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A review by grogu_djarin
The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall Thoughts:
To start, I'd say this is what The Sword of Shannara should have been. They have very similar plots, the Mord Wraiths replace the Warlock Lord and Skull Bearers, the gnomes are the invading army again, they visit many of the same locations, both center around siblings from Shady Vale and have a cast of characters to help them on their journeys, and both center the plot around a magic only the main characters can use to defeat their respective evils. In that sense, if you've read The Sword of Shannara a lot of it won't feel very fresh, but in many ways it's a lot better than a generic Lord of the Rings clone.
This book had more engaging characters and while some still didn't have any development, the ones that do had compelling story arcs. Brin and Jair in particular had good growth and their different uses of the wishsong helped differentiate them further and it is a creative form of magic. The shifting perspective also helped keep the story feel dynamic and I think it helped maintain momentum in the story because perspective shifts might happen after a cliffhanger so I found myself wanting to keep reading to find out what happens next.
To start, I'd say this is what The Sword of Shannara should have been. They have very similar plots, the Mord Wraiths replace the Warlock Lord and Skull Bearers, the gnomes are the invading army again, they visit many of the same locations, both center around siblings from Shady Vale and have a cast of characters to help them on their journeys, and both center the plot around a magic only the main characters can use to defeat their respective evils. In that sense, if you've read The Sword of Shannara a lot of it won't feel very fresh, but in many ways it's a lot better than a generic Lord of the Rings clone.
This book had more engaging characters and while some still didn't have any development, the ones that do had compelling story arcs. Brin and Jair in particular had good growth and their different uses of the wishsong helped differentiate them further and it is a creative form of magic. The shifting perspective also helped keep the story feel dynamic and I think it helped maintain momentum in the story because perspective shifts might happen after a cliffhanger so I found myself wanting to keep reading to find out what happens next.
Likes:
- Brooks finally has added some decent women characters in this book with both Brin and Kimber Boh. Brin in particular had a great arc. Minor complaint: it's still not perfect and Brooks calls her a "Valegirl" while her younger brother Jair gets "Valeman".
- The wishsong was a very creative method of magic and it was nice seeing the differences between how Brin and Jair used it.
- I really enjoyed how Brin and Jair were characterized, both with Brin's coming to grips with the wishsong and Jair's innocence.
- This paced itself much better than The Elfstones of Shannara which also shifted between two perspectives, but it felt much more balanced and dynamic this time around and the perspective shifts are better used to create tension.
- Where I felt in The Sword of Shannara things had a tendency to always conveniently go right and in The Elfstones of Shannara the opposite occurred with most things going wrong for the characters, this has a nice balance of the two that worked well and I found myself rooting for the characters in either circumstance.
Dislikes:
- For taking place in the Eastland I hoped it would go into as much of the culture of the dwarves and gnomes as The Elfstones of Shannara did for the elves in the Westland, but you don't learn much of them culturally.
- For being the more important storyline, Brin's felt substantially less engaging than Jair's until the later sections of the book but I'd say she had the better character growth.
- The Mord Wraiths felt too much like a rehash of the Warlock Lord and were disposed of easier than the Skull Bearers in The Sword of Shannara. I get the idea is quantity over quality, but even when there were multiple they seemed less foreboding.
- I found Rone Leah to be quite annoying, especially his catchphrase "for cat's sake". He's essentially a worse version of Menion Leah from The Sword of Shannara. Also Allanon does something for him that just makes you wonder why he didn't do the same for his great-grandfather Menion and it becomes a defining part of Rone's character.
- I don't think Allanon was well utilized which is saying something when he mostly existed for info dumps and casting magic to get out of trouble in the earlier books.
Other Notes:
- Where I felt the series has had a strange identity so far due to having a post-apocalyptic setting but reading like a high fantasy, this book goes even further in the direction of magic.
- The book does a good job retelling the main story points of The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara throughout it so it's not necessary to read the other books first but you will get more out of it if you do.
- This is probably the most light-hearted of the three books in the trilogy but this is probably due to Brin and Jair still being teens/children. It does have its dark moments though.
Would Recommend To:
- This would be a good book for a kid or teen to read as entry into fantasy. It's fairly self-contained so not necessary to read The Sword of Shannara or The Wishsong of Shannara before this, but it does help make a stronger connection to the world and events from both are referenced.
Do Not Recommend To:
- Someone who doesn't like fantasy.