The Shannara Trilogy Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B002RCJ9HO | Format: EPUB
The Shannara Trilogy Description
Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil had ruined the world and forced mankind to compete with many other races - gnomes, trolls, dwarfs and elves. Half-elfin Shea Ohmsford learns that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world and the sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was The Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara. The Elfstones of Shannara is the only protection Wil Ohmsford has as he sets out on a perilous quest to protect a seed from the Ellcrys - a tree created by Elven magic that is dying, loosening the spell of Forbidding that bars the hordes of vengeful Demons from the Races of Man. And in The Wishsong of Shannara an ancient evil is stirred to life and threatens to destroy mankind.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 9 hours and 21 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Abridged
- Publisher: Phoenix Books
- Audible.com Release Date: October 1, 2009
- Language: English
- ASIN: B002RCJ9HO
I have to say, I LOVE the hardback omni-edition. The weight of it satisfies something in my heart. I don't always replace my paperbacks with hardback books, but this one is a definite buy. The Shannara books hold a really special place in my heart.
I used to teach ninth grade English. 25% of my grading system was based on each student's outside reading, and the writing they did about that outside reading. And you all know that the average 14 year old boy is going to categorically REFUSE to pick up a book, and so are a lot of the teenage girls.
The Sword of Shannara was my "failsafe" deal. I would hand the most recalcitrant kid in my classes this enormously fat little book, brand new, purchased by me, and agree that if they would just read THIS ONE BOOK, that I was personally giving to them, that would be good enough for the WHOLE YEAR. Other kids would beg for the same deal. I would agree, but they had to buy their own books.
Terry Brooks never failed me once. Every single kid I ever handed that book to (including my own siblings as teenagers!) not only read it, they kept reading Shannara books until they ran OUT of Shannara books. By then, they were hooked. I run into them from time to time, those former students, and the conversation invariably turns to 'what are you reading right now?' And the answer has never been nothing. It's ranged from the latest best sellers to Dante Aligheri's Commedia, from Mark Twain to Harlan Ellison, from TWOT to Star Trek. But there was always an answer.
So what if Shannara's not LOTR? NOTHING IS! Hell, TWOT isn't LOTR, and it's about 13 times longer at this point. I really don't believe it's possible to write fantasy, and not rewrite, at some level, LOTR.
I first read the Shannara books in junior high (early 90s) and instantly fell in love. They were the first epic fantasy books I'd ever read, the only other real fantasy book I'd read at that time being "The Hobbit." For the next decade, I'd read the Shannara books as they emerged, never feeling inclined to pick up the LOTR trilogy. For some reason, it looked boring to me when I was in high school. Then, in 2001, I decided that I'd better read the trilogy before the "LOTR: Fellowship" film came out. I really wanted to see the movie but felt that it would be bad form to see the film without having read the book.
So, I galloped through the trilogy, and it completely reframed how I viewed the Shannara books. In short, the LOTR trilogy completely blew me away. Aftwards, it almost made me sad to compare the two series. I spent a while feeling pretty negatively towards Mr. Brooks for what I felt were unforgivably blatant Tolkien rip-offs: Allanon/Gandalf, Elessedil/Elendil, Shady Vale/the Shire, wonderful elves/wonderful elves, etc., and all the other issues that Amazon reviewers have taken umbrage with.
I've since changed my tune. When all is said and done, when I go and re-read the Shannara books, they never fail to keep me up til 2:00 a.m., just as the LOTR trilogy does when it assumes a place on my night table. Mr. Brooks's works are, simply put, darn good pieces of storytelling -- when I'm lost in the pages of "The Elfstones..." at 1:30 a.m., it's not because I've been awake mentally critiquing Brook's characterization of the hero in the epic journey.
It is not Brooks's fault that he must write in Tolkien's shadow; Brooks certainly knew that his work was bound to draw comparisons (favorable and not so) to LOTR, and I think he has made the best of it.
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