First King of Shannara: The Shannara Series, Prequel

After a while, author Terry Brooks decided to do what many fans had wanted him to do, and tell some of the back-story of the <i>Shannara</i> universe. A quick note here, that Shannara does not refer to the world these adventures take place in, but to one of several in-universe families, in this case a legendary Elven family, that the adventures revolve around most often. The world these <i>Shannara</i> stories take place in is actually our own, thousands of years in the future after a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed modern civilization. In the wake of said devastation, man's science and the ancient faerie magic from before man both were revived.In recent years, Brooks has written <i>Shannara</i> prequels a lot, and this trend began, really, in 1996, with the publication of <i>First King of Shannara</i>, which details the back-story of the famous Sword of Shannara, which was forged during the brief “Second War of the Races”, mentioned by Allanon to Flick and Shea Ohmsford during <i>The Sword of Shannara</i>.The interesting thing is that, for those who are big Allanon fans, they will not find him much in this book until the very end. Even when he does appear, his contribution, though important, is quite minor overall. This is not his story, but the adventure of Bremen, his father, and last of the Druids who bequeathed his legacy to his son. Of course, right there in that paragraph are some major spoilers I'm leaving unstated. ;)<i>First King</i> is also the story of Jerle Shannara, the famous ancestor of <i>Sword</i> protagonist, and first published protagonist, Shea Ohmsord (who was adopted by the Ohmsford family, and is really a Shannara). The contrast between Shea and Jerle could not be more profound, yet similar despite all of this. I don't know if these contrasts and yet sameness were accidental, or on purpose with Brooks, but it works. Shea and Flick were smaller than most Men. In fact, they were often called, in <i>Sword</i>, “little Valeman”, and so forth. Jerle is a <i>big</i> guy, athletic, and strong. “Little” could never be used as a word to describe him. Shea was a simple civilian who had little to do with his Elven side, and helped run his adoptive father's inn. Jerle was a military warrior, and eventual king of the Elves, who is Elven through and through.Yet, despite these differences, Jerle and his descendant shared in common important traits. They both cared deeply for their families, friends, and others. They both made mistakes and knew about this, and did their best to defeat the enemy, in both cases the rebel Druid Brona (known as the Warlock Lord). The difference is that Jerle failed and Shea succeeded. Why? We don't know for sure. There could be several reasons. Perhaps Shea was stronger emotionally, or perhaps the pressure of the deaths of those he commanded impacted Jerle, while Shea didn't have this to deal with, or perhaps, as Allanon seemed to suggest in <i>Sword</i>, Bremen handled it in a bad way. Thus, Allanon handled it differently in the hopes (slim, but realized) that Shea would succeed in this way where his valiant ancestor had failed.What I really liked about this novel was two-fold. First off, Brooks did not shy away from the story of the original novel, <i>Sword</i>, while fleshing it out thoroughly. Thusly, he did manage to make the world even less like Middle-Earth, while not giving into those who childishly (and fraudulently, in my opinion) accuse <i>Sword</i> of being too derivative of Tolkien's works. The second part about <i>First King</i> that I enjoyed was how Brooks kept the novel very idealistic. In recent years, he has gone sometimes darker, but here, while he was somewhat dark for the history of the “Second War of the Races”, he still kept things idealistic. If only the more recent books were this way.I really enjoyed this novel, and Highly Recommend it to <i>Shannara</i> fans, and epic fantasy fans in general.

I have always liked Terry Brooks style of writing. I love the Shannara books. I recommend his books to anyone that likes sword and sorcery type books or to people who likes elves.

Great read. I appreciate that Terry Brooks waited until he was a more mature writer to go back to the creation of the First King of Shannara. I have followed his series from the beginning, back in the 70's. I still have the hardbound edition of The Sword of Shannara, illustrated by the Brothers Hildebrant. A truly wonderful book for a teenager looking for something as good as The Lord of the Rings. I recently finished Brooks latest book in the series, Wards of Faerie, which I enjoyed a great deal, then went back and re-read First King of Shannara,which I absolutely loved. I think Terry Brooks was one of the first writers of high fantasy that actually brought his characters down into the dirt of humanity--its many graces and foibles. But I must say, that after I re-read First King of Shannara, I went back to The Sword of Shannara, and was somewhat disappointed at the quality of the writing and development of the story.(Probably a foolish thing to compare the younger writer to the older writer!) Having said that, I remembered that Brooks was a very young man when he wrote this book, and for someone his age at that time, it was a magnificent effort. What I like best now, at 55, re-reading this book, is that I see it as a blueprint for the history of the series. And a wonderful series it is! Though I admire a great many fantasy writers (particularly the great Guy Gavriel Kay), Terry Brooks has always been, and no doubt will continue to be, my favorite writer of fantasy fiction. I hope that when I am an old man, you will still be pumping out the Shannara series, and I can ease my old bones back into the easy chair and lose myself, once again, in another magnificent world of Shannara.

