First King of Shannara Mass Market Paperback – January 29, 1997

After a while, author Terry Brooks decided to do what many fans had wanted him to do, and tell some of the back-story of the <i>Shannara</i> universe. A quick note here, that Shannara does not refer to the world these adventures take place in, but to one of several in-universe families, in this case a legendary Elven family, that the adventures revolve around most often. The world these <i>Shannara</i> stories take place in is actually our own, thousands of years in the future after a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed modern civilization. In the wake of said devastation, man's science and the ancient faerie magic from before man both were revived.In recent years, Brooks has written <i>Shannara</i> prequels a lot, and this trend began, really, in 1996, with the publication of <i>First King of Shannara</i>, which details the back-story of the famous Sword of Shannara, which was forged during the brief “Second War of the Races”, mentioned by Allanon to Flick and Shea Ohmsford during <i>The Sword of Shannara</i>.The interesting thing is that, for those who are big Allanon fans, they will not find him much in this book until the very end. Even when he does appear, his contribution, though important, is quite minor overall. This is not his story, but the adventure of Bremen, his father, and last of the Druids who bequeathed his legacy to his son. Of course, right there in that paragraph are some major spoilers I'm leaving unstated. ;)<i>First King</i> is also the story of Jerle Shannara, the famous ancestor of <i>Sword</i> protagonist, and first published protagonist, Shea Ohmsord (who was adopted by the Ohmsford family, and is really a Shannara). The contrast between Shea and Jerle could not be more profound, yet similar despite all of this. I don't know if these contrasts and yet sameness were accidental, or on purpose with Brooks, but it works. Shea and Flick were smaller than most Men. In fact, they were often called, in <i>Sword</i>, “little Valeman”, and so forth. Jerle is a <i>big</i> guy, athletic, and strong. “Little” could never be used as a word to describe him. Shea was a simple civilian who had little to do with his Elven side, and helped run his adoptive father's inn. Jerle was a military warrior, and eventual king of the Elves, who is Elven through and through.Yet, despite these differences, Jerle and his descendant shared in common important traits. They both cared deeply for their families, friends, and others. They both made mistakes and knew about this, and did their best to defeat the enemy, in both cases the rebel Druid Brona (known as the Warlock Lord). The difference is that Jerle failed and Shea succeeded. Why? We don't know for sure. There could be several reasons. Perhaps Shea was stronger emotionally, or perhaps the pressure of the deaths of those he commanded impacted Jerle, while Shea didn't have this to deal with, or perhaps, as Allanon seemed to suggest in <i>Sword</i>, Bremen handled it in a bad way. Thus, Allanon handled it differently in the hopes (slim, but realized) that Shea would succeed in this way where his valiant ancestor had failed.What I really liked about this novel was two-fold. First off, Brooks did not shy away from the story of the original novel, <i>Sword</i>, while fleshing it out thoroughly. Thusly, he did manage to make the world even less like Middle-Earth, while not giving into those who childishly (and fraudulently, in my opinion) accuse <i>Sword</i> of being too derivative of Tolkien's works. The second part about <i>First King</i> that I enjoyed was how Brooks kept the novel very idealistic. In recent years, he has gone sometimes darker, but here, while he was somewhat dark for the history of the “Second War of the Races”, he still kept things idealistic. If only the more recent books were this way.I really enjoyed this novel, and Highly Recommend it to <i>Shannara</i> fans, and epic fantasy fans in general.

A beautiful prelude to the original trilogy.

Paid the extra dollar vs list price, and many pages fell out in clumps as I read it. Returned for one that was hopefully glued together better.

Fills in a large chunk of information that the Sword of Shannara trilogy is based on and is a good place to start.

One thing I enjoy about Terry Brooks is that I can easily escape into his world. You open up a Shannara book and BOOM! You're there. In my opinion, The Sword of Shannara had a strong backstory, vividly told in that book. This is that full story, even stronger here, because you get to know the characters. Bremen, Kinson, Tay, Mareth and Jerle are all strong characters that you get to care about. Even the smith who forged the Sword was a decent character.You get what you expect here from Brooks novels, well thought out and told battle scenes that are very descriptive and keep your attention. The characters are such that if one gets hurt, it's almost like seeing a friend get hurt. I liked that Jerle Shannara has that inner struggle going on, wondering if fate was right to choose him. Tay was such a likeable character, that he almost singlehandedly lightened up some of the book for me, which mostly is kind of a dark book.The bad guys where rightly evil and creepy. In my opinion, there is no scarier thing to think about than coming face to face with a dreaded Skull Bearer. Shudder!Anyways, if you enjoy Brooks, you're sure to enjoy this. If you enjoy fantasy and adventure, this is right up your alley.

Great read. I appreciate that Terry Brooks waited until he was a more mature writer to go back to the creation of the First King of Shannara. I have followed his series from the beginning, back in the 70's. I still have the hardbound edition of The Sword of Shannara, illustrated by the Brothers Hildebrant. A truly wonderful book for a teenager looking for something as good as The Lord of the Rings. I recently finished Brooks latest book in the series, Wards of Faerie, which I enjoyed a great deal, then went back and re-read First King of Shannara,which I absolutely loved. I think Terry Brooks was one of the first writers of high fantasy that actually brought his characters down into the dirt of humanity--its many graces and foibles. But I must say, that after I re-read First King of Shannara, I went back to The Sword of Shannara, and was somewhat disappointed at the quality of the writing and development of the story.(Probably a foolish thing to compare the younger writer to the older writer!) Having said that, I remembered that Brooks was a very young man when he wrote this book, and for someone his age at that time, it was a magnificent effort. What I like best now, at 55, re-reading this book, is that I see it as a blueprint for the history of the series. And a wonderful series it is! Though I admire a great many fantasy writers (particularly the great Guy Gavriel Kay), Terry Brooks has always been, and no doubt will continue to be, my favorite writer of fantasy fiction. I hope that when I am an old man, you will still be pumping out the Shannara series, and I can ease my old bones back into the easy chair and lose myself, once again, in another magnificent world of Shannara.

Brooks made us fall in love with the Four Lands, Allanon, and so many other characters. He also is a master in narrating fights and battle scenes.This prequel we see Bremen, until now a shade of the past, fight the Warlock Lord and his minions. It is a must read for any Brooks fan and any fantasy fan in general. Cheers.

This is a good book, the only problem is the print is too small and I'm having trouble reading it.