i loved the Sword of Shannara. I read it when I was 13 and was forever hooked on reading after that. Brooks first novel Sword literally introduced me to my favorite pastime--reading. i now read four to five books a week. And so I was excited to read this prequel when it came out. But unlike the charming and sprawling Sword of Shannara, the First King of Shannara is told in Brook's new hurried and rushed and edited voice. It's a strange thing to say but Brook's books were better when he was a much less experienced writer.

Plus, unlike Sword, there is too much wierd magic in First King. Sword was good because it was a straight-up adventure story. Brooks' later books like First King have become loaded down with too much wierd magic and too many goofy flying pirate ships and nerdy nonsense like that. Read Sword and only Sword, maybe Elfstones. Beyond that the Shannara books have just become like all the other typical dork fantasy drivel.

But I do own all the Shannara books, in hardcover no less. So i guess i just got a soft spot for the guy that got me started reading.

brian d

First King helped to answer a lot of the questions I had about the Sword of Shannara trilogy, such as the history of the creation of the actual sword and how Jerle failed at defeating the dark forces. It also brought into play the black elfstone, giving us a little more information about this mysterious stone.

The book was relatively short for Brooks, considering it was a one book stand alone novel, but this might not be a bad attribute for someone new to fantasy.

If you are new to fantasy and Terry Brooks, this would be a great place to start. But I'd suggest that you also get the Sword of Shannara so that you can go immediately from First King to Sword so that bits and pieces of the history from First King are still fresh in your mind. This will help to makes sense of things in Sword, allowing you to relate to the past.

I love all of Brooks books, and although I loved First King, it was probably my least favorit in the Shannara series, but probably because I still want more history on the origin of the first Druid council, the actual first falling of the dark lord and some other tidbits I've pondered on along the way. All in all it was a fun read and answered half of my questions, so Terry if you are reading, we still need a prequel to First King and after Gypsy Morph...Maybe First Druid Council of Shannara? :)

In the First King of Shannara, Brooks attempts to provide the back story to a series, and not just any series, but the series that catapulted Brooks to fame and fortune, the Shannara triology. This is indeed and ambitious project, since The Sword of Shannara, and its companion books are among the best loved of all of Brooks works, and any attempt to 'tack on' a prequil could be considered dangerous to his reputation, should it fall short of expectations. Whether or not Terry failed his fans with this book is still undecided. For some, clearly it recaptured the magic. For others, it was some brilliant writing interspersed with a few small bits of predictable drivel. I really think YOU should decide for yourself... because there is enough in this book to make it required reading for Brooks fans.

If you want to read this, and reread the Shannara trilogy to try and recapture the whole first story, you will find out one of the problems. This book does not have the feel of the original series. While the first series is filled with many personal insights into the characters thoughts and emotions at each step of the journey, this book provides somewhat less than that. Some of the character portrayals feel underdone, and somewhat less their potential would allow. This is really evident in the ending, where readers are hammered by how an unfortunate death keeps ruining the confidence of the leader. We are constantly nagged by the leaders self doubt, and how it is always related to the unfortunate death. Since self doubt usually brings up all our painful failings, why doesn't it in this character? In the end the character borders on self-loathing and his whole emotional state becomes more of an annoyance than any semblence of real depth.

I felt that the whole "forging of the Sword of Shannara" bit was a little predictable, since Brooks chose the straight path of accomplishing his desired end. Basically, if you read the "Sword of Shannara" you have the short version. This is the long version, with absolutely no unexpected twists. You have a sword made of steel (from a recipe nearly lost to time) in the iron age forged with druid fire, a talented sword maker and a whole lot of special effects. You go to the Hadeshorn to get the dead druids to put their magic in it. The long version adds nothing to the old short version. I felt really stupid reading a whole lot of pages to find out what exactly I already knew or expected would happen, plus a few exaggerated rumors.

Other than this unnecessary bit of anticlimax, the book has a solid feel about it, with a grand style of storytelling. The stories, and the characters are really special, and even if you knew the what the final result would be, the journey from point A to point B was really where the meaning could be found. Despite its faults, the story and the style shines like a beacon in his collective work as one of the truly great books he has written. In fact, with a little bit more aggressive editing, this might be his very best book. Unfortunately, as is, this book has a great beginning, a faultering middle, and an uneven ending.

The books strikes a chord with 'nostalgia' when were learn the origins of a few characters from later books, and a little bit more about old legends. Yet, no amount of nostalgia allows for a free ride I feel, and any book should stand on its own merits, and not on the shoulders of past glory. This book counts on that a little too much in the middle, and faulters on what should have been a stronger ending. Still, a great book, and writen in a wonderful style. The beginning is without a doubt the best he has written. This book just didn't follow through with that till the end.

I am a huge Terry Brooks fan. This book does not disappoint. I have introduced my grandson to Terry Brooks, and he enjoyed this book as much as I did.

I'll focus on why I rated this book a 3, without using a spoiler.
-1 The idea of a dark power, never resting, gathering an army, to destroy all races... Hello, how many books copycat Tolkien's?
-1 Predictability of the plot. The enemy will live on, people who are single will die, people who are in love will live, the book ends pretty much as it starts, i.e. expect a sequel with similar plot.
+1 The characters are deep, I always love that in a book. There's more than one main character and each one is well depicted.
+1 The language used, particularly for describing surroundings is amazing. One rarely stops to reread an enviroment description in a book, as in this one.