Top Fantasy Series, June 2012

The Sword of Shannara kickstarted the Tolkien copy boom of the mid-seventies, and there are many very clear similarities between the opening volume of Shannara and Lord of the Rings. To his credit, Terry Brooks becomes himself in the subsequent releases and his work explodes with tension and magic and wonder. Though he has drifted to other realms, he has always come back to Shannara, expanding on its history, showing us the death of our world and the rise of the magical realm over decades of award-winning writing. Brooks has clearly shown himself a worthy successor to Tolkien and a rightful bearer of one of the crowns of modern fantasy masters.