He is raised like a brother to the Ohmsford's son, Flick. That was how Sword began.'Ĭenturies later, the Ohmsford family of Shady Vale is surprised by a half-elven baby left on their doorstep. And the central figure needed to be someone readers could identify with, a person very much like themselves, caught up in events not of his own making, a person simply trying to muddle through. And the right and wrong of things couldn't be clear-cut because life simply didn't work that way. What if Tolkien's magic and fairy creatures were made part of the worlds of Walter Scott and Dumas? What if the story took place somewhere timeless and placeless, a somewhere that nevertheless hinted strongly of our own world in the future? What if our present knowledge had been lost, and science had been replaced by magic? But it couldn't be magic that was dependable or simply good or bad.

'I had read The Lord of the Rings two years earlier. In 2003, Del Rey released this book in three parts subtitled In the Shadow of the Warlock Lord (Part 1), The Druid's Keep (Part 2), and The Secret of the Sword (Part 3).īrooks wrote the book as a way to fight what he called an 'increasingly rapid descent into terminal boredom' brought on by his just entering law school: It was also the first fantasy novel to appear on, and subsequently top the New York Times bestseller list. It was first published in New York by Random House in 1977. Many sequels and prequels followed, expanding on the world of the Four Lands and following the exploits of the House of Shannara, from which Shea and his descendants trace their lineage. The story chronicles the adventures of foster brothers Shea and Flick Ohmsford against the Warlock Lord, a dark and mysterious presence in a world that is a strange blend of sorcery and technology. The Sword of Shannara was the very first book published by Terry Brooks. As the first book of The Original Shannara Trilogy, it was the first published novel in Brooks' Shannara series. The Sword of Shannara is a fantasy novel by Terry Brooks. For the sword featured in the novel, see Sword of Shannara.

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