Book Review: The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

I’m sharing a book review of The Sword of Shannara because I just finished my first book of the year. My goal this year had been to read 52 books. The first book on the agenda came from Terry Brooks – The Sword of Shannara.

I had watched the Chronicles of Shannara on Netflix (don’t be shocked that Netflix doesn’t stay true to the clean nature of the books – I don’t think the streaming service has it in it) and since they decided to cancel the show, I decided to go in search of more. I am fortunate that my father-in-law had taken a shine to the series when they were originally published. We have the full set.

I am now convinced it would be better to plan to read a certain number of pages in one year as opposed to a certain number of books. This epic adventure came out to 726 pages. There may have been a time when I could have read through it in a weekend, staying up until the sun came up, but those days are long gone.

It has be a little bit at a time for me these days.

Still, it was a very exciting story and clean. That was refreshing. Too often these days, there has to be sex and curse words before the story can be considered complete. This is my second ready from Terry Brooks and not a single issue has shown up.

Book Review for The Sword of Shannara

• THE BOOK touches on a dystopian future where the men of our time destroyed the world and the world the evolves includes men of different statures. We would call them dwarves, gnomes, trolls, and elves – but the truth is they are all different ways man has evolved after the devastation of the world.

• THE ELEMENTS include druids, magic, and otherworldly creatures. It could be categorized as a dystopian fantasy adventure – or that is what I would tell you if you asked. There are also epic battle scenes – lots and lots of battle scenes. If none of this is to your liking then you definitely don’t want to wade through the 726 pages. If you like adventure along the lines of Tolkien, then you might want to give it a read.

• THE STORY caught my attention and kept my attention for the most part. There were times when the detail descriptions of scenery lost me and I was scan over the words – much like I would have scanned over the scenery. But all in all, it was a page-turner.

• THE CHARACTERS were interesting, to begin with, and grew along the way. As is often the case in a grand adventure, not all make it to the end. Those that do make it grow and stretch and become more than one dimensional. My biggest struggle was trying to superimpose my images from the television show into the written characters.

• THE PLOT made me wish I had read the first book and the second one closer together – although the first book was actually written after the second one to explain some of what happened in the second one – which is why you can read this one without having read any of the others.

• WHAT I LIKED LEAST about the book was the bulkiness caused by the over described moments – many that could have been left out without harming the storyline.

• WHAT I LIKED BEST about the book was the simple moral that crosses from the fiction into real life. We all need more books that leave you feeling hopeful and closing the cover with a justified smile.

I look forward to more adventures, and I dare to wager that at least one of the remaining 51 books I intend to read will be in this series. I want to know what happens next. You’ll see more book review posts as I make my way through the stack by my desk.

Now it’s your turn!

• What would you like to see in the book review posts?

• Do you have any books you believe must be read?

• Do you have any reading goals for 2020?

I look forward to hearing your book reading and book review post suggestions.

The Mom

You can use my affiliate link to purchase your copy of The Sword of Shannara.