Welcome, readers of Shady Vale! Knights of Tyrsis! Home Guard of Arborlon! Welcome, one-and-all, to the reread of Terry Brooks’ classic epic fantasy novel, The Elfstones of Shannara. For the next several weeks, leading up to MTV’s debut of The Shannara Chronicles in January, 2016, we’ll join Amberle, Wil, Allanon, Eretria, and the elves of the Westland in their quest for the Bloodfire, and their war against the Dagda Mor and his demons of the Forbidding.
About The Elfstones of Shannara
Immediately following the release of his immensely successful debut, The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks began working on a sequel called The Song of Lorelei. It starred the son of Menion Leah (one of the main characters in Sword), and a siren named, aptly, Lorelei. Eventually, plagued by irresolvable plotting issues, at the insistence of his editor, the legendary Lester del Rey, Brooks abandoned the novel and began work on what was to become his most lauded novel, The Elfstones of Shannara.
(Fun fact: Lorelei was later re-purposed and appeared in The Heritage of Shannara series as Quickening.)
Where Sword took many of its cues from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (literally lifting the structure for its first half from Tolkien’s trilogy, along with characters obviously inspired by Sauron, Gandalf, the Nazgûl, Frodo/Sam, Wormtongue, etc.), Elfstones is entirely its own beast.
Set two generations after Shea and Flick Ohmsford’s adventures in Sword, Elfstones introduces readers to a new generation of characters, and brings back a few fan favourites along the way. Young Amberle Elessedil, scion to the royal elvish family of Arborlon, lives in self-imposed exile—eschewing her responsibility as one of The Chosen, caretakers of the magical Ellcrys, a sapient tree with the power to maintain the Forbidding, a demonic realm bent on the destruction of the Four Lands. Wil Ohmsford, grandson of Shea, leads a quiet life as a healer among the gnomes of Storlock, mostly ignoring the outside world until the Druid Alannon appears on his doorstep. As Druids are wont to do, he turns Wil’s life upside down, setting the young valeman, alongside Amberle, on a perilous adventure deep into the heart of the elven homeland in search of the Bloodfire.
For the Ellcrys is dying, and only Amberle, with Wil’s help, can save it.
Elfstones? Why not Sword?
Let’s be honest here, The Elfstones of Shannara is a much, much better novel than its predecessor. Where The Sword of Shannara was (intentionally) derivative, Elfstones is rich and unique—an epic fantasy that can stand against the best the genre has to offer.
Also, as you may have heard, Elfstones is being adapted for television by MTV. It’s debuting in January, 2016, and it looks awesome. Seriously, check out the trailer for The Shannara Chronicles, and tell me you’re not excited. As we read through the novel, I’ll be sure to discuss some of the aspects that I’m most excited to see translated to television, and some of the areas where I think improvement can be found as they modernize the show and mold it for a post-Game of Thrones world.
So, it’s not that Sword would be uninteresting to read—the opposite, in fact! With all its connections to Tolkien and its fascinating ties to modern epic fantasy, it’s an endlessly interesting novel to dissect—it’s just that Elfstones is (a) more topical, (b) a stronger book, and (c) a better place for new readers, especially those bred on modern fantasy, to begin reading the Shannara series.
Who Am I?
My name is Aidan Moher, Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink and author of Tide of Shadows and Other Stories.
More importantly, I have been a fan of Terry Brooks for almost as long as I’ve read fantasy (I started with Tolkien when I was ten, then moved onto Brooks, thanks to a recommendation from my mom), served for several years as a moderator on the Official Terry Brooks Forum, and still regularly review his latest novels. I also attribute Brooks for changing my life as a teenager through an act of kindness at a writing convention (which we’ll talk about later), the generosity of which cemented my desire to become a writer, and to fully embrace science fiction and fantasy fandom.
In March 2015, I wrote “How Terry Brooks Saved Epic Fantasy.” It’s an essay about Brooks’ impact on epic fantasy, and how, through his adventurous debut novel, The Sword of Shannara, and the genius of Judy-Lynn and Lester del Rey, he helped to pull epic fantasy from the post-Tolkien doldrums and become one of the most exciting genres in the ’80s.
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories is a collection of five science fiction and fantasy stories spanning adventure, comic whimsy, and powerful drama—from a star-faring military science fiction tale of love and sacrifice, to a romp through the dragon-infested Kingdom of Copperkettle Vale. Brooks had an enormous impact on me as a young writer, particularly in my desire to explore the interpersonal relationships of people who are thrust into life-or-death fantasy adventures, and his mark is all over the stories in my collection.
