Terry Brooks - Shanarra series

[Ian]

I'm an avid fan of the horror and sci-fi genre and have been for as far back as I can remember. I was never interested in fantasy until I picked up The Sword of Shanarra at a friends house and read a couple of pages or so. I have the complete series on my book shelf now and wondered what other BGOers thought of this series - is it a little known cousin of The Lord of The Rings, or does it stand on it's own two feet.

BGOers, it's over to you.

[SlowRain]

I've read the original Shannara novels (3 books), the Heritage of Shannara (4 books), First King of Shannara, and Indomitable, a novella set after the events of The Wishsong of Shannara. I think The Elfstones of Shannara is by far his best, and one of my personal favorites, The Sword of Shannara is his second best, and everything else is worth giving a miss. I really didn't care for Wishsong, but I noticed a change in his writing after that novel: he began to write for a more juvenile audience. I think he realized that Fantasy was mostly read by teenagers, so he decided to target that market.

He's often accused of ripping off The Lord of the Rings, but that only applies to the set up of Sword (the opening one-quarter or so); everything else that he writes is pretty original. Robert Jordan also ripped off the opening of his Wheel of Time series from Tolkien, but no one seems to bother mentioning that. Also, Brooks is currently the second-best-selling Fantasy writer, Tolkien being the first.

There is a movie in the works for Elfstones; Mike Newell is directing and the release date is 2009.

[Renee Wildes]

OMG - "Elfstones" is going to be a movie? That's my favorite of the first trilogy, as well. The reluctant (& initially inept) hero, the "wrong son" Prince Ander who becomes king, evil disguised as good, the courage of the Free Corp, noble self-sacrifice and ROMANCE!

I disagree that Terry Brooks writes for teens. Granted I read him as a teen b/c that's how old I was when those books came out. I went to a very conservative parochial boarding school for high school, and speculative fiction was severely frowned upon and confiscated (even as they prayed for your poor misguided soul!). My roommate and I took turns reading aloud, whispering under the covers w/a flashlight so we wouldn't be caught by the hall monitors.

I think, like all fantasy writers, he coaches universal truths into a forum for the masses. Most genre fiction is written at a sixth-grade vocabulary level, so it can be read and enjoyed by all. Literacy is still an issue, and my daughter's five word rule (if you don't understand 5 words per page, it's too hard for you) still applies. Who wants a book so high-brow everyone puts it down because they got sick of going "Huh?" I know LOTS of adults that still read Terry Brooks, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Haydon.

It's modern mythology. I don't think people are ripping off Tolkien. I think, like Joseph Campbell, he's the base of the pyramid from which all other fantasy writers build. I loved Peter Jackson's vision. I have the Joseph Campbell lecture tapes, where they seriously dissect "Star Wars." There's the saying "there are no new ideas/plots, just new ways of presenting them." It's true.

I write high fantasy romance for Samhain Publishing. I have a heroine who discovers she's not what she thought, I have a hero who becomes the very thing he swore his entire life he'd never do, I have noble self-sacrifice and accepting the different, I have enemies working together to triumph over evil. Universal truths are never cliche.

[SlowRain]

Apparently the original 2009 release date was a little hasty. It hasn't been greenlighted and they don't even have a script yet (well, they do, but it's just a working one). Newell is currently directing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with a 2010 release date, so don't expect a movie for Elfstones before 2011. Of course, there is the possibility that the whole deal will fall through and there won't be a movie at all.

[chrysalis_stage]

I have read the sword of shannara so far and have the elfstones on my shelf to read. I read the first few pages and was hooked but had to put it down because I had too much work to do at the time. I am looking forward to reading it tho.

I enjoyed the sword of shannara and can see the Tolkien references but hey it was brilliant in its own right so I'm a fan.