Blast From the Past: The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Before I started reviewing books online I loved rereading my favourite SF/Fantasy books.  Since I don’t have time to do that anymore, this column is a trip down memory lane, where I’ll rave about books I love to read.  And then read again.  These aren’t reviews, as I won’t necessarily mention criticisms, they’re my chance to fan girl about books I love and hopefully garner some interest in some older titles.

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I was going to start this column from the beginning, with a middle grade fantasy book, but I've decided to start with the book that got me hooked on fantasy instead.

Two of my older brothers were heavily into fantasy when I was 12 and, like any tag-along tom boy younger sister, I wanted to be like them.  So for Christmas they bought me a fantasy trilogy by Terry Brooks: The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara.

I was into Christopher Pike and other horror/mystery authors at the time, so when I read the back of The Sword of Shannara and saw that it was about a boy who knows nothing about magic going on a quest where he defeats a big bad guy it didn't really interest me.  The premise just sounded so fake.  I read the first few pages, got bored, and put it back on my shelf.

My brothers read the books though, so when I finally picked up The Sword of Shannara again a few months later, needing an escape from the drudgery of life, the spine was well broken in.  This time I pushed past the first 50 or so pages, and before I knew it I was hooked.  I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.  Rather than being an unrealistic 'boy saves world after becoming good at everything' story it was actually a 'boy saves world despite knowing very little' story.  I found myself relating to Shea and his problems, the fact that the others needed to protect him and his resentment of that.  I loved that there were a number of characters who each had their own roles to play in the story, first as part of a fellowship and even more so when the fellowship failed.

I'd read The Hobbit before this, though not the Lord of the Rings so I didn't see the parallels between the stories at the time or, their derivative nature.  After I finished this trilogy I started into my brothers' collections with a vengeance and have never stopped loving fantasy.  

I knew I wanted to write novels before I read this, but this was the book that made me fall in love with fantasy as a genre.  I loved the sweeping descriptions.  I loved the use of words I'd never heard of (my dictionary got a good workout, and my vocabulary increased a lot reading these).  I also loved the idea that regular people could do extraordinary things if given the chance.  

Fantasy also started teaching me philosophy.  I began a notebook where I wrote down pithy phrases and words of wisdom like, "Don't believe everything you hear, you're young, not stupid." (Which is from Wishsong.)

When working at the bookstore I found it hard to recommend these, as a lot of people are turned off by the 'you have to get past 50 pages' requirement, and it's true that Brooks' opening would likely have been edited down were this published today.  But these are fun books once you get past the exposition and the action begins.  Also remember that a lot of the fantasy cliche's that are so common now were still being created back when these books came out.

I loved The Sword of Shannara, and used to reread the series every time a new book came out.  I've read it so many times that the last time I tried I discovered that it's so imprinted on my brain I just couldn't keep going.  The wonder and mystery were gone.  I'm hoping if I wait a few years to read it again it will feel new and wondrous once more.

A few years back I had the opportunity to meet Terry Brooks at Ad Astra, an SF con in Toronto.  I felt embarrassed handing him my tattered copy but I now have an autographed Sword of Shannara on my shelf. :D

And it seems that the Shannara series, long since optioned for a movie, will be coming to TV!

What Was Your Gateway Genre Novel?

This was the question for the 20th SF Signal podcast. In other words, what books got us interested in reading science fiction and fantasy. As I still get a bit flustered doing these things I wanted to expand on my answer here a bit and clarity something I said in the podcast.

My gateway book was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. My brothers gave me the trilogy (Sword of Shannara, Elfstones of Shannara and Wishsong of Shannara) for Christmas one year because they liked fantasy and they wanted to read the books.

I was probably around 9 or 10 at the time and not at all interested in fantasy books. I'd read The Hobbit and liked it, but not enough to look for other books of the same style. And I remember reading a book when I was a fair bit younger than this called The Seventh Princess by Nick Sullivan. I enjoyed it (and hunted it down as an adult) but again, it didn't inspire me to read other fantasy books. I was also an indifferent reader at the time, preferring Christopher Pike to anything else. So the Brooks trilogy sat on my shelf.

I remember picking the first one up once and reading the back. The idea of a man without training in magic or swordmanship skills going against the most powerful evil in the land (and presumably winning) struck me as unrealistic. I tried a few pages and found it boring so I put it back down.

Finally, when I was 12 going on 13, I hit a rough patch in my life and needed some escapism. Maybe it was simply a matter of the right book at the right time, but I started The Sword of Shannara and pushed on past the still boring opening. Somehow, this time, about 20 pages in I got hooked. I couldn't put the book down. I read the 730 page novel (probably the largest I'd tried up to that point) in record time (I later clocked myself at 2 1/2 days - but that was when my reading skills were better).

I loved the book. The protagonist was real to me. His struggle to learn magic in the face of feeling like a useless appendage to the more experienced members of the group resonated with me. I liked the flowing descriptions. I liked Menion Leah - the comic relief who's there to prove that he can be more - and who, when faced with murdering someone in cold blood to help his friends, can't do it. I liked the philosophy and the recognition that everyone faces challenges. And that with help and perseverance those challenges can be overcome.

The book was full of difficult choices for the characters. There was action but there was also time for the characters to consider their actions and the consequences of those actions - both immediate and long term.

In the end, it was about a man who has to become a hero, despite a lack of ability and courage.

All of a sudden I was a voracious reader. I ripped through the rest of the trilogy and then moved onto my brothers' collections and when I'd exhausted those, the public library. Tolkein, Feist, Salvatore, Eddings, Weis & Hickman, McCaffrey, Greenwood, no one was safe. I spent the entire summer reading, and when I started highschool I branched out and found more and more authors. I've never looked back.

I've read The Sword of Shannara so often I can't read it anymore (as I know what's going to happen at every point). But I still have that copy (autographed) and it still inspires me. And someday I'll read it again and feel the magic I felt that first time.

In the meantime, it has opened the door for hundreds of other fantastic authors and stories. Oh, and I never found the opening boring again, even though I've read the book numerous times since.

So, what was your gateway genre novel?