First King of Shannara - Terry Brooks

Advantages: Good plotline, strong characters
Disadvantages: Very abrupt ending

...fantasy books of this genre, First King Of Shannara pretty much follows the set in stone formula cast down by previous classics. It is similar in many ways to Sword Of Shannara, yet at the same time very different. This book was never really planned but, due to massive public demand, Brooks decided to give us all a glimpse of the heritage behind one of the best selling series to have hit the shelves in recent times. In this edition of the series ...
...the elven community for the first time in many years and confront his past, and help secure the future for the four lands. Risca Risca is a dwarf who, like Tay, has gone to the Druid's Keep to practice magic. Tay, Risca and Bremen were very good friends during Bremen's time at the Keep and the respect between the three is highly apparent. Orders are undertaken without question or thought for oneself. Risca reminds me a lot of the dwarf in Lord ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping, Strong key characters, excellant prequel to series
Disadvantages: if anything seemed rushed towards the end.

...you to read the trilogy first then come back to this, but i would strongly advise this as a first read, as it will hook you better into the trilogy than the other way round. Their are obvious parallels to other works such as Tolkien, but hey isn't everything? Brona is basically a mysterious unseen Sauron style character, and has his own evil servants called the Skull Bearers who hunt down and crush his enemies. Overall i would strongly recommend ... Read review

Advantages: Very entertaining and fast paced. Addicting and keeps you enthralled.
Disadvantages: Need to read other books in series to understand full story.

The First King of Shannara was a very quick and easy read. It was jam packed with action and kept my interest all the way through. After finishing it I had to go pick up all of Terry Brook's other Shannara books. The characters are believable and people you can related to as they have their problems in the book like we do in everyday life, and you start to pick out your favorite characters and start rooting them on and wanting to know what happens ... Read review