J.R.R Tolkien & Terry Brooks similarities

[Old Man Willow]

Greater writer? Obviously, Tolkien was first of kind, yet Brooks has quite a complex world of his own. Opinions?

[TGC]

I think Tolkien is a much better writer than terry pratchet. But Terry Pratchet isnt to bad.

[Greymantle]

*Greymantle the uncontributing nit-picker comes sweeping in*
That was Terry Brooks, not Terry Pratchet. There are too many fantasy authors named Terry....those two.... Goodkind....

[Lord Snotty]

:confused: who the hell is Terry Brooks?

[Old Man Willow]

Brooks is famous for his 'Shannara' series. The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, Elfqueen of Shannara.......If you haven't heard of him yet you like Tolkien I would highly suggest checking him out. Most of his betters were written in the 70's. There are so many similarities between LOTR and The Shannara stories.

[Orin]

That was the the problem I had with the Sword of Shanara, too many similarities with The Lord of the Rings. I enjoyed the book but found it unsatisfying when I finished. And I never wanted to read any more of Brook's books. And Alanon the Druid reminded me too much of an Alcohol support group to take him seriously.

[Old Man Willow]

LOL, that's good! Yes there are quite a few similarities: the elves, half-elves, old elven kings, men, dwarves, trolls, and a mystical leader (Alanon), all on a dire quest. yet I still find it enjoyable.

[Orin]

Yes, Old Willow dude, it was enjoyable. I hope I didn't sound like I was knocking it. The Sword was just not as satisfying. It's like LOTR is coke, and The Sword of Shanara is RC cola. Coke is the Real Thing, RC a knock off, but still enjoyable as a cola.

It was the Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt that got me interested in reading the Sword of Shanara. The Hildebrandt brothers did my favorite Tolkien art as well.

The Part of the Sword of Shanara that intrigued me the most was when they were in the remains of that nuked out city, putting the story into our far future. I wish he would have developed that a bit more. Maybe he did in his later works?
:D

[Old Man Willow]

Yea Yea!! That was supposed to be a big allusion to us, but it never progressed from there. He should have elaborated. I never knew that the same illustrators were used for both?

[Old Man Willow]

Concerning the city: from what i read in the "elfstones" and the "wishsong of shannara", nothing more is said except of a war long long ago (I guess present civilization?) which shook the earth. He should have gone further on that subject because with only that mentioning, it makes it pretty wierd.

[Orin]

The H Bros. (and many others) did artwork for Tolkien Calanders, although none of there work appeared on book covers or in the books. The Lord of the Rings I had has cover art by the author. (Bilbo was wearing boots whilst riding the barrel on the cover of the Hobbit. Go figure!)

The Hildebrandt Bros. did Coke ads, and the Cover for Black Sabbath's Album The Mob Rules. They also did art for science fiction books. I like their stuff.

But back to the topic. I may have to Check out the rest of the Shanara books. Read any Jordan stuff?

[Old Man Willow]

Black Sabbath rules!


Jordan? not familiar with him...

[Grond]

Terry Brook's Shannara series is a feeble attempt to capitalize off of the life's work of the best writer of our time, J. R. R. Tolkien. His novels are a pale copy of Middle-earth and, to me, that's exactly how they come off.

[arisen pheonix]

the sword of shannara is a mimmick of lotr but its still good did anyone here read it or any other shannara books?

shea=frodo
flick=sam
alanon=gandalf
borona=sauron
sword=one ring
skull mt.=mordor
gnomes=orcs
druids=wizards
skull bearers=nazgul

[Zale]

I've read them; I thought the narrative was fairly good, even though the plot was so obviously Tolkien - 'inspired'. The others (I've read all of them) are somewhat better, though; I thought the last one (The Talismans of Shannara) was the best.
About the characters, you're absolutely right, although Trolls would be Uruks and Gnomes the smaller Orcs (can't remember what they're called)

[arisen pheonix]

i dont know about the trolls remember the one panama creel was with he died so shea could get out i doubt that an uruk would have

[Fool of a Took]

I love Terry Brooks' Shannara books! And I'm glad that I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities to LotR... For a while, I thought I was the only one who thought that. Even if they are a lot like LotR, I still love them.

[ReadWryt]

"Similarities"...this is obviously a more pleasant euphemism for Rip Off. It was an astounding coincidence to me that when the Hildebrant brothers got dropped as the official artists on the Tolkien Callandars and other publications this Terry Brooks suddenly appears with a bunch of stories about characters that look amazingly like the characters from Middle-earth that Greg and Tim had been painting for so many years...

[Phenix]

I have just start reading on book one and I thinks it's whery good even if it's "inspired"by tolkiens books

[arisen pheonix]

i like the shannara books i thought they were good i like the cover on the new ones too cool

his knight of the word books were ok too

that other series with the dog/man was rely stupid

[Phenix]

yes "the knight of the word" is good

[Darth Saruman]

I read the books, and I enjoyed them. But they're not as good as Tolkien or a lot of other fantasy I've read.

[King of Gondor.]

I've read all of the Shannara books, and I really like them:D

[arisen pheonix]

yar they were good




(i always liked garret jax and am praying he will be reancarnated)


(wishsong of shannara^)

[Aragorn*9]

I just started reading the First Kings of Shannara!
So you all would say they're good?
Julie

[LadyGaladriel]

Im glad Someone brought this up 1

Ihave just read the Scions Of Shannara and I thought it ROCKED!!!! I LOVED IT . but alas I cant not find for the love of God The Druid Of Shannara so i had to skip it and start reading the Sword Of Shannara .


I dont really think abvout it in the same terms of LOTR because to me . I read LOTR and loved it but there are other really good books out there and I shouldn't keep comparing them otherwise I will never be satisfied.

[Tar-Palantir]

Originally posted by ReadWryt
"Similarities"...this is obviously a more pleasant euphemism for Rip Off. It was an astounding coincidence to me that when the Hildebrant brothers got dropped as the official artists on the Tolkien Callandars and other publications this Terry Brooks suddenly appears with a bunch of stories about characters that look amazingly like the characters from Middle-earth that Greg and Tim had been painting for so many years...

I think "Rip Off" may be too kind when it comes to the first book. I have read some of the sequels, however, and was entertained at times. Brooks has some interesting ideas, but his characters are so wooden that it's really hard to root for them.

RW, what are you saying here? That Greg & Tim are really Terry Brooks? (could be, ya know - I've never seen all 3 in the same place at once!)

[Eledhwen]

I haven't read those books (though I had a chuckle at the thought that it's really the Hildebrandt brothers). Let's face it, there isn't a fantasy writer, alive or dead, who doesn't doff the cap to Tolkien in their writings. Even CS Lewis couldn't help it: Ettenmoors? Narnia? Sounds familiar to me.

I read Stephen R Donaldson's books "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever" before I read Tolkien. When I read Lord of the Rings, I was amazed at how much he had been influenced by Tolkien (though I would hesitate to call his stories a direct rip-off).