I would personally rank Heritage higher, especially Druid with the story of Walker and Quickening being particularly memorable. And yeah the show was a real letdown considering the wealth of source material, they could have done so much more. Always wondered what Terry Brooks himself really thinks of it?
Elfstones is the best- both in terms of writing, and characters. Wishsong is better than the Sword of Shannara IMHO. It also has one of the most awesome characters in the any of the Shannara books- the weapons master, Garet Jax!
I started reading the Shannara series when I was a kid and just devoured Sword and Elfstones immediately. I then promptly forgot about them in the huge backlog of other books I was reading through at the time. When I had finished high school, one of my friends brought them up to me in conversation and all those great memories flooded back to me. I went and found every book in the series at that time and spent 2 weeks just burning through them. I read up through the first 2 again, then Wishsong, made my way through the Heritage books, then First king, followed by the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy and finished my trek with the High Druid books. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and then realized that I had actually read through the Word and Void trilogy in the intervening years without realizing it was the same author. At this point in my life I stopped having the time to read altogether for a little while. I became a husband and father, moved a bit, changed jobs once or thrice, and then finally settled down in a space where I felt I could finally relax a bit and read again. Imagine my joy at finding Armageddon's Children had been published and that the second book in that trilogy was coming out soon! For me, this was a melding of my two favorite series from Brooks, bridging the gap between the world of the Word and Void and the Four Lands, and I could not have been happier! I read through Armageddon's Children and preordered the next two books and read them as they came out. Since then, I haven't had the time to check back in with one of my all-time favorite fantasy worlds, so I have a lot of catching up to do. TLDR: I have read these books my whole life and they are as much a part of me as any of the other Fantasy greats that have shaped who I am as a reader today (LotR, WoT, etc.) and stumbling across your video this morning has brought them back into view for me. So thank you, I now have a lot more books on my TBR pile, and they have been moved to the top. I normally don't comment on videos all that much, but your video has re-ignited my love for a series that still holds new mysteries for me, and I cannot thank you enough. I'll be checking out more of your videos immediately.
"Quartet?" Haha, love it. Heritage as whole is not the best. However, good sir, Druid is one of the best, if not the best, book. The story of Walker and company is amazing. You have healings, sacrifice, sorrow, love, and action. Amazing story. Of course, it's all personal preference
I started reading the The Sword Shannara series because of a friend from work. I was reading the Dark Tower series and he recommended Shannara . I finally got one and loved it. I use to start one during Hunting season. They keep you hooked during the whole book. Now I read them anytime. I went back and read the Fist King of Shannara . Now I'm on the Heritage of Shannara. I agree they are not as good but still have me reading them. I think The Sword of Shannara is also the best book. Thanks for a great video. I look forward to reading more of the books. God bless.
I read The Sword of Shannara back when I was a teenager. I was in high school, and my sister was in college. I distinctly remember going to school with her one day because she needed to take some finals. I sat in the student union reading this book while I waited for her to finish. I absolutely loved this book, but I had to return it to the library. Now it is many years later. I have not read any of the other Shannara books. Lo and behold, as a Christmas present, I receive a copy of The Fall of Shannara: The Skaar Invasion. I am now on a quest to locate as many of the Shannara books as I can. I was in a used bookstore a few weeks ago and came across a copy of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch. I haven't read these yet as I like to read a series in order. So my quest continues. And thank you for making this video. Now I know what I have to look forward to!
I really appreciated First King! Heritage was best series though that Terry has written. Yes, Heritage was dark but the Four Lands were about to be destroyed completely by the Shadowen. The Elves were facing complete extermination and extinction. The Heritage series showed loyalty, friendship, love, redemption, sacrifice, hope, belief, and second chances on so many fronts. Heck, the Stone King through Quickening’s sacrifice was given a second chance as was the Elves. This series set the tone for Terry’s future novels and the balance between magic and science!
Thanks for taking the time to make this ranking. I agree with most except just re-reading all up to Heritage. First King is my absolute #1 and highly suspect when you read Running with the Demon series you will immediately rerank as absolutely in my top 5 and ties in with Gypsy Morph.
I just started First King for the umpteenth time. Haven't read it in about 10 years or so but ordered one of the new printings of it from Grim Oak Press. I forgot how much I love the character of Tay Trefenwyd. One of Terry's best characters of all time. I love this list, Shannara has always been my favorite fantasy series.