If you can’t tell, I love the guy.
Spoilers, ho!
The Elfstones of Shannara is an old book, read by millions of people, but there’s also an entirely new audience brewing thanks to MTV’s adaptation. So, I’m going to try to be somewhat judicious in the way I talk about spoilers in my commentary. If I think revealing a spoiler helps me better analyze something that happens earlier in the book, poor Allanon will let you know:
Otherwise, I’ll keep spoilers specific to what’s being discussed per the reread’s schedule. If you want to stay entirely spoiler-free, beware the comments section on each post. All you readers are free to discuss spoilers to your heart’s content—for Elfstones or the entire Shannara series. There are so many interlinking bits and bobs that rereading Brooks’ books is almost more fun than reading them for the first time, so don’t hold back!
Schedule
Rereading Shannara will run every Wednesday from September 2, 2015 to January 6, 2016.
- Sep. 2, 2015: Chapters 1-3
- Sep. 9, 2015: Chapters 4-6
- Sep. 16, 2015: Chapters 7-9
- Sep. 23, 2015: Chapters 10 & 11
- Sep. 30, 2015: Chapters 12-14
- Oct. 7, 2015: Chapters 15-18
- Oct. 14, 2015: Chapters 19-22
- Oct. 21, 2015: Chapters 23-26
- Oct. 28, 2015: Chapters 27-29
- Nov. 4, 2015: Chapters 30-32
- Nov. 11, 2015: Chapters 33 & 34
- Nov. 18, 2015: Chapters 35-37
- Nov. 25, 2015: Chapters 38-41
- Dec. 2, 2015: Chapters 42-44
- Dec. 9, 2015: Chapters 45-47
- Dec. 16, 2015: Chapters 48 & 49
- Dec. 23, 2015: Holiday Break
- Dec. 30, 2015: Holiday Break
- Jan. 6, 2015: Chapters 50-52
- Jan. 13, 2016: Chapter 53 & 54
Let’s go!
So, to wrap-up here, join me in the comment section below and tell me a bit about yourself, rereader. Who are you? What do you love about The Elfstones of Shannara? What are you expecting from The Shannara Chronicles? And, finally, what do you hope to get from this reread?
Aidan Moher is the Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink, a blog about science fiction and fantasy, and author of Tide of Shadows and Other Stories. He lives on an island in British Columbia with his wife and daughter.
I cant wait for this!
For some reason my first Terry Brooks book was Wishsong of Shannara (we were teenage boys, and Garett Jax was the coolest ninja in fantasy I guess?)
So when I then went back and read Sword and Elfstones I was blown away by how different Elfstones was.
What struck me most was Wil. Most of the other books focus on young, inexperienced main characters who need to learn how to survive and defeat the great evil. Wil was already an adult, and a capable one at that. He got things done with minimal hand holding. a very different mold than flick and shea, or wil’s kids (or naive hobbits)
Looking forward to your next post!
I approve of the idea to skip Sword. I tried listening to it recently and just died of the rocks of the Tolkien lifts. It doesn’t help that Robert Jordan did it better with Eye of the World, though he had the benefit of writing after the first wave or two of Tolkien imitators. Maybe I should try listening to Elfstones.
A schedule? How ambitious. Do you have a Druid in your back pocket to ward off the demons that plague other Tor.com bloggers?
I would say these are not well written books when I compare them to other books I am reading now, but I did enjoy them a lot when I was younger, like Templar, I was a huge Garet Jax fan as a kid, but I did like Wishsong the most out of that first trilogy, though Elftstones was great.
I cannot freaking believe that MTV is making Shannara…wth.
Count me in! Haven’t read all the shannarra books since I was a teen in the 90’s, so I’m definitely ready for a re-read. Also excited to see the tv series when it airs.
Thanks Aiden for being willing to do this re-read with us, you have some great qualifications and I can’t wait to hear your comments about Elfstones
Ok, I’m on board. Like you, Brooks is who cemented me as an Epic fantasy reader. I read Tolkien and Hebert in Middle School, but it just didn’t quite do it for me at the time. I had also read a bunch of Piers Anthony’s Xanth novels since 4th grade. Really loved them. So, at my sister’s recommendation, I read Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold!, and, not knowing it was an entirely different type of novel, I then picked up The Scions of Shannara. By the time the Ohmsfords had seen the shade of Allanon, and were making their way down to Rainbow Lake, I was completely hooked. By the time I was a junior in high school, I had read over 400 epic fantasies, had fallen in love with Middle Earth, and Robert Jordan, Weis and Hickman… I think I’d read nearly every fantasy series that was published after 1980.
