Background
Published in 1977, “The Sword of Shannara: In The Shadow of the Warlock Lord” is the first book in a series by Terry Brooks. The story is set in the Shannara universe, where the last remaining descendant of the Shannara family, Shea Ohmsford, is tasked with finding the powerful Sword of Shannara to defeat the evil Warlock Lord. With the help of his brother Flick and the wise Druid Allanon, Shea embarks on a perilous journey, facing various magical creatures and challenges.
My Thoughts
I don’t remember too much about this book but I could have sworn I’d read it before. Still, Terry Brooks is finding his feet with the characters and series in general. While I understand the need to set up heroes and villains, I feel the characters are too black and white. All good or all bad. The elves, dwarves, and so on are a little bit different than other cultural mainstays such as Tolkien. Like many series, the first book could stand on it’s own without going further, but I’m interested to see where the story goes from here.
Recommendation
Not bad, but there are better stories out there.