Love this book read it about 5x reading next in line although I have read the whole series will read again

I became totally absorbed in this world created by Terry Brooks. I am moving on to the next book with great anticipation, I'm sure it will follow the First King of Shannara with the creation of magic!

Brooks made us fall in love with the Four Lands, Allanon, and so many other characters. He also is a master in narrating fights and battle scenes.This prequel we see Bremen, until now a shade of the past, fight the Warlock Lord and his minions. It is a must read for any Brooks fan and any fantasy fan in general. Cheers.

Brooks is a weaver of this wonderful tapestry of rich contrasts. The wordsmith here cracks open a door to a world in which magic, blood and ability exist. A world where druids, elves, dwarves, border folk and humans to name but a few of the races, will all eventually have their parts to play. A world in which they must come together in order to fight against those whom magic has twisted and perverted, those who have chosen to walk in the dark and seek to subjugate them all.

About halfway done with it, and it is an okay book so far. Something I dislike about the plot is that there are a couple of characters actions that come off as very contrived, mostly I find it hard to believe that the main character would share so little information with his companions about the antagonist, leading them to make unbelievably stupid decisions.On the other hand, I think there is a bit of romance blossoming here and there, and it is refreshingly not cheesy, as there is no love at first sight, and he does not go on to describe women's breasts everytime one appears in a scene, things of that nature. And so far no disturbingly violent things have made me cringe like in A Song of Ice and Fire.My biggest complaint is that this does not seem to be a trilogy. It is a prequel to a trilogy. Am I the only one confused by the title? I feel kind of ripped off for $8, but I guess I should read the description more carefully next time.

A millennia has passed since the great war that brought an end to civilization as we know it. In the meantime, the survivors – from mankind and those races that resulted from various mutations – have learned to cope with the shifting tides of significance.Old knowledge resurfaces in a different world, but the future’s descendants haven’t learned the lessons of the past and discover too late that the abuse of magic also bears a consequence...and no one more so than the former Druid, Brona.After the fateful misuse of magic during the First War of the Races, the Druids of Paranor – protectors of history and ancient knowledge – combine their wisdom and resources in a concerted effort to protect those who are left.But evil has a way of fomenting in secret, and if the Four Lands are ever to escape the ravages of the past then they need to unite behind a talisman powerful enough to answer the challengeThe First King of Shanarra is an action-packed, epic tale of adventure from one of the best fantasy writers of our times. It is also an excellent precursor to the story that started it all nearly forty years ago.Don’t miss out.

THE STORY:The complacency of the Druid Council has allowed the rogue Druid Brona to become the Warlock Lord. The Druid Bremen and a small group of followers seek to counter the Warlock Lord by creating a magical artifact; the Sword of Shannara.WHAT'S GOOD:'The Sword Of Shannara' was well written, but far too much like LotR to be a satisfactory read (I'm not saying LotR is bad! I'm saying lesser copycat novels are). Here, however, Brooks tells a much more original story that can either be read first or to reveal more about the people and events of the later books. I enjoyed seeing Bremen and his friends in action, each representing a different aspect of the Druid magic. This book also goes some way to tying together 'The Sword...', 'The Elfstones...' and 'The Wishsong...' as well as dropping strong hints towards the Heritage of Shannara series (things like Cogline's Druid origins and the Black Elfstone). Best of all in this book is the substory of a young orphan boy who becomes attatched to Bremen's mission. A boy named Allanon.WHAT'S BAD:People who've read Brooks' other Shannara books will not only be largely aware of what's going to happen here, but also will experience a 'read one, read them all' feeling in regard to his descriptions of battles against larger armies in which some magic or other turns the tide at the last minute.

If you have followed the tales either from their chronological by release date of novel or chronological sequence of events in the world he created, then this may come as somewhat less than inspiring. It is a "must have" for all Shannara devotees and TB followers. Even his mediocre offerings are worth the time to immerse yourself in the rich world he has created. For any potential new readers of TB, it might not be the best place to start. Have a look at Amazon's or TB's web sites for guides to reading that will fit your preferred approach to a new author. It is somewhere between Tolkein & Feist in literary terms for my money, and they're both worth finding the the time to read. I had to dock him a star for this one though because it felt somewhat formulaic for someone who has read the "Scions" series already.

This one worked well and helps backfill the first big battle with Brona, the rebel druid. One thing I will say is that this story doesn't work without reading the first Sword of Shannara trilogy, so read that first (in fact check Terry's website for the reading order!)

As like all of his books he jumps from one story line and then you are reading a nother store line. And then you jump back to the other part this is what makes him a great Auther.