In my opinion you are underestimating The Heritage of Shannara. This book series is not perfect but still has many solid things to highlight. Walker Boh's evolution throughout the tetralogy is one of the best character arcs in all of Shannara. Wren and Garth's friendship is one of the best friendships written by Terry Brooks, solidly exploring the theme of the strength of friendship. Also, Wren's character has a very well-carried character arc about embracing her elven heritage. And the sibling relationship between Par and Coll Ohmford is very well done, much better than the sibling relationship between Shea and Flick in The Sword of Shannara and Brin and Jair in Wishsong in my personal opinion.
Read the original trilogy, the prequel and the following tetralogy when I was a youngster, and other than enjoying them and some of the basic plot lines I can't remember much (This was over 20 years ago, and I think they may have been the only ones released at the time). I'm going to slowly collect the Shannara books while I read other series and eventually embark on a journey to read them all.
OMG where have you been, I dont think there is enough Terry Brooks UA-cam content, thank you. Oh no, I see Star Trek books behind you, Nice! I even read the X men Star Trek crossover, I liked it ok. And Star Wars, Ha sweet.
I’ve only just started reading Terry Brooks after reading lots of others. I’m looking at doing a UA-cam channel on all the books I’ve read or are reading. It’s great to see lots of others doing the same 😊
Elfstones is probably the best book in the series imo. Followed by First King. Heritage of Shannara for series of books. Really enjoyed the books that set up the Shannara world (Word and Void, Genesis of Shannara and Legends of Shannara). Though I remember reading one of the trilogies and being invested in a plot line, just for the chapter to end and go to a different plot line. That annoyed me greatly. Then I would start the next chapter and be invested in that chapter, and when the chapter ended, I was annoyed to go back the plot I was invested in earlier, because I was invested in plot number 2. Haven't read the Fall of Shannara quadrilogy just yet.
Have you read the Word and the Void series yet? I own them all but have only read Running with the Demon. Loved it. Looking forward to reading the other 2.
if you like flying ships, the first time I was written about in the fantasy genre was Dragon Wing, the first book in the Death Gate Cycle series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman.
I caught the tv show kind of by accident. I didnt know it was being adapted until it was already halfway into season 1 and thought "oh shit I should watch this I've had the book on my shelf for forever now" so I didnt have a source to compare but I could tell even then MTV really tried to hype up the romance and sexual tension almost over everything imo but I agree the actors were really good and the guy who played Al was probably my favorite.
I would definitely 100% count the hobbit. But that's me as a die hard LOTR fan😅. One of my yearly reread's. I've wanted to get into this series for so long and always thought all the books were sequential as in like how WOT is but im really glad and kind of intimidated to know how big the world is and how many separate stories and styles of stories he was able to tell in this world/universe? Either way I plan on reading SOS after I complete The ember blade.
@@jonathankoan Ok sounds cool! And to be fair I love every book Ive read so far, except for Druid of Shannara and Sword of Shannara. But I get why you like Sword so much if you grew up on it. Also for context I've been reading the series in Chronological order, rather than publication order too
My favorite? Hard to say... I'm on The Talismans of Shannara right now. I think First King is my favorite so far. Sword Of Shannara only had one female character, and she was just a love interest, otherwise I'd say that one.
It really is a great series. The first book, the Sword of Shannara, is literally a retelling of Lord of the rings. But every book after that is original, and they all have a great classic fantasy feeling to them.
@@Revan-sk4qx I just like to warn people, because I’ve personally recommended it to people and they really didn’t like that the first one was basically LOTR, so I just want to cover bases. It’s ironic that the first one is my favorite, so that worked much more for me than for them.
@@jonathankoan The game is more in the lines of following a story then actually playing. Point and click basically. There are some great lets play series here on youtube to just watch it.
Thank you for this. I have got the initial trilogy and first king. If I wanted the start which I should read? This four books have a complete story or I would have to read more? ( Like LoTr is sufficient but you can go to simallirion or nunemor)
Definitely start with Sword and then read Elfstones and Wishsong. Save first king for last. However, do note that Sword of Shannara is literally a retelling of LOTR, so don’t be caught off guard. The other books are 100% original.
@@jonathankoan thank you.well even Robert Jordan first novel is almost a retelling of the quest situation. There are other like that. I've read that most fantasy on the 80 couldn't really diverge from Tolkien until they were set as selling authors. Thank you
I’ve been buying my books based on your reviews I bought the thrawn series , the first three shannara books, and first two wheel of time what shannara books do I need after I’m done with the first three I’m leaning toward genesis of shannara or druids what’s your personal recommendation
I recommend reading the publication order, because there are reveals layered in that won’t make sense otherwise, so I suggest reading the Heritage series and then the First King of Shannara. The Heritage series isn’t my favorite, but it builds a lot of worldbuilding used later in the series.