There are series I’ve come to like better than Shannara. There are authors who I like better now… But I’m very excited for the MTV series, and to see the Ohmsford family, and Allanon, on screen.
I don’t recall a character in Shannara by the name of Quickbeam, although he did borrow quite a bit from Tolkien. I believe you mean Quickening. Sorry to be such a pendant.
I would have to rate Elfstones as one of Brook’s strongest novels, though I have not read is more recent efforts. There was just a great convergence of plot, narrative, characters, and setting development/ world-building that really made it shine, especially compared to his first effort in Sword. I worry that the new series will be a teen-agnst filled production such as can be found on the CW, but with better visuals. I guess time will tell.
Gadget @6: That’s correct–Brooks does say “Quickening” in the Q&A Aidan’s linked to, so we’ve corrected the typo. Thanks!
I was first introduced to epic fantasy in fourth grade. It was 1978, and my fourth grade teacher would read “The Fellowship of the Ring” to the class for reading time. She would then read at home, then tell us what happened the next day to catch us up, then read more from the book. I bought my first set of Lord of the Rings that year, and I was hooked.
Tolkien had a perfect set of knowledge, experiences, and abilities that made him uniquely suited to write his books. His knowledge of languages and ancient stories allowed him to create a world that not only had enough depth to support his story, but had an entire pre-history of multiple races, languages and development of languages, poetry, songs, art, geography, etc. He also created a god, and his servants, and described their interactions with their creations. He wrote all of this depth of history because he wanted to, and his story is endlessly richer for it. For me, reading Tolkien is like being submerged in a warm bath, where every part of me is surrounded by a pleasurable, satisfying experience that can only be provided in that way.
I have never read anyone else that even comes close to providing that experience for me. That being said, I enjoy reading many fantasy authors, including Eddings, McCaffrey, Jordan, Sanderson, and Brooks. I am excited about this re-read, and I hope they do a good job with the TV show.
A word of…council to the re-reader: IMO, the Tolkien re-read focused so much on technical things, i.e. narrative, structure, etc., that the Joy of the story was lost for me. Perhaps it is necessary to deconstruct and analyze everything in the re-read, but PLEASE don’t forget to include the joy of the story, for that is why we read these stories in the first place.
Thank you for listening.
I have not read the Shanara books, so looking forward to this reread. Is there any major occurance in Sword that we should know going into Elfstone?
This was my favorite of the series. I’d read Sword before this one, but I haven’t been able to get through a re-read of it (I tried recently). But I can vividly remember my first read of this one. It brings up all kinds of warm and fuzzy memories. I was really sick, running a high fever, and had been to see the doctor, who told me I had to stay at home in bed for a few days. On the way home from the medical center, my mom and I stopped by a nearby used bookstore so I could get something to read. I’d just read Sword and was excited to find a copy of Elfstones, but it was a trade paperback and out of my budget. I was ready to reluctantly put it back, but the lady who ran the store took pity on me, announced that there was a coffee stain on the cover (there was, a little bit), so it was damaged, and she marked the price down. So I spent the week with a tracheal infection lost in that world with those characters. I think that little act of kindness affects the way I view this book, but I still enjoy it for itself, though I trailed off on the rest of the series.
I only ever read Scions, and I don’t think I made it through that whole quartet. I remember being really intrigued by the concepts, but I think I was reading too high above my level at that point. I was maybe in sixth or seventh grade, and while I could handle The Eye of the World, Scions was too much for me.
I think this is a great opportunity for me to dive back in to these books!
Elfstones is definitely the best of the Shannara books. My dad read it to me, a chapter each monday. Helped take the sting out of going back to school.
Somehow, in 5th grade I knew that I wanted to be a writer, and picking up Sword of Shannara at school book sale cemented that. I’ve devoured every book since, but I haven’t actually re-read any of them except Sword. I was already planning on doing this for the new show, so I’m pumped to do it alongside my go-to guy for fantasy news/crit!
I think we can all agree that Terry Brook’s novelization of the Phantom Menace is easily his best work.
It’s all the greatness of the movie plot without having to watch any extraneous lightsaber duels…..Top….Notch….
The Tanglebox was one of the first books I read, before I knew about things like book chronology. I went back and read Magic Kingdom for sale – SOLD!, and the rest of the Landover series before crossing over to Shanarra. While I truly appreciate Terry’s ability to write a self-contained trilogy (all the others series I was reading seemed to end up being 10+ books), I’ve found myself enjoying his books much less as I’ve grown older. Perhaps a stroll back to the beginning will reinvigorate my love of his books.
