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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, although not overly taxing, 8 Mar 2005
I first read the Sword of Shannara when I was about 13 and absolutely loved it. The Elfstones and the Wishsong soon followed.Now aged, shall we say, a little more than 13 I still enjoy the books although I wouldn't recommend them to someone who wanted a deep involved plot. Without giving too much away of the plot, the first book features Shea Ohmsford who is visited by a tall dark stranger, the druid Allanon. It turns out he is actually adopted and (surprise, surprise) descended from Elven kings. Naturally he is the only one with the birthright to wield the ancient Sword to defeat the evil Warlock Lord. So off he goes to kill the bad guy, facing assorted hazards along the way. The second book, the Elfstones, is set one generation later. This time it's Shea's son who is needed to go into battle against legions of Demons and save the legendary Ellcrys, the tree that keeps the Demons banished. The third and final book in the trilogy is the Wishsong, set further into the future again (I think two generations, but forget). This time a brother and sister have similar but conveniently different manifestations of the Shannara magic (yet preserve the Ohmsford name) and set out to defeat the Mord Wraiths. The story is sufficiently involving to be worth a read, but it's a fairly light read. If you're looking for a light fantasy read I can highly recommend this series. If you want to have to really think about the plot and figure out the twists and turns you'll probably find it a bit thin.
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