The Sword of Shannara: Reviewed

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks is an epic fantasy that began the long series of Shannara novels that still continues today. The story follows a band of adventurers that seeks to put a stop to the evil Warlock Lord's plan to rule the world by finding the lost Sword of Shannara.

The world of The Sword of Shannara is a segregated one, with the many races of the world secluded from each other in ignorant bliss. The enigmatic Allanon tells Shea Ohmsford, a young half-elf leading a normal human life in idyllic Shady Vale, that he is the only surviving heir of the Shannara legacy. With the knowledge that the Warlock Lord seeks to rule the world, the boy and his brother, Flick, must embark on a journey that will embroil dwarves, trolls, elves, and men in a race against time to recover the Sword and slay the Warlock Lord.

Shea Ohmsford is a boy coming of age hoping to only live with the old ways of keeping out of the business of other races when his own life is threatened by a stranger too many miles north to count. Through the adventure, he learns to love the strangers he meets and his relationships with his friend, Menion Leah, and brother, Flick, flourish as they struggle together.

As Brooks's first book, The Sword of Shannara follows in Tolkien's footsteps, reinventing the standard elements of the long-lost king, the enigmatic sage, the loyal best friend, and the cocky savior. The book suffers from the slow voice of the high epic, where the action rises and falls with the necessity of description on such a grand scale.

The plot follows one line until all of the main characters get separated halfway through the book. At that point, the storyline fragments into as many as four different paths. Such a severe divergence from the first half of the book may confuse and frustrate readers; Brooks has a tendency to end almost all chapters on a cliffhanger that may not receive resolution until four or five chapters have passed.

The Sword of Shannara offers a basic tale that gets complicated as it goes on. This expansion of the general formula frustrates and delights. For the reader that can survive such tension, the book is a rewarding and thoughtful experience that threatens to entrap readers to read the long series.