Allanon-wards and upwards!
@14:
Oh, snarky. lol. I actually greatly appreciated the novelization of the Phantom Menace. I liked the insight into Obi-wan and Qui-Gon’s headspace. It made the movie more tolerable to me. It softened the disappointment.
I’m in.
I read Elfstones in my teens, and although it’s been ages since I read them for the last time, I do remember this book being my favourite.
Let’s see if I can find my paperback. I have stashed some books in boxes.
This will be fun. I might have to get some of Brooks’ books again to read along. I know I read a bunch of them when I was younger–but this was amid reading LOTR, WoT, Edding’s novels, and a host of other fantasy–and all I really remember was that Brooks’ novels all run together for me. It was like every book was the same. The same characters, the same arc, the same Good vs Evil. Add to that his being “inspired” by other works I’ve already read then yeah, all just one great blob.
Not to say they weren’t enjoyable, it just means I have a hell of a time knowing which ones I’ve actually read or not. But I just read the synopsis of Elfstones on wikipedia and I’m fairly certain I read this one (spoilers: I distinctly remember the girl dying at the end to become the tree). If that is the one then yes, I agree this is probably my favorite of all of Brooks’ that I’ve read. To me at the time the love story between them was one of the better ones I had read, even with its heart-wrenching bittersweetness.
I am actually looking forward to the MTV series since it looks promising. However I don’t subscribe to cable so… I will have to find another way maybe. But I just refuse to fork over $60 a month for a service I will hardly ever use. I can only hope cable companies die a quick death rather soon.
I’ve never been a big fan of Shannara. I read Sword in high school and saw it for the LotR ripoff that is was and never read any of the other books. A couple of years back I decided to give Shannara another shot and reread Sword and again was not impressed and again decided to read no further.
But the trailer for the MTV series has me intrigued. I will definitely watch it when it airs next year. So I guess the question is, is Elfstones really that much better than Sword? If so then maybe I should give Elfstones a go before January.
@15
Agreed. It went a long way towards helping me gaze into the depths of GL’s unconstrained creativity.
And if I ranked my top three TB books they would have to be based on some of my favorite characters.
1) The Talismans of Shannara: Cogline, who embraced Death.
2) Wishsong of Shannara: Garet Jax, the man who smiled at cackling.
3) The Elfstones of Shannara: Crispin and the Reaper, a bridge too far.
Wishsong is a pretty divisive book. Almost all the people who like it do because of Garet Jax, who was a proto-Drizzt (that is not a complement). I found it nowhere near as epic as Elfstones.
I remember when Wishsong came out, and I was talking to a friend who was a big Brooks fan. I asked him what he thought of the book. I remember his words to this day:
I just pulled out my mass market paperback from 1984, and the pages are yellow and the writing is faded. To keep the book from falling completely apart (which would be completely unacceptable), I’ll have to get an e-book. I loved this book so much I have read it dozens of times… Amberyl! And Wil! And an even more complicated and human Allanon!
My name is Jered Mayer. I’m the self-published author of the Convergence trilogy (Waypoint, Death Worth Living For, As the Earth Trembles). I remember reading the original Shannara, the Heritage tetralogy, and First King probably nine, ten years ago. I fell off after that (always wondered how the rest of the Shannara novels held up), but I REALLY liked what I read. I thought the magic system was interesting, the characters and settings were intensely memorable, and I liked that Brooks didn’t shy away from killing off memorable characters. Really prepped me for Abercrombie and GRRM. Looking forward to this reread and the show.
billiam @18: IMO, Elfstones is by far the best Shannara book (of the ones I’ve read—the original trilogy, the Scions quartet, and a few other random ones) and one of my all-time favorites. I would definitely recommend giving it a whirl.
I like so many others, read The Sword of Shannara when I was at high school. Some things I liked; other things were far from compelling. I sold it as soon as I’d finished reading it.
I re-read it during the noughties, along with the complete Shannara set – I’d managed to get them from the local library, all tattered and torn. If I’ve got any comment to say, it’s that Terry Brooks at times found it difficult to break free from his training as a lawyer, and it jumps in your face. This is why I prefer the Magic Kingdom series – he doesn’t attempt to hide his lawyerly leanings etc, in it, but instead uses it.