@@jonathankoan I just finished the first chapter of sword of shannara and I didn’t want to put it down really wanting to know why the giant Allanon came to the vale for shea
@@jonathankoan All good, I'm sure my opinions would ruffle some feathers if I made a ranking video I'm glad I found your channel. I don't know very many other fans of the series
If you’re referring to the Ron Howard movie, then YES! I really like the Classic Fantasy feel. There are actually a couple of tie-in books for the movie that I want to read, I have the first and keep putting it off in favor of other books.
I would personally rank Heritage higher, especially Druid with the story of Walker and Quickening being particularly memorable. And yeah the show was a real letdown considering the wealth of source material, they could have done so much more. Always wondered what Terry Brooks himself really thinks of it?
Elfstones is the best- both in terms of writing, and characters.
Wishsong is better than the Sword of Shannara IMHO. It also has one of the most awesome characters in the any of the Shannara books- the weapons master, Garet Jax!
I started reading the Shannara series when I was a kid and just devoured Sword and Elfstones immediately. I then promptly forgot about them in the huge backlog of other books I was reading through at the time. When I had finished high school, one of my friends brought them up to me in conversation and all those great memories flooded back to me. I went and found every book in the series at that time and spent 2 weeks just burning through them. I read up through the first 2 again, then Wishsong, made my way through the Heritage books, then First king, followed by the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy and finished my trek with the High Druid books.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and then realized that I had actually read through the Word and Void trilogy in the intervening years without realizing it was the same author. At this point in my life I stopped having the time to read altogether for a little while. I became a husband and father, moved a bit, changed jobs once or thrice, and then finally settled down in a space where I felt I could finally relax a bit and read again. Imagine my joy at finding Armageddon's Children had been published and that the second book in that trilogy was coming out soon!
For me, this was a melding of my two favorite series from Brooks, bridging the gap between the world of the Word and Void and the Four Lands, and I could not have been happier! I read through Armageddon's Children and preordered the next two books and read them as they came out. Since then, I haven't had the time to check back in with one of my all-time favorite fantasy worlds, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
TLDR: I have read these books my whole life and they are as much a part of me as any of the other Fantasy greats that have shaped who I am as a reader today (LotR, WoT, etc.) and stumbling across your video this morning has brought them back into view for me. So thank you, I now have a lot more books on my TBR pile, and they have been moved to the top. I normally don't comment on videos all that much, but your video has re-ignited my love for a series that still holds new mysteries for me, and I cannot thank you enough. I'll be checking out more of your videos immediately.
I’m so glad to find more Shannara fans! Hope you’ll be able to get back into reading Fantasy!
"Quartet?"
Haha, love it.
Heritage as whole is not the best. However, good sir, Druid is one of the best, if not the best, book. The story of Walker and company is amazing. You have healings, sacrifice, sorrow, love, and action. Amazing story.
Of course, it's all personal preference
My best friend Mike’s favorite is Druid of Shannara, so you’re in good company.
I started reading the The Sword Shannara series because of a friend from work. I was reading the Dark Tower series and he recommended Shannara . I finally got one and loved it. I use to start one during Hunting season. They keep you hooked during the whole book. Now I read them anytime. I went back and read the Fist King of Shannara . Now I'm on the Heritage of Shannara. I agree they are not as good but still have me reading them. I think The Sword of Shannara is also the best book. Thanks for a great video. I look forward to reading more of the books. God bless.
I read The Sword of Shannara back when I was a teenager. I was in high school, and my sister was in college. I distinctly remember going to school with her one day because she needed to take some finals. I sat in the student union reading this book while I waited for her to finish. I absolutely loved this book, but I had to return it to the library. Now it is many years later. I have not read any of the other Shannara books. Lo and behold, as a Christmas present, I receive a copy of The Fall of Shannara: The Skaar Invasion. I am now on a quest to locate as many of the Shannara books as I can. I was in a used bookstore a few weeks ago and came across a copy of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch. I haven't read these yet as I like to read a series in order. So my quest continues. And thank you for making this video. Now I know what I have to look forward to!
