Terry Brooks......

[M. Brandsdal]

Anyone ever read anything by Terry Brooks.. I've hear that his writings are excellent and I've been wondering about getting a hold of a copy or two of his books..

Anyone got any recommendations (T. Brooks books of course ;) ) ?

[Valandil]

Hi 'M Brandsal'...

The administrators here around Entmoot like to keep everything 'in its place' - so this thread will probably be moved to the 'Fantasy and Sci-Fi Novel' forum. Don't take offense... it just helps everyone find what they're looking for once they learn the system. There might already be something in that forum on Terry Brooks.

I see you've been a member for awhile but haven't posted a whole lot... 'welcome back' then! :)

[M. Brandsdal]

Ok, I see.. I'm sorry, will try to post in the right 'place' (category?) next time..

Oh, and thank you, it's good to be back! :)

[brownjenkins]

i've read a few of them though not all

the sword of shannara is his first book and parallels LoTR in many ways (some people say too much so)... that said, he is a fairly good writer, far from the mastery or depth of tolkien, but entertaining to read if you can get past the blatant lifting of his plot from tolkien

most of his other books are followups to this book... i read the next two, which were somewhat predictable, but okay... all said, not a bad set of books, but probably not the kind you will want to read over and over again

[jellyfishannah]

I have a friend who loves reading Terry Brooks. She loaned me "The Sword of Shannara" to read but I haven't gotten past the first twelve pages, unfortunately. :) Too busy reading The Silmarillion.

[M. Brandsdal]

Originally posted by jellyfishannah
...gotten past the first twelve pages, unfortunately. :) Too busy reading The Silmarillion.

Hehe.. I know.. reading The Silmarillion is a stand-alone project - at least to me it is! :D

[Arcala]

I'd agree with brownjenkins that Terry Brooks' books are very like the LotR books, but aside from that fact they are very good. You should probably start with the Sword of Shannara. Another book, Running with the Demon, is not Shannara related but is good also.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Moving to the fantasy-scifi forum.:)

[Nurvingiel]

I have read all the Sword of Shannara books, but a long time ago.
I'm currently reading the last "mini-series" - the three Voyage of the Jerle Shannara books. I still have to read the third one (Morgawr), it came out in December.

I read one of the Knight of the Word books, but I thought the main character was a moron, which ruined my enjoyment of the book. I couldn't get into it. I'll stick with the Shannara books.

[Melko Belcha]

Terry Brooks is a good author and his books are very easy to read. His first book The Sword of Shannara is a LotR rip-off, and he dosen't deny it, but it is still a good book. The rest of his books pull away and become their own thing.

The Sword Trilogy:
I - The Sword of Shannara
II - The Elfstones of Shannara
III - The Wishsong of Shannara

The Heritage of Shannara:
I - The Scions of Shannara
II - The Druid of Shannara
III - The Elfqueen of Shannara
IV - The Talismens of Shannara

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara:
I - The Ilse Witch
II - Antrax
III - Morgawr

The High Druid of Shannara:
I - Jakara Ruus (? - not sure if spelled right)
II - Part 2 (Forthcoming)
III - Part 3 (Forthcoming)

I have not read his World/Void trilogy, but I have heard it is really good.

Word/Void Trilogy:
I - Running with the Demon
II - A Knight of the World
III - Angel Fire East

He also has a light fantasy series, but I was not able to make it past the second book.

The Magical Kingdom of Landover:
I - Magical Kingdom For Sale: Sold
II - The Black Unicorn
III, IV, V - The three other books titles slip my mind

[Mark of Cenla]

I have read all of the Shannara books, and I really liked them. I'd put Brooks into my top five fantasy writers. Peace.

[Grey_Wolf]

One thing I did notive when I first read the first Shannara trilogy was that TB had a tendency to almost go out of his way trying to KILL OFF his pretagonists, like this: "they are gonna die, they are gonna die, THEY ARE GOING TO DIE!!!! No they aren't!".

[Nurvingiel]

Originally posted by Melko Belcha
His first book The Sword of Shannara is a LotR rip-off, and he dosen't deny it, but it is still a good book. The rest of his books pull away and become their own thing.

Oh yeah, I realize this now. The similarities are all falling in to place. (Being an LotR rip-off could actually apply to a lot of fanatasy novels, and I agree it's a good book anyway.)
Skull Kingdom - Mordor
Shea Ohmsford - Frodo
Flick Ohmsford - Sam
Sleepy Hollow - Hobbiton
Skull Riders (or whatever they were called) - Nazgul
Sword of Shannara - One Ring (only analagous because they're both needed to destroy the Dark Lord).
Corrupted Druid dark lord - Sauron
(It's been ages since I've read this book, but it was excellent.

The title is
The High Druid of Shannara:
I - Jarka Ruus
btw.

I really like the Landover series. It's been a while since I read it, but I have read all the books twice - that should mean something. The 5th one is "The Tangle Box".

I just read Morgawr - wow, high body count on that one; even for Terry Brooks. :D The body count rivaled The Elf Queen of Shannara, and that one was up there. Anyway it was great, and now I absolutely have to read Jarka Ruus. It's out in hard cover (as of September 2003), and it will come out in paper back September 2004. I'm holding out for the paper back, but I'll take it out of the library.

Random aside, is it just me, or are Terry Brook's names completely impronounceable or random-sounding? I mean: Redden Alt Mer? Ard Patrinell? Grianne Ohmsford? Morgawr? (All those are from Morgawr btw.)

Happy reading guys!

[Melko Belcha]

Almost all of TB's character and place names comes from real places or from folklore. Morgawr is a real word, I believe it is some demon or folklore, can't remember right now. I read in an interview with TB and he said that when he travels he writes down the different names of people and places that he likes and then works them into his stories.

[Arcala]

Really? That's...interesting...

[Nurvingiel]

Yeah, that's cool. Is Margawr a Welsh word? It sounds as though it might be. The only reason I have trouble with TBs names is because they're nothing like I've read anywhere else. I don't think that's bad, I just have difficulty remembering them.

BTW the Magic Kingdom of Landover Books are:

Magic Kindgom for Sale - Sold!
The Black Unicorn
Wizard at Large
The Tangle Box
Witches' Brew

[Celebrinth Elentavari]

Eep, Terry Brooks. He's a good writer but I think his stories are much the same. I'm currently working through The Druid of Shannara. It kinda annoys me at times because it's a lot like LotR, but also that's why I like it. :D