The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks

As a prequel to Terry Brook’s original Shannara series, this book feels quite at home and does round out the story, the world, and the events of those first three novels. That said, once you lower your expectations and accept the fact that these stories aren’t likely to stray very far from the template, this extended series can be quite enjoyable, particularly if you enjoy good, escapist, low risk fantasy (the diametric opposite of George RR Martin). As a result, most of Brook’s novels tend to feel similar and are of a similar tone with characters that stray very little from the norm. You have a character who finds himself (or herself), typically through circumstances beyond his control, suddenly thrust into a quest with an assortment of companions of varying races to travel to _ in order to find the mythical _ so that he or she can usually do something to save the world. Precitable and Fun, a Typical Brooks FantasyĪll of Terry Brook’s novels, at least the Shannara novels, follow the same basic template. Lets call them such, shall we? The narrator was excellent 'tho. And what?s with all the female character?s being called ?girl? The author refers to Preia as ?the elf girl? and Merrith as the ?druid girl? but the male characters are all called ?men? come on now. Not quite up to par with the rest of the books. The romances were hasty and very contrived. If a story is going to have romance in it. But the rest of the characters had as much personality as department store mannequins. I felt sorry for him and the pain/sacrifice he bore at times. The only person I actually really liked was Bremen. The three major romantic relationships featured in this book are quite dysfunctional. Relationships are passionless and handled poorly. Reluctant to become involved, reluctant to believe, reluctant to wield the sword properly. They are out to find/forge the sword of Shannara, and everyone is reluctant. There is a druid muttering some mystic mumbo-jumbo. For some reason the plot failed to grab me. I listened to the audio version of Firstling of Shannara, and while I enjoyed the narration, I found the story a little boring and predictable.

The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks