I guess I couldn’t agree more. I forgot this book. No nostalgia, no lasting impression, no originality. Like Jen admitted with her first “impression of it as this overdone, tired cliche.” Maybe it was so forgettable because Sword, to be blunt, is an imitation. You can’t help but agree with Jen when she starts making comparisons with LOTR such as Shady Vale/Shire, Shea/Frodo, Allanon/Gandolf, Warlock Lord/Sauron, etc. So why did I read the rest of the Shannara Trilogy and the four novels of the Heritage of Shannara from the 1980s and early 90s? Why the investment of time if my foremost memory is that of being burned out by the same formula - a mixed human/elf descendant from the house of Shannara who is sent on a quest by the Druid Allanon to overcome evil. So burned out, in fact, that I never moved on to Brooks next series: the Magic Kingdom of Landover.
I can understand Phil’s annoyance when he critiques the magical elfstones in Sword: “It frustrates me when magic has no cost - physical, emotional, financial, whatever - and when it works just like pressing a button.” Moreover, I am sympathetic to Jen's comment about how the "heroic (white) male always wins" in Sword. The sequel does go in a different direction. This time around the elfstones no longer work like pressing a button. And the magical tree, Ellcrys, held back a horde of demons at a great cost - it was dying - so its seed needs to be replanted. The magic in this book doesn't seem to come easy. And an elven lady named Amberle (I remember her because I have a cousin named Amber) is one of the main characters who serves as caretaker of that seed. And like Darth Vader, I certainly remember the Reaper, the big bad alpha demon. So unlike Sword, Elfstones fueled my imagination with this semi-original trope of planting a seed in the bloodfire so that the Ellcrys could be reborn. Jen might see that as throwing the ring into the fire of Mt. Doom, but I wasn’t left with that image. It matters that after all these years I can actually remember these details. Maybe if I reread it I’ll hate it (the prose is the same as Sword) but my instincts tell me otherwise. The prose cannot compete with my favorite authors such as David Eddings, George R.R. Martin, R.A. Salvatore, etc. who I’ve read since then, but a good story is a good story.
Jen and Phil, I highly urge you to read Elfstones while Swords is still somewhat fresh in your minds. There’s a reason why Elfstones remained sixteen weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List. If you follow my advice, that will give me a good reason to dust off my old copy and read along with you (I’ve yet to read a fantasy book twice.) I am interested to see if this sequel will leave you begging for more, or bored out of your minds given how far fantasy has evolved since then.