I really appreciated First King! Heritage was best series though that Terry has written. Yes, Heritage was dark but the Four Lands were about to be destroyed completely by the Shadowen. The Elves were facing complete extermination and extinction. The Heritage series showed loyalty, friendship, love, redemption, sacrifice, hope, belief, and second chances on so many fronts. Heck, the Stone King through Quickening’s sacrifice was given a second chance as was the Elves. This series set the tone for Terry’s future novels and the balance between magic and science!
Thanks for taking the time to make this ranking. I agree with most except just re-reading all up to Heritage. First King is my absolute #1 and highly suspect when you read Running with the Demon series you will immediately rerank as absolutely in my top 5 and ties in with Gypsy Morph.
I just started First King for the umpteenth time. Haven't read it in about 10 years or so but ordered one of the new printings of it from Grim Oak Press. I forgot how much I love the character of Tay Trefenwyd. One of Terry's best characters of all time. I love this list, Shannara has always been my favorite fantasy series.
In my opinion you are underestimating The Heritage of Shannara. This book series is not perfect but still has many solid things to highlight. Walker Boh's evolution throughout the tetralogy is one of the best character arcs in all of Shannara. Wren and Garth's friendship is one of the best friendships written by Terry Brooks, solidly exploring the theme of the strength of friendship. Also, Wren's character has a very well-carried character arc about embracing her elven heritage. And the sibling relationship between Par and Coll Ohmford is very well done, much better than the sibling relationship between Shea and Flick in The Sword of Shannara and Brin and Jair in Wishsong in my personal opinion.
Read the original trilogy, the prequel and the following tetralogy when I was a youngster, and other than enjoying them and some of the basic plot lines I can't remember much (This was over 20 years ago, and I think they may have been the only ones released at the time). I'm going to slowly collect the Shannara books while I read other series and eventually embark on a journey to read them all.
OMG where have you been, I dont think there is enough Terry Brooks UA-cam content, thank you. Oh no, I see Star Trek books behind you, Nice! I even read the X men Star Trek crossover, I liked it ok. And Star Wars, Ha sweet.
I’ve only just started reading Terry Brooks after reading lots of others. I’m looking at doing a UA-cam channel on all the books I’ve read or are reading. It’s great to see lots of others doing the same 😊
Elfstones is probably the best book in the series imo. Followed by First King. Heritage of Shannara for series of books.
Really enjoyed the books that set up the Shannara world (Word and Void, Genesis of Shannara and Legends of Shannara). Though I remember reading one of the trilogies and being invested in a plot line, just for the chapter to end and go to a different plot line. That annoyed me greatly. Then I would start the next chapter and be invested in that chapter, and when the chapter ended, I was annoyed to go back the plot I was invested in earlier, because I was invested in plot number 2.
Haven't read the Fall of Shannara quadrilogy just yet.
Have you read the Word and the Void series yet? I own them all but have only read Running with the Demon. Loved it. Looking forward to reading the other 2.
In the last two months I read Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word. I’ll read book 3 later this month.
if you like flying ships, the first time I was written about in the fantasy genre was Dragon Wing, the first book in the Death Gate Cycle series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman.
I caught the tv show kind of by accident. I didnt know it was being adapted until it was already halfway into season 1 and thought "oh shit I should watch this I've had the book on my shelf for forever now" so I didnt have a source to compare but I could tell even then MTV really tried to hype up the romance and sexual tension almost over everything imo but I agree the actors were really good and the guy who played Al was probably my favorite.
I read "Bearers of the black staff", & measure of the magic" & I agree, too short, it felt like a cliffhanger, with 3rd book missing.
I would definitely 100% count the hobbit. But that's me as a die hard LOTR fan😅. One of my yearly reread's. I've wanted to get into this series for so long and always thought all the books were sequential as in like how WOT is but im really glad and kind of intimidated to know how big the world is and how many separate stories and styles of stories he was able to tell in this world/universe? Either way I plan on reading SOS after I complete The ember blade.
Measure of the magic is literally my favorite book in the series probably haha.
And, well, Sword of Shannara is probably my least favorite too:P
P.S. Please read Word and The Void. It is peak fiction.
Glad you liked Measure of the Magic. Word and the Void is a series I intend to read once I finish the overall Shannara series.
@@jonathankoan Ok sounds cool! And to be fair I love every book Ive read so far, except for Druid of Shannara and Sword of Shannara.
But I get why you like Sword so much if you grew up on it.
Also for context I've been reading the series in Chronological order, rather than publication order too
My favorite? Hard to say... I'm on The Talismans of Shannara right now. I think First King is my favorite so far. Sword Of Shannara only had one female character, and she was just a love interest, otherwise I'd say that one.
