Terry Brooks

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings inspired many authors to create their own Fantasy worlds. Terry Brooks is one of these authors. He burst on the Fantasy scene in 1977 with a large Epic Fantasy and has been contributing to the genre ever since.

Mr. Brooks entered the Fantasy scene in 1977 with Sword of Shannara. This Epic Fantasy is very remeniscent of Tolkien with elves, dwarves and humans in a struggle to defeat an evil overlord. There is a quest for a legendary sword by a group of companions to defeat the evil. It made the Bestseller list and helped trigger an explosion in the genre for Epic Fantasy. He followed this with two other books about Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara.

His next series was a combination of serious and humorous Fantasy. In Magic Kingsom For Sale--Sold!, a man answers a real estate ad in the paper for a magic kingdom. He finds out it's for real when he finds himself in the other world of Landover. What ensues are fantastic, humorous tales as the man tries to get his magical kingdom through several different difficulties. The series consists of the book mentioned above and four others: The Black Unicorn, Wizard At Large, The Tangle Box and Witches' Brew.

Next he returned to Shannara with "The Heritage of Shannara" series. These books take place several generations after the first Shannara books. A group of people try to restore magic to the land through the series of books. This group of people are considered outcasts and dangerous by the status quo. Their story is told in The Scions of Shannara, The Druid of Shannara, The Elf Queen of Shannara, and The Talismans of Shannara. He also wrote a prequel to the original series with The First King of Shannara which tells of the founding of the land.

Recently, Mr. Brook's works have taken on a darker edge. He has ventured into Contemporary Fantasy with Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East. These books are part of "The Word and the Void" series. The characters fight darkness in our modern day world, but have serious flaws to overcome. Mr. Brooks uses the Illinois town he grew up in as the setting for these books.

Terry Brooks has contributed many good books to the Fantasy genre. Some detractors claim Sword of Shannara is a thinly disguised copy of Tolkien, but his later books move away into new ground. His books are full of adventure, different magic and strong themes. Readers put his books on the Bestseller lists consistently. Mr. Brooks continues to increase his presence with each new book. In September 2000, readers will be treated to a new adventure in Shannara with The Voyage of Jerle Shannara: Isle Witch. More information on Terry Brooks can be found at http://www.terrybrooks.net . Good luck.

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