Terry brooks shannara

[Trout]

I remember being outraged - and bored - as a teenager when I read it. It is effectively the same book. Blech.

[Goosegash]

I read a couple of the later ones as a teen(can't even recall the names now), I thought they were passable generic fantasy stuff. I think he must've improved as a writer though - I had "Sword Of Shannara" sitting on my shelf for ages but never got past the first few pages. It was unreadable.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Who remembers the art work of the Brothers Hildebrant.

Depending which versions of the Shannara books you've seen they did the cover art.



It was at the time not long before and leading up to the film FellowShip of the Ring that I found one of their calendar art books with all their Lord of the Rings art included with alot of background information, how they got models to pose for them and what they were thinking at the time.

I now wonder if Terry Brooks similarity or blatant ripp off of J.R.R. Tolkien's work bothers them as much.

http://www.brothershildebrandt.com/Brothers.htm

[Radbacker]

I haven't read these as i was more a Dragon Lance kid. 
To my great shame (being a mssive Fantasy Fan) I have never actually managed to get through a single Lord of the Rings book, too much damn singing and too many english lesons.

CU Radbacker

[TordelBack]

Brooks isn't necessarily a bad writer - his Magic Kingdom for Sale was a good fun read in the blessed days before similar humorous fantasy filled half the 'SF' space in any bookshop,and his Phantom Menace novelisation makes the best of a bad brief.  

I read Sword (an unsought birthday present) over a very rainy mid-80's Easter in Lahinch, Co. Clare, and was initially horrified by its wholesale LotR steals - didn't read anything as blatant until Eragon, aka Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Dragon. Unlike Eragon, Sword had a pleasing flavour of its own hidden deep down, with its hints of  a post-apocalyptic setting (very fashionable mid-80s), and an almost steampunky Morialike underworld, and I ended up enjoying it while despising it.  The original reads easy and moves along very nicely, and I had enough enthusiasm to read the next two, and sort-of enjoyed them too.  I went no further.

I'd certainly give it a go - just grit your teeth and ignore the fact that Allanon actually is Gandalf.

[uncle fester]

I've read the first three, and remember the second one - Elfstones of Shanara - as the best, as it had the best bad guys (particularly the Reaper). Didn't read LOTR till a few years later so missed most of the 'parallels' I'd say they would be easier to pick up on these days.

[ThryllSeekyr]

So, I hear Elfstones of Shannara is being considered for a film.

[M.I.]

ThryllSeekyr wrote

Who remembers the art work of the Brothers Hildebrant.
Depending which versions of the Shannara books you've seen they did the cover art.

In my version of "Sword Of Shannara" Darrell K.Sweet was an illustrator (cover only).
I have a artbook - "Brothers Hildebrandt: Tolkien years". Its superb. They also did many illustrations for "Magic the Gathering" card game.

[locustsofdeath!]

I also read these before I read the Lord of the Rings, so I don't think the "borrowing" had as much impact, even after I read Tolkien's works. Also, because of my age (I was probably 10 or 11), the quality of the writing didn't matter to me as long as there was enough high adventure going on.

I have read a lot of Brooks' work since then and have never been bothered by his writing - but then again, when reading this type of fantasy I go in with a certain sort of mindset. That said, the Shannara series isn't very memorable to me; it's become a kind of mishmash in my brain to the point that I can't recall what scenes belong to what novel...

[ThryllSeekyr]

ThryllSeekyr wrote

Who remembers the art work of the Brothers Hildebrant.
Depending which versions of the Shannara books you've seen they did the cover art.

In my version of "Sword Of Shannara" Darrell K.Sweet was an illustrator (cover only).
I have a artbook - "Brothers Hildebrandt: Tolkien years". Its superb. They also did many illustrations for "Magic the Gathering" card game.

Now I'm confused. I just did a web search for Darrell Sweet's art work in that series and was shown this.



So could some one further enlighten me here?

[Van Dom]

They are the books I had. Ahhh seeing them again makes me remember I did actually very much enjoy them. Especially Wishsong... Might just see if I can dig these out from whatever crevasse they are residing in...

[I, Cosh]

So, I hear Elfstones of Shannara is being considered for a film.

Nah. I think you can get a cream for it now.

[locustsofdeath!]

I wonder why the Dragonlance Chronicles aren't as reviled critically as this...anywhere you read reviews, there is a faction that blasts 'Sword', yet overall the Chronicles are pretty beloved. I love the Chronicles - I've read them more times than I've read the LOtR (four times vs three) - but the writing is pretty awful and there are several elements stolen directly from Tolkien...

Anyway...at least Terry Brooks has never tried to pass his stuff off as something more than what it is, unlike that kid who wrote Aragorn (now that is a series that should be blasted, yuck...).

[ThryllSeekyr]

To answer my own question. I read in the attached article that Darrell Sweet did the cover art on the second two books of that series and perhaps the rest.

The first book is definitely all the work of Brothers Hildbrant including this piece found inside....



So, I'm not so sure if the other guy ever did work on any other version of the first book as M.I. says. The other artbook Hildebrant : The Tolkien Years must be the very same calendar art book I mentioned earlier. A good book if you like their work.



Their art work in general reminds of those vintage Walt Disney cartoons with all it's brightly coloured backgrounds and larger than life characters. Something about these pictures that help me define the overall look also made them seem more pleasant than they should have been.

[TordelBack]

Am I alone in always having disliked the Hildebrandt's garish fantasy stuff?  I like the SF movie posters (Star Wars, Barbarella etc.), but not much else.