The Elfstones of Shannara: The Shannara Chronicles, Book 2

I very much enjoyed both The Sword of Shannara and the Elfstones of Shannara. Terry Brooks is a wonderful writer with a very fertile and amazing imagination. With his excellent wordsmithing skills, Terry really brings intriguing characters in their many amazing adventures to life! I just wanted to keep reading late into the night, and often did so. I'll be back for more of Terry Brooks brand of fantasy for sure!

Perhaps my favorite Shannara book. Not sure why, but he did a lot of work, background, and explaining in this novel.

Okay, first review on Amazon. Let's do this.First, a little background. Elfstones of Shannara is a 1982 fantasy novel written by Terry Brooks as a follow-up to his best-selling The Sword of Shannara. Now, I'll go ahead and say... I couldn't finish Sword. I plan to one day, but initially I found that there wasn't a hook to keep me reading Sword. But I had read several reviews telling how good Elfstones, and in his book Sometimes the Magic Just Works, Brooks jokingly lamented the fact that every says his second book is his best work. So I picked this one up, and I can tell you for certain, this is indeed something special.The story is that the magical Ellcyrs tree is dying, and the barrier it is holding to keep the ancient Demons from the world of the mortal is dying. So, the mysterious Allanon sets out to find Wil Ohmsford, grandson of the first book's protagonist. He then tells Wil that his mission is to protect the elven girl Amberle, who is the last of the Chosen, the Ellcrys sworn protectors. All the while, the Elves of the city of Arborlon prepare to battle the ever-growing army of demons, led by one known only as Dagda Mor, and his associates the Changeling and the Reaper, the last of whom is hot on the trail of the two young travelers.The story sounds like your typical fantasy fare, and it is, but it is made up for in several areas. First are the characters. I am of the firm belief that if you have a sort of generic story, but really good characters, then your audience will still be incredibly invested, and the characters here do that well. Wil is a great protagonist in that you get a very strong sense of obligation and honor from this guy. He doesn't really want this task to be placed on his shoulders, but he does it because he feels it is the right thing to do. Amberle REALLY doesn't want to do what has been placed on her shoulders, but she's still pretty likeable, and by the end, you understand her reasons for not wanting to. Prince Ander of the Elves, is really easy to sympathize with, since as second born, he has never had much to do with the kingdom, but now has a lot of his plate. And Allanon... is pretty much Obi-Wan or Gandalf, but he's still cool enough that you don't mind.The second thing is the style of writing. Brooks is really good at describing an area or tone without going into too much detail; just enough that you get an idea, but can still have your own mental images. When he describes the appearances of the demons, just the most twisted and terrifying images occur in my head. The forests sound either approiately beautiful or gloomy.An interesting thing to note is that the book switches to tell the story of Wil and Amberle's travels and the struggles of the Elven army against the Demons. And if I had to make one personal nitpick, it's that I don't find the army scenes as engaging as the relationship between the two young travelers. But that's me personally. The changes aren't too drastic, and aflow pretty well, so I feel they won't bother others that much.Finally, I want to give a personal reason why I love this so much: it is the first book to get me weepy-eyed. Without spoiling anything, the ending of the book is bittersweet. AMAZINGLY bittersweet, in fact. Even though it ends on a happy note, it's not without sacrifice or consequence. Which given the stakes at hand makes sense. Also, this was the book that made me want to get into writing and made me realize my love of fantasy. So, even though this review is kind of all over the place, I'd say that if you have a similar love of fantasy, or just want a good book, this is one I would personally recommend.

While I understand SOME ripped TB for the Sword - being too derivative of LOTR, they can’t with this novel.A great read and true classic quest fantasy.I - personally- don’t tire of books like this.

I loved rereading this story over 30 years latter from when I first read it. It is still one of my favorite fantasy books and one of Terry Brooks best written books. It has tremendous story telling and stands tall. I highly recommend it to all.

