Book Thoughts: "The Scions of Shannara" by Terry Brooks

Not sure what to really say about this book. I'm certainly not an avid fantasy reader, but I have read quite a bit of it, and in the end, this book just seems to be a bit average.

I wouldn't say the book is poorly written by any stretch, Brooks sense of action and pace gets better throughout the Shannara series, and you can tell his style is getting even more refined. However, this book lacked any punch with it's characters. They're just the same basic characters that showed up in "Sword of Shannara," just with different names. Some might see it as stability, I see it as boring and keeps me from growing to care for the characters. There's just no diversity, and in the worse instances, it's down right annoying.

Of course Brooks is far from the only person writing in the fantasy genre that's guilty of this. Many avid fantasy readers trace everything back to "Lord of the Rings," and those parallels exist so strongly in the Shannara books that Brooks has taken a lot of heat for it. Still, the same can be said of other great fantasy authors such as David Eddings. Indeed, Tolkein wasn't original in his work either, borrowing much from the myths he so loved. After all, in the final analysis, you can trace most stories and characters back to an archetype, I just wish Brooks would change it up a bit.

Still, fantasy readers should enjoy the book on the whole, just don't expect any resolution at the end.