I just stumbled across the monstrosity of a book that is the hardcover trilogy. Started reading it, only a few chapters in, but I am enjoying it. Just out of curiosity, I'm sure several of you have read it, How is the series as a whole? I know there are quite a few books in the world of Shannara...

 

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i enjoyed everything through the 7th book. after that i started losing interest. i also liked the knight of the word series which turns out to be a prequel trilogy set in our world. the first book is a beast and something of a lord of the rings knock off. its obvious he used lotr as a template but it worked and the book reinvigorated the fantasy genre back in the late 70s. the following books i think are actually a little more fluid and a bit better in alot of ways but that first book really captures the "epic" feel the best.

anyway you can't go wrong reading at least the first 7 books in the series. the characters in the books after that just failed to pull me in. from what i understand a new trilogy set in the shannara world is starting this year.

 

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I think Brooks is awful.

I absolutely hate stories where the main character has some badass magic and for whatever stupid reason they can't use it until the deus ex machina finale and he does it over and over again in every book.

I also hate how he basically writes the same story over again repeatedly. "Lets have the same thing happen again to the last book's character's children!"

I read the first seven books then washed my hands of the series. I do think books 4-7 are a bit better than 1, 2 or 3 but the whole thing annoys me on too many levels and is derivative of itself.

 

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I only read the first book and decided that was more than enough for me. He seems to just ramble on and on and on too much and repeat himself a lot, makes the book feel really slow. Felt like I was reading a book written by an old man with early stage alzheimers that would begin saying something, drift off, come back, repeat it again, drift on and come back and start over again. JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PART OLD MAN!

book 1 was the only one really like that. the other books have a better pacing to them.

 

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It's just creepy how you can change one word and it still stays true.

It took me 3 tries to finish it. It was a bit dry at parts. I liked the books after it, but not enough to re-read them a lot even though I own them all.

 

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