As I mentioned in my review of The Sword of Shannara, I decided to try some of these Terry Brooks books after seeing the MTV series. I was pleased to visit again with Allanon, Eventine and even old Flick.I actually finished this books weeks ago but was reading another that was a real slog to get through. I'm back in my sci-fi fantasy world now and happy to be back.I liked this book much more than The Sword. The characters of Wil Ohmsford and Amberle are much easier to connect to than the ones in The Sword. Throughout The Sword of Shannara, I was distracted by the obvious connection to The Lord of The Rings. This story, although in the same Shannara universe, is much different. The impending loss of the Ellcrys, the journey to Safehold in search of th e Bloodfire, is very compelling, even more so than the TV series. The character of the Dagda Mor is much more scary than on the series but the confrontation between him and Allanon was a bit disappointing in this book. That being said, the interaction between Will and Amberle and Eretria was very interesting. Not to be a spoiler but Cephelo died much too easily in this book.The interaction between Ander and Arion and Eventine was much more involved in this book and I liked that that Ander became the better of the two. It is the characters in books that do it for me. We all want to read a book with a series of characters we can identify with accompanied by a great story. The Elfstones of Shannara does this well. You love the hero and you hate and fear the opposing characters. You have the ever present mystery figure of Allanon and the Terry Brooks constant Ohmsford family person in this series.I really liked this book and I am not a big fan of these fantasies that revolve around swords, elves, demons and wizards. Mr Brooks has done a good job here...worth a look.

My daughter (who loves to read) now considers this her favorite book.

This is a second time I'm reading this book and it's still an amazing ride through adventures even for the second time round. Great characters and a captivating plot (even for a person with attention problems, which speaks volumes!). And I particularly like Terry Brooks' writing style, it doesn't have pages long descriptions of nature, doesn't have sex, and it's easy to read (as in, the sentences aren't cumbersome and full of old English words). There are also strong female characters that I, as a girl, can connect to. I very much appreciate the fact that the female characters don't get sexualised in Terry Brooks' books, - something that is found everywhere in media and books nowadays and is very off putting for me, personally. Thus far I found that Terry Brooks' books are the best fit for me, and The Elfstones of Shannara is one of my favourite books of his. This book is great for anyone who likes epic fantasy and due to the writing style is suitable for younger readers as well.

This is the first book I have read by this author I seen 10 minutes of the tv series on Netflix and decided it was some thing I would like to read instead of watching tv as I prefer reading.so I got the book I have to say I really enjoyed the book and would properly would have enjoyed it more if I had read it when I was younger its an old book 1982 I was just a babe when I came out but till found I couldn't but it down.The characters and story line was really good and natural I found it more real to relate to there world there courage, fears and sadness as they progress on there journey, ( side note the tv series is nothing like the book yes the names and quest of the main character's are the same but nothing else is it was really weird for me to watch the tv series after reading this book . for me the book was better now on to next book :-)

I'm re reading all of Terry Brooks novels having started them back in the nineties reading a copy of The Sword of Shannara bought from a charity shop. After that date I've bought and read all of the books that Terry has written. I'm revisiting the original Shannara series just now but where I found Sword somewhat slow on second visit, I have thoroughly enjoyed the re reading of Elfstones again.Its a great world which unfolds through the Brooks series and in the Elfstones it moves very quickly and cleverly. iIf you are looking for a nice read in a rich fantasy world not a million miles from middle earth but still pretty unique and surprising, then dive into these. Wishsong is next for me and I'm enjoying it too.Terry Brooks' writing has kept me company for many years now and I am happy to suggest that you read some of his work now. Dive in and enjoy!

I had been meaning to read these for a long time and the wait was well worth it! I have bought a few second hand books but couldn’t get hold of this one on paper.I have watched the tv series and it does not do the story justice even a little.On to the next book!

The book was what I wanted , excellent condition and a great price, however, I fail to see how this book took seven days to get to me in Barry, S. Wales from Ammanford which is around 50 miles, I have received items from China quicker ! Other than that the book is fine .