The Scions of Shannara

The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks.

Publisher: Del Rey (June 1993)
ISBN-10: 9993354457

465 pages

(book 9 for OUaT)

 

From School Library Journal

In the long-awaited continuation of the Shannara fantasy trilogy (Ballantine), Brooks takes readers 300 years beyond the death of Allanon. The Four Lands have sadly changed. The Federation rules with an iron fist, and the land is plagued by horrible creatures known as Shadowen. Par Ohmsford, descendent of the fabled Shea and possessor of the magic of the wishsong, along with two other Scions, is challenged to save the Four Lands. Brooks weaves an action-packed tale set against a richly detailed fantasy world, and readers will be quickly drawn into this survival adventure. The main characters are well developed, and the tale is sprinkled with many interest-generating elements: romance, suspense, magic, and evil vs. good. Readers unfamiliar with the first trilogy will not have any difficulty with this volume, for Brooks clearly sets the stage and gives plenty of historical background.

Having read the original Shannara Trilogy “way back when”, and when I came across this other group of books that followed Shannara at the used book stores I decided to go back to reading what happened 300 years after the Sword of Shannara.

I was glad to see that Terry Brooks  gives a lot of “history” from the other books. It helped my fading memory a lot!  And it also made it so one could read these without having to have read the first trilogy.  However…………. that being said, my feelings always come back to the original books.  Books that follow may be very good… but they never quite seems the same as the original time you fell in love with the land and the characters.

I will say that I am enjoying this group very much.   Terry keeps the decedents of the original characters and by doing so you already feel you know some things about them.

For me this is going back to the first books I loved.  Brooks, Eddings, McCaffrey were among the authors that made me first love to read.  Since then I have broadened the type of books I read and I do find it difficult to encompass them all!  So having just gone back to “Dragonlance” for a bit, it seemed fitting to go back and visit Shannara.

This first of 4 books sets up the next adventures for the Ohmsfords.  They are given a nice cast of characters to help them with their adventure and as always Terry Brooks also gives them all plenty of evil to conquer .

The Scions of Shannara has pulled me back into their world and now I find I must read on to see how they win over the evils that prevail.

Next up is The Druid of Shannara.