Talk:The Sword of Shannara

Archive

Archive #1, April 2005 to November 2007

Paragraph removal

Hi, I've removed the following paragraph from the article's "Literary significance" section, partly because of WP:NOR concerns, and partly because similar material from secondary sources have been found and incorporated into the section. However, I think some of this paragraph's material may be of use in the future, so I've left it here.

“ Tolkien's series, which predates the first Shannara novel by roughly thirty years, also revolves around an unlikely hero from a small, quiet community who is drawn into a quest by a tall, magic-bearing man in order to destroy a distant Dark Lord. Precious magical artifacts are entrusted to the young hero who must flee, accompanied by his oldest friend and cousins from a neighboring land (or, in the case of Shannara, his mundane brother and a friend who is nobility from a neighboring land), when terrifying, demonic, bestial minions of the Dark Lord begin to stalk him and can sense when he uses his talisman. Eventually, a council decides the young hero will have to penetrate the center of the Dark Lord's realm in order to stop his armies, aided by a multi-racial group of companions. The heroes are unable to travel the way they wish, and are forced to follow a mysterious and foreboding underground passage to cut underneath the land. Along the way, their tall wizard leader fights a seemingly invincible foe, and falls with it into a pit of fire to his supposed demise, only to meet up with the main characters later. In addition, some names sound similar, such as Elessedil, which sounds somewhat like a combination of the Tolkien names Elessar and Elendil. These and many other similarities, combined with the common every-day language that Brooks uses in The Sword of Shannara, give some justification for calling it "Tolkien Lite" or "Tolkien For Dummies". ”

--DanDs (talk) 20:39, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Reviews

The following is a list of reviews by notable commentators. As I am unable to access these reviews, future editors are welcome to do so and update this article's reception section with relevant material. In accordance with WP:NPOV, please do not rely on blurbs or other promotional material for their selective quotations of these reviews.

• Brown, Charles N. (1977). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Fall 1977): 143-?. More info.
• Budrys, Algis (July 1977). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 53 (1): 103-?. More info.
• Geis, Richard E. (May 1977). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". Science Fiction Review. 6 (2): 63-?. More info.
• Herbert, Frank (10 April 1977). "Some Arthur, Some Tolkien". The New York Times Book Review (10 April 1977): BR7. More info.
• Leiber, Fritz (July 1978). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". Fantastic. 27 (2): 119-?. More info.

Other reviews in relevant genre magazines include:

• Johns, David (April 1977). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". Galileo. 3: 90-?. More info.
• Randle, Cori (March/April 1978). "Review: The Sword of Shannara". Delap's Fantasy and Science Fiction Review. 4 (2): 18-?. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) More info.

--DanDs (talk) 05:51, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Defenders

Hi, I've removed the following material because they are based on self-published sources by non-notable writers. However, I've also managed to replace them with alternative material from Gene Wolfe and David Pringle.

---

and his supporters, such as Laurie Thayer, point out that many of the similarities are broad concepts common in modern day fantasy literature.

“ It has been said that The Sword of Shannara is just a cheap rip-off of [J.R.R.] Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. However, one might just as well say that The Lord of the Rings is just a cheap rip-off of the northern mythologies from which Tolkien garnered the seeds of his great saga. Both are tales that take great mythological themes and transplant them into a fantasy setting. Shea Ohmsford, like Frodo Baggins -- or Luke Skywalker -- is an incarnation of the Hero With a Thousand Faces, to borrow a phrase from Joseph Campbell. During the course of his journey, which he begins as a parochial boy (no matter his age), he goes through fear, danger and sorrow to become savior of the world. Shea does face down the Dark Lord, not because he is brave, but simply because he must. There is no one else who can. The great warrior Balinor, stalwart Hendel, the mystic Allanon -- all have their place on the journey and in the story, but in the end, it is Shea who must face the Dark Lord and win or lose according to his own virtue. ”

Additionally, the plot of Brooks' subsequent novels bear little resemblance to Tolkien's works (apart from elements shared by many novels in the genre). "There's no doubt Sword borrows heavily from LOTR, but Brooks has proved his originality and versatility in his later novels."

---

References:

• Thayer, Laurie. "The Sword of Shannara book review at Rambles.net arts magazine". Retrieved 2008-06-25.
• "Recommended Reading: Terry Brooks". Speculative Horizons. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-26.

--DanDs (talk) 08:02, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:The Sword of Shannara/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

This article is very good in its current state however there are still a few problems with the article.

• The background/development section needs to go before the plot summary.
• Reduce the plot and remove any unnecessary information about the story. This should be a plot summary.
• Use the proper license tag to go with the fair use rational for each image.

When these issues are resolved feel free to contact me on my talk page. If you feel that this review was in error feel free to take the article to WP:GA/R. Thanks. Tarret ^talk 14:52, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

As recommended above, I've moved the Background section before the plot summary. --DanDs (talk) 17:37, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Which license is the correct one? The non-free rationale's are enough, right? So just remove the book covefr lisecnes? ? the_ed17 01:26, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I've added the license tag Template:Non-free 2D art to these images used in the article:

• Image:Allanon and Flick.jpg
• Image:Leah.jpg
• Image:Kern (Shannara).jpg

--DanDs (talk) 05:27, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

OK thats improved a bit now the only thing that needs to be done is the plot intro should be merged with the plot summary as background information to the plot. This should make the article a bit closer to WP:FICTION as it should be more built around the development and reception of the story instead of the plot. It should be fine after that. Tarret ^talk 13:32, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I'll do that now. Thank you, DanDs! the_ed17 20:31, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Images

I've just discovered a problem with these three images:

• Image:Allanon and Flick.jpg
• Image:Leah.jpg
• Image:Kern (Shannara).jpg

They are not official book illustrations, but non-official fan art which has been copyrighted and whose creator has prohibited non-personal usage. If images are required for fair-use commentary, it might be better to replace them with relevant selections from the official Hildebrandt Brothers book illustrations instead. Although they are also copyrighted, they are officially "part" of the novel, so it would be a) easier to justify their inclusion for fair-use commentary, and b) more accurate as a reflection of the novel's original content. --DanDs (talk) 08:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

I e-mailed the creator, and he would not release the images into the public domain (understandably). So, I tagged them as fair-use due to my belief that they are not replaceable by even the Hildebrandt illustrations--they would be black and white and not up to the quality of the images listed above...also, they are official--the top of the page reads thusly: "This gallery is dedicated to the works of author Terry Brooks (with permission), I have tried to capture some of the imagery inspired by the first series of Shannara books." (bolding added). I believe this means that Terry Brooks endorses them, making them quite "accurate as a reflection of the novel's original content". the_ed17 20:28, 11 July 2008 (UTC)