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The Wishsong of Shannara (The Sword of Shannara) | 
 enlarge | Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
New (45) Used (215) Collectible (9) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  88 reviews
Sales Rank: 48068
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0345356365
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345356369
ASIN: 0345356365
Publication Date: July 12, 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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Product Description
Horror stalked the Four Lands as the Ildatch, ancient source of evil, sent its ghastly Mord Wraiths to destroy Mankind. Only Druid Allanon held the magic power of wishsong that could make plants bloom instantly or turn trees from green to autumn gold. But she, too, was in mortal danger, and Ildatch waited for Brin to fall into his trap....
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An ancient Evil is stirring to new life, sending its ghastly MordWraiths to destroy Mankind. To win through the vile growth thatprotects this dark force, the Druid Allanon needs Brin Ohmsford -- for she aloneholds the magic power of the wishsong. Reluctantly Brin joins the Druidon his dangerous journey. But a prophecy foretells doom, as Evil nursesits plans to trap the unsuspecting Brin into a fate far more horriblethan death. Thus continues the enthralling Shannara epic, a spellbinding tale ofadventure, magic, and myth. The Wishsong of Shannara is thefourth volume of the classic series that has become one of the mostpopular fantasy tales of all time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 83 more reviews...
Repetitive, but good August 10, 2008
The final book in Brooks' first trilogy is, unsurprisingly, his best of the three. There are still times that I find his stories become a bit too bogged down with lengthy, repetitive battle scenes. I also became a bit put off by the fact that the plot device of having Allanon withhold secrets and the protagonist reluctant to use magic is repeated in all three books. But, these two criticisms are overall minor. I loved the use of sibling protagonists in this book, and also appreciated that, once again, a female was a main character--and in this case, an even stronger one than her male counterpart. It's refreshing to see in fantasy series whenever I come across it, although refreshing might be the wrong term for a book written in 1985. The character Cogline is a welcome addition to the series, and he adds the perfect amount of comedic charm that this dark and often sad book needed. A great finish to a series!
My Vote for Best Ohmsford July 21, 2008
It is inexplicable, but the world of Shannara has a potentially world shattering crisis every generation or so, and it all unfolds in basically the same way. You get the feeling that you are reading the same story over and over and over. And it's true. You really are, and he even admits it a little bit in this story.
The biggest problem with the "Shannara" trilogy I've seen, is that all three books start the exact same way, which just happens to be a condensed version of the way the Lord of the Rings starts. All three books model many of the traits of Tolkien's world and the heart of each of the stories share the same fundamental plot tree (although each plot has some unique twists and turns to get from A to B).
If you can ignore this annoyance, each book has its own merits and its own lands to reveal, and they each make some token (if not Tolkien) effort to differentiate themselves as their stories progress. However, having the same intro and same base plot to all three stories really makes a lot of people kinda wishing that he had tried a little harder there, myself included. Still, if you let this frustrating fact consume you, it is hard to appreciate what Brooks has done here with 'Wishsong.'
'Wishsong' gives us Brooks best use of magic to date, with a creative form of magic performed with a song containing some phenominal abilities. This seems to be the norm for this book, where Brooks tries hard to flex his creative muscle, while still in too many ways remaining bound to his 'formulaic' approach to storytelling.
'Wishsong' takes some risks, by allowing major characters to die, and changing the plot up enough at various points to make it somewhat more interesting than previous attempts. Overall, you really get the sense that Brooks wanted this one to be something different, something better and more original than the previous works, while recycling what he felt was his some of his better stuff. Almost like, "Wouldn't 'Sword' would have been better if I did this, instead of this... etc." Sword of Shannara: Director's Cut.
Yet, 'Wishsong' struggles hard to assert its independence of the other three through improved character development, with the best Ohmsford yet with Jair, and a good vote for the best pair with Brin and Jair. Not does he manage to pull of some interesting characters in the two, but their names don't actually sound utterly ridiculous. Brooks also pulls off three of his most memorable sidekicks with Slanter, Garrett Jax, and Cogline. Rone Leah could have been the best Leah character yet, if he had been properly developed. But, if that had been done, he could have easily outshined his quest buddy Brin, and that might have broken Brooks' magic formula for novel writing. Alas, we will never know. As is, Rone is nothing special, and Brin gets diluted by the split story.
The Kracken was not new to literature but new to the story, and the Jachyra was definitely something interesting. Other than that, having a book as the main bad guy led to an interesting finish, even though the Mord wraiths and the mutens seemed a little too generic.
'Sword,' 'Elfstones,' and 'Wishsong' should never win any awards for plot line. 'Sword' was really quite weak with plot, 'Elfstones' was creative, but also full of holes, and 'Wishsong' is really a more creative retelling of 'Sword.' People who would like a complex plot that doesn't seem to have been created by a 'fill in the blank' approach should try some of Brooks more recent works, or better yet, avoid Brooks altogether. It just isn't his strong suit.
Overall, thanks to the great characters and interesting reimagining of the plot line, this book was really quite good. I loved it, but I love this same old tired plot for some reason. The reason it falls short of expectations is it is a rehash, and therefore has no real potential on its own. If you were going to read one book of the three, this would probably be the best one to read. It explains all that happened (the net effect) in the first three anyway. Recommended.
 A thrilling conclusion to the Shannara trilogy March 12, 2008
This audio version of the third book in the series features the fine voice of Charles Keating bringing to life Mr. Brooks' characters. Brin Ohmsford and her brother Jair and their quest to destroy an evil book, the Ildatch. With fine characters and a strong story, this is a great conclusion to a fantastic series, began with the Sword Of Shannara and continuing with the Elfstones Of Shannara.
Surprisingly great! January 21, 2008
I was told that this books was not very good by a friend. I also had my doubts after reading the Elfstones and wondering how anyone could counter after a book like that. But I was glad to find out that this book is not bad at all, infact, its great! Definitly worth reading!!
 Just good enough to keep my interest November 22, 2007
This novel continues the ambivalence that I feel toward Brooks' writing. He is a good writer as far as style, plot progression and character development go. All of these strengths are present in this book. However, his glaring weaknesses of unoriginality and being too simplistic also show up strongly. Brooks is the kind of writer I feel like I should like but he always gives me reasons to view him as just an average fantasy writer. If you've read the series this far, go ahead and read this to finish the triology--just expect more of the same.
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