Terry Brooks - The Shannara Trilogy
Overview:
Genre: Fantasy
Stars: 4 out of 5
Author's Website: Terry Brooks
My thoughts: These books were quite entertaining, when I read them many years ago :) I seems to remember them being quite "epic journey"-ish, and easy to read - similar to Tolkien, from memory - but it's been a while!
The Books:
"The Sword of Shannara" - Published 1977
Long ago the world of Shea Ohmsford was ruined by the wars of ancient Evil. Now mankind must compete for the Earth with many other races - gnomes, trolls, dwarfs and elves. But Shea, the half-human, half-elven adopted son of an innkeeper, knows little of such troubles. Shady Vale, where he grew to manhood, seems a haven for peace.
Then into Shady Vale comes the giant, forbidding figure of Allanon, possessed of strange knowledge and even stranger Druidic powers. To Shea, he reveals that the evil Warlock Lord, supposedly long dead, is once again plotting to destroy the world. Against this Power of Darkness the sole effective weapon is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true descendant of Jerle Shannara. Shea is the last living heir: on him rests the hope of all races! When Shea protests that he is no hero, the Druid states that he must reclaim the Sword. In the morning Allanon is gone, leaving behind a mysterious warning note.
Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of the Warlock Lord, flies to the Vale, seeking to destroy the last heir of Shannara. Rather than risk destruction for the Vale, Shea and his skeptical half-brother Flick flee, drawing the Skull Bearer after them. Allanon's cryptic orders have directed them to Culhaven, home of the dwarfs. Somehow they must go there to await him, despite the Skull Bearers and other unknown, dire perils. And beyond Culhaven, they must enter the ravaged Northland, where the Warlock Lord holds total dominion.
Thus begins the seemingly hopeless quest of a simple man against the greatest power of evil the world has known. Valiant comrades join him against a host of foes and soul-wrenching dangers. Terrors and wonders increase as the overwhelming armies of the Warlock Lord move toward war. But in the end, Shea alone must confront the Lord of Evil without knowledge or hope to guide him.
"The Elfstones of Shannara" - Published 1982
Ancient, ultimate evil threatened the Elves and the Races of Man. For the Ellcrys, the tree created by long-lost Elven magic, was dying, loosing the spell of Forbidding that locked the hordes of ravening Demons away from Earth. Already the Reaper, most fearsome of Demons, was free. Only one source of protection was powerful enough to stop it: the Elfstones of Shannara.
The Stones and the right to use them belonged to Wil Ohmsford, given him by his grandfather Shea. And now Allanon, legendary Druid guardian of the Races, summoned him from his studies in Storlock to protect Amberle, the Elven girl who must carry a seed of the tree to the mysterious Bloodfire, life-source of earth, there to be quickened and to create a new Ellcrys.
While Allanon and the Elves fight a hopeless war against the emerging multitudes of Demons, Wil and Amberle plunge forward in a seemingly impossible quest for the Bloodfire. Before them lie unknown dangers, impassable barriers, and the savage Wilderun, from which none have ever escaped.
Behind them follows the Reaper. Against it, Wil has the Elfstones -- but he has lost all power to control them. Weaponless, he and Amberle watch as the shadow of the Reaper appears on the trail before them...
"The Wishsong of Shannara" - Published 1985
Horror stalked the Four Lands as the Ildatch, ancient source of evil, stirred to new life. Once it had sought dominion through the Dark Lord and his dread Skull Bearers. Now it sent the ghastly Mord Wraiths out to create war and destroy Mankind.
And again Allanon, legendary Druid protector of the Races, had to seek aid from a descendant of the Elven King Shannara. For Brin, daughter of Wil Ohmsford, held the magic power of the wishsong. To her, it was only something to make plants bloom instantly or to turn trees from summer green to autumn gold. But to Allanon, it was the only means to penetrate the vile growth that protected the Ildatch. Reluctantly, Brin joined the Druid on his perilous journey eastward.
Behind, her younger brother Jair was soon kidnapped by gnomes and also forced eastward. Then finally freed, he learned from the mysterious King of the Silver River that Brin was doomed to fail and die -- unless Jair could somehow reach her in time!
With a strange band of companions, Jair set out through the very heart of evil, where death threatened with every step. And ahead, the Ildatch waited, nursing its plans to trap Brin into a fate far more horrible than death!