Shannara reread? I’m in! Like most people I have a love/hate relationship with Terry Brooks, but when he’s good, he’s as exciting as it gets. Plus I’ll never get over my affection for him as the first epic writer other than Tolkien I read (I was a little too young for Jordan when The Eye of the World first came out). Question: has anyone else noticed that the poor guy might be in danger of having the Ellcrys, by far his best concept ever, mistaken for GRRM plagiarism after the series comes out, when clearly GRRM is making an allusion the other way around? I noticed in the promo that MTV has gotten rid of the white bark.
How far is this going to go? Does Children of Armageddon (his best recent book IMHO) count as a Shannara book?
My name is Allan S. from Houston, Tx. I’m a long time fan of the Shannara series (even Sword) and have gotten into audiobooks while I’m traveling in the car just in the last few years. I haven’t reread the Shannara series again in a while and am due for a reread. This is perfect timing and I’m looking forward to it!
Brook’s Elves are one of the great twists of early popular Fantasy – he took the aloof and foredoomed High Elf concept from Tolkein, and melded it with AD&D into the far more human elves we see here. His Elves are long lived, hang about with trees, and have a deep affinity with magic, but they can also be twisted, darkened, and quick to jump to conclusions.
Actually Elfstones and Elf-Queen are my two favourite Shannara books – Wil and Wren are both nicely competent protagonists.
I started reading the Shannara books upon going into middle school after they were recommended to me by the same friend who told me I should read the Lord of the Rings and lent me his copy of the Golden Sun video games on Game Boy Advance. They were probably my first real foray into fantasy (LotR was probably way to over my head for me to have actually read them back then) and I loved them for that. That being said, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t make it all the way through Sword of Shannara even back then. I read the Heritage of Shannara books and then I picked up Wishsong of Shannara because my friend told me it was his favorite. My library had every Shannara book through First King of Shannara to The Heritage books except for The Elfstones of Shannara so I’m excited to say that I’ll be reading along with you but with new eyes.
Been a Shannara fan for a long time. Loved the older series including First King, Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong, and Heritage (my favorite!). Will definitely be joining in on the re-read. Thanks Aiden!
Like so many others, Brooks was the fantasy author I first read after Tolkien (Eddings came next, then Jordan, with some lesser knowns in between). While I obviously saw the parallels and derivations, I was still new to the idea and didn’t see its flaws, instead just how cool it was to have things I knew so well appear again in new incarnations. I’ve since of course seen the dangers of such direct homages and reworkings, but I still like them anyway for the sense of familiarity and fun they bring. And while I agree Jordan did it better, I still have a fondness for Sword.
That said, Elfstones has always been and will always be for me my favorite of his books. And that’s even including the fact that I actually loved Wishsong (and for more than Garet Jax) and Heritage. I still haven’t completely caught up on all the Shannara books (though I did very much enjoy Voyage of Jerle Shannara), and as I go through them I see Brooks gradually becoming darker and more bittersweet and tragic in his endings, which is certainly good for drama though probably a bit unfortunate for the general sameness and the feeling that emotions are being yanked just for the sake of it. But they’re still all stronger books for it. And Elfstones seems to be where the trend actually started…which means as is often the case, the first time is the best IMO.
While there aren’t nearly as many characters as there were in Sword (which is to its benefit), there were still more than I expected there to be based on the synopsis, which made for a fascinating read of how the various characters’ stories and lives intersected, developed, and affected one another. I’ll never forget the ending of course (which made me bawl like a baby and still brings tears to my eyes to this day), but there’s so much else going on…Eretria’s development from callous and selfish Rover to a genuinely devoted and heroic (but snarky) companion for Wil, Wil himself and his self-doubts (always a common theme in SFF, and for Brooks in particular, but through a different lens due to him being an adult and his profession), Allanon’s increasing humanity, Crispin and his gallant last stand, Ander’s maturation into a true king, and even side characters with interesting (Perk) or painful (Wisp) backstories. Add in a lot of big battle scenes that are even more exciting and intense than those in the first novel (and which seem to have more immediacy and make you care more for those involved), and you get a recipe for incredible success.
I’d also be remiss to mention the part that always drew me in the most: the Reaper and its inexorable pursuit of the dwindling party across the Westland. It was a shocking departure that plunged the book right into the horror genre (and psychological too, for that matter), and I’ll never forget how well Brooks uses the Nothing Is Scarier concept to its best results. He also does a magnificent job of making the characters memorable and their deaths horrific so that even for the ones you don’t know well, it hurts and terrifies to see what happens to them. And of course there’s no way the climax at the Pykon can be forgotten–still one of my favorite scenes to this day, not just of Brooks but in any literature. I can’t even describe why it resonates with me so strongly. Perhaps others on this re-read will be able to do so when we get there!
