The Scions of Shannara

The Heritage of Shannara, Book 1

By: Terry Brooks

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

Since the death of the Druid Allanon, the Four Lands have changed profoundly, with magic strictly forbidden in the Southland, now under totalitarian rule. Yet Par still has some power of the Wishsong. When he accidently brings a mythic horror to life, a man calling himself Cogline drives it away. Cogline brings a message from Allanon: venture to the dread Hadeshorn, along with the other Scions of Shannara. For in the future, all life in the Four Lands will be destroyed. To prevent this terrible fate, Allanon commands Par to recover the long-lost Sword of Shannara, a task that is next to impossible.

Thus continues the enthralling Shannara epic, a spellbinding tale of adventure, magic, and myth....

©2000 Terry Brooks (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"If Harry Potter has given you a thirst for fantasy and you have not discovered the magic of Terry Brooks, you are in for a treat." (Rocky Mountain News)

"If you were delighted and entranced by Michael Ende's The Never Ending Story, you will definitely want to sample one of more of Terry Brooks' books." (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Scions of Shannara

I first read this book when I was a teenager. I grabbed a book off my grandparents shelf (it could have been anything) and it was this. I was so pleased to see this finally unabridged. I stayed up all night when I discovered Shannara and did it again with this. John Lee is a great narrator, each character is brought to life and had a unique voice. 10/10.

great story, audio not so much

a great story, and the speaker is great, the audio cuts off his words and makes it hard to understand sometimes, like the last syllable is super quiet.

Loved it

I love these stories and the reading is so good. Very enjoyable. Highly recommend this entire series

Solid story throughout the book.

The performer is not my favorite one. He reads the story choppy. I would of preferred another one.

Very good, only a couple flaws

Any additional comments?

First, this is definitely worth a credit. Yes, its a little obvious with betrayals, but not every character lives....which kind of balances out. The narration is excellent. The story flows well. I wish I could give a half a star more, but because of the betrayal flaw, I just can't give it 5 stars.

Classic Brooks leaves you guessing quite a bit.

Crazy Twisted Ending, With a Sub Par voice Talent (no pun intended) when you see the name of the lead characters you'll know what I mean. and a story that tends to lag but I think that's the mixture between a bit of a plodding along narrative at times and plotting along voice actor who just doesn't have enough different voices somebody trying to perform the many buried voices you would need to know we'll be able to do to perform a Read like this.

The Sword of Shannara is lost again

Shades! If somebody hasn’t gone and lost the Sword of Shannara again!

The descendants of the protagonists of the first Shannara series have been having disturbing dreams, but haven’t paid much attention until the mysterious character, Cogline finds them and urges them to come to the dreaded Hadeshorn to meet with the shade of the Druid Allanon, the mentor of the earlier adventurers.

As usual, Allanon tells them that the world is in danger of being destroyed if they don’t do something about it. But the Ohmsford children are skeptical. The way they have heard the old stories, Allanon has sometimes lied, or at least not been completely truthful, to their ancestors to get them to save the world before. And anyway, the tasks Allanon asks them to do seem just about impossible. After all, they are just regular people, just trying to make a living. They are not their famous ancestors. And already, just getting to the meeting they have faced grave danger.

Par Ohmsford, who has been tasked with finding the Sword of Shannara once again, is willing, albeit reluctantly, to attempt the task. Most of the book dwells on his quest and the dangers he and the friends he picks up along the way face.

Par’s cousin, Wren Ohmsford, is more doubtful about her task and returns to her home before changing her mind and taking up her quest. I think it had to do with finding the Elves, who had left the world altogether. And his more distant cousin (or uncle or something), Walker Boh, downright refused his part, yet somehow he wound up starting out after a while anyway. We discover that Cogline once trained to be a Druid but somehow dropped out along the way. But it seems that in the face of the new dangers nobody will be allowed to drop out.

I kind of wished that the story had followed the different parts of the quest more evenly, but I understand that subsequent books in the series pick up the various participants in more detail.

John Lee as a narrator is a bit intense at times, but that doesn’t detract much from the story. After all, in the world of Shannara, things are usually pretty intense.

sad story but filled with hope

A true Testament to exceptional storytelling when you can take devastating circumstances and leave the reader with hope.

amazing story

It is so easy to get lost in Terry Brooks stories. This book will grip you right from the start.

Familiar but enjoyable

I was hungry for more Shannara stories and this filled that hunger.Miss previous reader but the performance was acceptable. Will listen to next book.