15. Terry Brooks Discussion

[Philip Overby]

Number 15 is a man that needs no introduction for most fantasy fans, Terry Brooks. I owned his first Shannara book years ago, but I can't remember what happened to it. That said, I've never read a full Terry Brooks book, although I'd love to give him another try.

His book Sword of Shannara was the first book ever to appear on the New York Times bestsellers list. He's sold millions of books all over the world.

I've read some criticisms of his work over years, but I can't say if they're true or not because I haven't read anything by him in full.

Thoughts?

 

[Ankari]

I read many of his earlier books. I loved them. Then I discovered other authors, tried to go back to him, with little success. I can't recall the reason, I think it has something to do with his stories being too similar, and that the world was a post apocalyptic mirror of our own. Something about that threw me off.

I may try him again. I owe it to him. He provided such fertile ground for my imagination to take root.

 

[BWFoster78]

I read a few of his back in the day when I searched every used book store I could find for anything scifi and fantasy related that looked remotely interesting. His stuff never really spoke to me though. It's been to long to try to figure out why.

 

[kayd_mon]

I started Sword of Shannara years ago, and because of a few major things in life, I put it down and never picked it back up. That was nine years ago now, so I'd have to start from the beginning. If memory serves, it starts out with a fairly close copy of LOTR, but then starts to deviate a bit. I remember not being really into the book, but not really disliking it either. One day, I will reread it and see what's what. Since I know it's derivative, I can just enjoy it for what it is. It'll be like listening to a band that copies the same sound of an older group.

The only full book by Terry Brooks I've read is the novelization of Star Wars Episode 1. I remember enjoying that much more than the movie (which isn't too hard, granted), but the book version of the plot felt much better. Whatever that's worth, I don't know, but I supposeit shows that if he 's supplied with an idea, he can run with it. Sort of like... Oh, nevermind.

 

[Kaellpae]

I've never read him, but he is on my list to read. Mostly because I've heard that the world I write in is similar in origin to his.

 

[yachtcaptcolby]

I've read a fair amount of Terry Brooks. Magic Kingdom for Sale inspired me to start writing fantasy back in the day. I always preferred his Landover novels to Shannara because I like fantasy worlds that interact with our own. The neat thing about Shannara, though, is that it's actually post-apocalyptic; it's what happened to the world after a demon-induced great war brought magic out of hiding, essentially. I really enjoy when he gets into that part of things. The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara and The Genesis of Shannara in particular stood out in that regard.

Otherwise, his Shannara books follow a pretty predictable pattern I've gotten sick of: there's a new evil, the elves just want to hide, someone named Ohmsford has to do something, and uh-oh! we have to find the elf stones again because they're always getting lost. And the Landover series falls off pretty quickly after Magic Kingdom for Sale. He's a good writer with a clear, easy to follow style, but he's gotten far too predictable and boring. I'd like to see him take on a new setting just to see if that helps him break out of that rut.