that’s original,its how you tell the story that makes it unique. Here there is lots of fun to be had with this engaging story and likable characters. Just about every conceivable fantasy cliché is in this novel. Wizard guide , check, guest, to defeat dark lord, check, a Magic object that can alter the balance in the universe, check, There is even a Gollum-like character who is determined to steal the sword of truth for himself. It feels that shannara condenses the three books that comprise Lord of the Rings into one abridged novel. I think that is unfair to Brooks because, despite the obvious similarities, there are significant differences as well. Shea is a  different character to Frodo? He is just an ordinary person who finds himself in an extraordinary situation and is just trying to get through things as best he can. The story’s pacing has more in common with Star Wars than Lord of the Rings. It is not an academic treatise on myth or language. Shannara is a straight-forward action-adventure story, It’s also action-packed, with plenty of battles and court intrigue to keep our attention. Magic swords are a common motif from Scottish folklore and Celtic mythology, and the sword of truth is an interesting MacGuffin to pursue.

The story’s events take place 2000 years after the ‘ Great Wars ‘. A nuclear holocaust wiped out most of the planet and sent the remnants of humanity back to a new dark age. Magic has been rediscovered. One cool part of the lore is how mankind mutated into several distinct races such as dwarves, gnomes, and trolls. Elves emerge after living in seclusion from humans for centuries. Personally, I love the idea of post-apocalyptic high fantasy. I think of Lord of the Rings crossed with mad max and for me that is a very cool concept in my mind. Of course, Sword of Shannara is very much a high fantasy in the traditional sense. I think that Shannara is a good book for young people dipping their toes into high fantasy. It’s easier to read than Tolkiens High level prose. It’s shorter than the rings’ saga, too. It’s not too dark or violent, and I think if you have never read Lord of the Rings , you would enjoy it even more without constantly making comparisons. There are not many female characters in this story, which makes this a boy’s own adventure story. This was written in the 1970s, and the target demographic was intentionally boys. The writer took onboard a lot of criticism for that even back then, and he made an effort to include more women in the excellent sequel elf stones of Shannara.

I listened to some interviews by the author and he comes across a very nice man who wrote sword of shannara over a seven-year study between his intensive law studies. He began writing the novel when he was twenty-three. Anyway, the guy has made a lot of money from this series and he does not need me to defend him, but I think the book was harshly criticized for being too derivative of Tolkiens work. The fact is that Del-Rey publishing, a subsidiary of Ballantine books, choose shannara as the title to front their new fantasy line exactly because it was similar to Lord of the Rings. At that time, Tolkien’s book was trending among fantasy readers and the market was looking for similar works that could cater to the demand for more. Wizard of the West Coast had also launched Dungeons and Dragons during this period, and there was a demand for more high fantasy in the style of Tolkien. Tolkien had passed away and no new middle-earth books were coming, so someone had to fill the void. I thought it was a fun, well-written fantasy novel that ticked all the boxes of the things I wanted a fantasy novel to have. Also, I have to mention the stunning artwork and book cover design created by the Hildebrandt brothers for this novel. It is in my own humble opinion one of the best book cover designs and must have been a factor in the selling of this novel which went on to become a bestseller. Its success despite the naysayers allowed Brooks to give up the bar and pursue writing as a full-time career. I am glad he did because he went on to write a number of brilliant fantasy novels.