Anyway, stoked on the series, though I am not sure I’ll be able to see it. I also don’t know how often I’ll be able to respond to the re-read, but I’ll certainly be following along!
Elfstones was the first Shannara book I read and I loved it. I read it first because Sword was checked out from the library. While I was reading Elfstones, Wishsong came out and I rode my bike down to Waldenbooks to spend my hard-earned newspaper recycling money on it–I couldn’t wait for the library to get it. I loved Wishsong as well and those two have become my two favorite Brooks books. I liked all the rest well enough, but I didn’t like how Cogline got awkwardly retconned in First King and how relatives of characters kept showing up. Those sorts of things shrink the world of the books for me–it’s one thing when there’s a dynastic family like with the elves, but when just about every character has a relative show up in earlier/later timelines it’s just too much for me. And ultimately when the Word and Void became a prequel to Shannara, I was out. I liked the Word/Void trilogy on its own, but when I tried to read the book that bridged it to Shannara, I couldn’t even make it past the 1st chapter. The two universes are grand enough on their own, they didn’t need to be joined. Sure, there are plenty of common themes between them but I just don’t like shrinking them down to fit each other. I loved the mystery of Shannara’s great wars, I wish it had stayed a mystery.
My goodness! I go away on vacation for a couple of days and return to a very warm reception to this new adventure! I’m glad so many of you are excited about the reread, and I can’t wait to get things started.
@gadget #6 – Ack! Getting my nets crossed with my children of Faerie. Take away my geek card! Thanks for the correction.
@jfarish102 #8 – I think you’re going to like the direction I go with the reread. I have a very strong emotional connection to the book, and I’ll be exploring that in depth.
@Rynox2000 #9 – Brooks does a great job at catching you up on the necessary details, so I wouldn’t worry about hunting down a synopsis of tSoS.
@billiam #18 – I’ve a bit of a bias, but I’d say Elfstones is orders of magnitudes better than Sword, and can stand toe to toe with all the best of ’80s epic fantasy. Hopefully this reread will convince you to pick it up!
Excellent point, @27. One of the things that’s making me cautiously hopeful about the MTV version, actually, is casting John Rhys Davies as King Eventine. Using a not-conventionally-attractive actor as an Elf is a very smart move to get across “We have elves but they’re not LOTR elves”. No one but Tolkien has ever written good Tolkien Elves, but Brooks Elves–complete with panic attacks, identity crises, worries about succession because they aren’t functionally immortal, dealing with aging, etc.–can definitely stand on their own as an original creation.
Speaking of which, Elves are yet another reason to skip Sword, although it has its moments (though admittedly at least 90% of them involve Panamon Creel even though he’s only in a fraction of the book). Durin and Dayel are SO derivative, and do SO little in Sword, that I almost get the impression Brooks was thinking “I know I want Elves, but I haven’t really figured out what I want to do with them yet so I’ll just stick these placeholder guys in here and give Allanon some cryptic lines about Not Explaining Elves Right Now in hopes that I get a good idea and a sequel contract around the same time. . .”.
To all of you wondering about picking up Elfstones without having read Sword, don’t give it a second thought. The first two books take place in the same world, but are only loosely connected. Stones referrers to the events in Sword a couple of times, but it is not anything you need to know much about. I first read Elfstones without having read its predecessor and was fine. Elfstones is IMHO, as others have stated, the strongest of the Shannara books.
@20 Walker – I’m in partial agreement with you on Wishsong. As a teen, I liked it well enough, but it always seemed to be missing a note or two. Part of it was Brooks may have painted himself into a corner; there is only so much epic epicness you can do, at some point you just can’t one up yourself anymore. It had a fair number of good (or dare I say ‘cool’) ideas and world building, like Garet Jax, the Jachera (or whatever those crazy demons were called), making the sword of Leah a magical weapon with its own perils, the Wishsong itself, even the Mord Wraiths were more subtly sinister than the Skull Bearers of previous books in a way, though not well utilized. But the main problem, almost from the first pages, was that it felt very much like a swan song for the Four Lands and their stories. A last gasp before the end, and the narrative did not have the same drive and tension because of it. It seemed as if we were taking one last stroll through Paranor before sending into the shadow world, only to be recalled in a future age if the need arose.
Still, it was nice to see Brooks return to Shannara some years later with Scions, but at the time it really felt like Shannara was done.