Druid was wonderful. Love the scifi element
Grim Oak Press just announced a new printing of it with new artwork. Kickstarter starts on Feb 1st.
Great video:)) please do more fantasy classic reviews :)
Thank you for watching. Absolutely I will have more fantasy classic reviews!
I don’t think I’ve actually heard of this series, though I have heard of the author, and you’ve piqued my interest. I’ll have to check it out sometime
It really is a great series. The first book, the Sword of Shannara, is literally a retelling of Lord of the rings. But every book after that is original, and they all have a great classic fantasy feeling to them.
@@jonathankoan Well I read LOTR last year and loved it, so I bet I’ll enjoy at least the first one!
@@Revan-sk4qx I just like to warn people, because I’ve personally recommended it to people and they really didn’t like that the first one was basically LOTR, so I just want to cover bases. It’s ironic that the first one is my favorite, so that worked much more for me than for them.
Worth a read to at least dip your toe in the water. Later books are much different in style than earlier books.
I haven’t even finished Heritage yet and could not finish Sword but my favorite by far has been Elfstones.
That is the general consensus from most fans I’ve seen.
If you loved the Sword of Shannara. Did you also like the follow up PC game that picked up the story right after?
I don’t play many games, so I haven’t played this one before, but I’ve definitely heard about it.
@@jonathankoan The game is more in the lines of following a story then actually playing. Point and click basically. There are some great lets play series here on youtube to just watch it.
Thank you for this. I have got the initial trilogy and first king. If I wanted the start which I should read? This four books have a complete story or I would have to read more? ( Like LoTr is sufficient but you can go to simallirion or nunemor)
Definitely start with Sword and then read Elfstones and Wishsong. Save first king for last. However, do note that Sword of Shannara is literally a retelling of LOTR, so don’t be caught off guard. The other books are 100% original.
@@jonathankoan thank you.well even Robert Jordan first novel is almost a retelling of the quest situation. There are other like that. I've read that most fantasy on the 80 couldn't really diverge from Tolkien until they were set as selling authors. Thank you
an interesting ranking for sure, are you planning to read the last two sub-series at some point?
Oh for sure! I just ahve way too much on my TBR to start yet, plus it'll be sad when it's done, but I'll definitely read them eventually.
I would have The Elfstones at number One. elfstones I loved the most out of the Sword, Elfstones and wishsong. It has a wonderful twist at the end.
I’ve been buying my books based on your reviews I bought the thrawn series , the first three shannara books, and first two wheel of time what shannara books do I need after I’m done with the first three I’m leaning toward genesis of shannara or druids what’s your personal recommendation
I recommend reading the publication order, because there are reveals layered in that won’t make sense otherwise, so I suggest reading the Heritage series and then the First King of Shannara. The Heritage series isn’t my favorite, but it builds a lot of worldbuilding used later in the series.
@@jonathankoan I just finished the first chapter of sword of shannara and I didn’t want to put it down really wanting to know why the giant Allanon came to the vale for shea
This is perfect!!!!
Terry wrote another book that I sadly lost and never read. Magic Kindom for sale (sold). Has anyone read it ?
Yes! It’s a fantastic fun book!
What order should the books be read in? Would you read them in order of their publication or in a different way?
Definitely publication order.
@@jonathankoan thanks so much for the reply!
❤
You definitely have wishsong and elfstones too low
I also think the heritage books are too low, although I will admit elf Queen does drag it down
I just feel the others worked better for me, although i recognize the standing that Elfstones and Heritage have in the fandom.
@@jonathankoan
All good, I'm sure my opinions would ruffle some feathers if I made a ranking video
I'm glad I found your channel. I don't know very many other fans of the series
Shan-NA-ra
That’s what the tv showrunners went with. I’ve heard Terry refer to both pronunciations.
Do you enjoy Willow?
If you’re referring to the Ron Howard movie, then YES! I really like the Classic Fantasy feel. There are actually a couple of tie-in books for the movie that I want to read, I have the first and keep putting it off in favor of other books.
@@jonathankoan I didn’t know it had tie in books! Did you know Disney+ is doing a tv series continuation?
@@tyleryates8508 yes! I’m very excited for it, since Erin Kellyman from Solo is in the cast. And of course Warwick Davis is returning.
@@jonathankoanoh yea!
Shah-nah-rah
That’s how I pronounced it for a while, until I heard the way Terry Brooks pronounces it, which is very different. He says “Shann-ar-ah”