I’m so excited that you are doing this! The Shannara series has been a part of my life since 7th grade, when I found a beat-up copy of The Elf-Queen of Shannara on my English teacher’s classroom bookshelf.
I have read every single book by Brooks, and while they aren’t all as stellar as this one, the impact they have is undeniable.
Without giving anything away, the ending of this book blew my high school mind. The TV show looks amazing, and I will be following this as a way to get ready for the series. Thanks Aidan!
Finally a reason to read Elfstones of Shannara! That sounds horrible, but let me explain. Reading the original Sword of Shannara has always been on my list. I’ve read the Word & The Void series, and both Genesis of Shannara and Legends of Shannara. I’ve loved all the books! I love the concept and think Brooks is an amazing storyteller. Over the past few years I have gone to my bookshelf and have contemplated reading the series. However, due to life’s demands as a Father of Four, a Professor, and my own writing career, I never felt that I would do justice to comprehending the tale and would therefore wait.
Nothing has changed. I am still a Father, Professor, and Writer. However, the idea of reading three chapters a week is doable! (Why didn’t I think of that? :O) The idea of a “virtual” book club is fun. (My wife and I have our own true-life adventure book club). So I ran out yesterday to get a paperback copy of Elfstones (because any collector knows not to tear open the shrink wrap copy that is displayed on my bookshelf, which I am sure will be torn open in fifty years by one of my grandchildren and cause me to haunt them!), marked the reading schedule on my calendar, and anxiously awaiting this adventure!
Thank you for giving me a great reason to read a modern classic!
Started the audiobook today on my drive to work (Thanks Audible!) Will probably just listen all the way through to remind myself of details, rather than follow along with the reread, but I’ll be around to comment!
I read this when it first came out in the 80s and loved it. I read it before SoS and was kind of glad I did. For some reason the order made SoS better for me. I had not read LotRs yet so to me it seemed totally original. Anyway, this has always been my favorite of the series. The Free Company is probably my favorite aspect and I was always hoping for a spin off series featuring them and Jans (aka Garret Jax). Looking forward to the re-read
I am for sure in, It has been too long since I first read it! I love this book but I do love all of Terry Brooks work so this is just great! Thanks for doing this and I will be already here in Bountiful, UT :)
*Amanda*
The first novel I ever read was Elfstones of Shannara!! It was 6th grade (1993), and we had just moved into a new building. In the first week each class got tours of all of the facilities (gym, locker rooms, lunch room, and….the library). During the tour of the library we were told to each check out a book. I just so happened to pick up Elfstones!! I’ve read read it at least 5 times, and its great every time.
I’m looking forward to following this reread.
Are you going to be reading all of the books (except Sword), or just the Elfstones? The title is just a tad ambiguous, but I’d love to be along for the ride if you’re revisiting the whole series!
@Kyle W. #42 – Right now we’ll just be doing The Elfstones of Shannara. However, as you’ve noticed, the series has been created as to leave the door open for possible rereads in the future. I can’t see reading all 25+ volumes in the series, but there’s the potential to go back to The Sword of Shannara and then wrap things up with The Wishsong of Shannara, depending on the success of this reread.
I’m 40 years old and I first read The Elfstones of Shannara when I was 12. It is to this day, my most favorite book.
I read Elfstones before The Sword of Shannara because I couldn’t find a copy of it. I lived in a very rural area. Up until then, I had mostly read a lot of old westerns and classic books, I hadn’t even read Tolkien. Elfstones is single-handedly responsible for igniting the love and passion that I have for reading sci-fi and fantasy novels and I will always be grateful to Terry Brooks for that.
Thank you, Terry! You keep writing and I’ll keep reading.
I am so excited to do this!
I read Elfstones in middle school. It was one of the first books I picked up after I finally mastered the English language. I have been a fan of Terry Brooks ever since and have read and own all the Shannara stories he has written.I have re-read Elfstones so many times my paperback is taped up to hold it together; those final chapters of Elfstones are still as powerful now as they were then. I just received a paperback first edition as a gift and it is my most prized possession. Now I just have to figure out how to get Terry to sign it!
I loved everything I saw in the trailer. When I saw a photo of Austin Butler, before knowing which character he was cast for I thought to myself: “That’s Wil”. The shot of the Ellcrys in the trailer brought me to tears. I think they will do a good job of “adapting” the story. I can’t wait until January!
Thank you!
I bought the Elfstones in the early 80’s from the SFBC mainly because the title intrigued me. When I got it I realized it was the second Shannara book so I got the Sword and read it first. I thoroughly enjoyed both and have been reading Terry Brooks ever since. I have read all the Shannara books, all The Word and The Void as well as the Magic Kingdom books, but Shannara is by far my favorite. I’m all in for the reread. This will be my third time reading it. A few years ago I reread the Sword/Elfstones/Wishsong and The Heritage of Shannara books before reading the First King. Can’t wait for this and January.
This re-read concept is new to me, but I totally love it. I reread a number of my favorites on my own, doing so with others sounds great. Sword of Shannara, like many, was my first post LOTR novel, and between the wonder of Tolkien and the work of Terry Brooks I was hooked and have ready many hundreds of fantasy novels since. Elfstones was always one of my favorites in Shannara, although SOS has a special place as the first book after Tolkien to truly capture my attention.
I am excited about Elfstones coming to life on screen, I believe that TV is the only way to capture epic novels without leaving much of the book on the cutting room floor in order to fit it into a neat little 3 hour or less movie.
I’ve sort of followed some of these re-reads from afar, so I decided to give it a go with a book I’ve never read.
When Sword came out I picked it up and never could muscle through it, so I held of reading any Shannara books until “The Word and the Void”, which I loved. So my knowledge of Shannara is minimal it’ll be fun getting perspectives of people that have read all the books.
Hey guys, I’m Nick, and like almost everyone else here I have fond memories of the shannara series as an initiation into the fantasy genre. My mom had the original trilogy along with the heritage quartet as that was all that was out by the time I first got into it, and I was still an elementary school aged kid starting to get bored with Goosebumps when she suggested trying out SOS. I had already read the Hobbit and loved it, so I figured why not. I picked up her old copy of sword, and as soon as I read the first chapter with Flick’s introduction to the foreboding Allanon, I was hooked. I have such fond memories of those stories. I read all the books my mom had, and by then, first king came out so I devoured that one as well. I even played the Shannara computer game. It was actually pretty cool, I took place between sword and elfstones, so the main characters were shea’s son Jak (Wil’s dad), and Menion Leah’s daughter. You ended up actually meeting a lot of the characters from SOS which I thought was pretty cool. I was pretty stoked when the voyage of jerle shannara came out and i really enjoyed it, however that was the last I have read from Brooks. I am interested in checking out all the new ones too, but I have been really been wanting to go back through the series again. I think I am going to do this reread, it would be fun to read through elfstones again at a slow pace and discuss with others.
I was just thinking of the Shannara adventure game the other day, @mole701! I don’t know if it was good, but I had a ton of fun with it. I really liked the artist’s interpretation of Brooks’ world, and a lot of the visuals have stuck with me to this day. My one gripe: that damn battle system.
This clears something up for me – after hearing about the world of Shannara, I read Sword and could barely finish it! To me it plodded a bit and didn’t seem very original. Glad to hear Elfstones is a completely different novel. Added it to my list after all.
Hey guys I think I may be confused on how this reread is going to work. Are we supposed to start reading chapters 1-3 on 9/2 and discuss the following week or is the discussion to take place starting 9/2, having already needed to read chapters 1-3 the previous week. I was just wondering since it is 9/3 and we have yet to have any discussion on the reading here, or is the discussion somewhere else?
Nevermind, I found it. I did not do an adequate search before asking the question. My bad.
For anyone else looking for an answer to @mole701‘s question: the discussion will happen on the dates above, so read the appropriate chapters in the week prior.
HI. LONG TIME LISTENER, FIRST TIME COMMENTER. Are these Qualinesti or Silvanesti elfstones?
I had Sword and Elfstones with me back in 1992 when my family was touring the Netherlands. I got bored with Sword, having just read LOTR, and seeing it for the knockoff it was. I had the exact edition of Elfstones pictured above. I raced through it and was having a blast. I got the the chapter where the 1800 trolls arrived.
My moms purse was stolen and Elfstones, so I just went back to chapter 5 or whatever of Sword. But man it was a long wait to get back to the states so I could find a copy of Elfstones so I could finish. Ander and Stee Jans are still among my favorite characters in any book ever.
The only thing this book is missing is Matty Ro or wren. :)
Are you going to share your thoughts on the episodes? I’d like to know what you think so far. I am super disappointed, they are really changing the story up!
I am livid with the series. If I hadn’t read the books I’d totally be for it, but, holy crud! Seems they’ve rewritten chapters and chapters of material to fit whatever they wanted. If this is the best they can do, I am not impressed.
I watched the series on television and totally fell in love hated when it wasn’t picked up for a second season so I would like to know about the book or books.