The First King of Shannara

Book Review

Writing for more then 28 years, author Terry Brooks has captured fantasy genre readers through his captivating series'. Most notably, The Sword of Shannara, lasted as a New York Times Best Seller for more then five months, and from there he has wrote sixteen others as well. Now he takes the reader even farther back, to the prequel of the classic Shannara series, First King of Shannara. This tale brings you a story of adventure, magic and myth that shows the secret evil that is slowly building throughout the land, and it's up to four people of diverse races to stop it. Two main characters in First King of Shannara, Bremen and Mareth, find themselves on a perilous journey in the imagination of Terry Brooks, which proves to us the inevitable and ever-living powerful importance of friendship and how sacred it can be when everything else seems to go all wrong.

The author of the First King of Shannara, Terry Brooks, wrote the series of Shannara because of the faith and encouragement of his friends and family. He acknowledged his parents because they always "believed' and that translates that they always encouraged him to be what he wanted, or do what he wanted to do. I think this allowed Terry Brookes to open up his imagination to new things, to allow it to piece together what he wanted to write about. Various types of situations the characters get themselves into reflect on different genres of writings. From tragedy all the way to mystery, he explains between-the-lines his interest in different types of genres, that is what makes this fantasy tale a great one.

Bremen, out of all the main characters in the story, glues it all together being the leader-like figure of the story. His old age provides a definite father for the younger characters in the story; and his wisdom is not comparable to anybody else. As the book begins, Terry Brooks comes right out and tells that he is an outcast of the Druid Council (A group of knowledgeable people of different races who search and find everything about old world magic and science.). The reason for this being is because he chooses certain beliefs about certain things pertaining to issues and is stubborn to think otherwise. For example, after he learns of the rising evil in the land, he goes directly to the Council for support of the issue, and to evacuate people in the area immediately. They laugh and mock him, but there decisions turn back at them and fire back. Three or so day later, every single one lays slaughters, sleeping in there own blood. This turns the story to Bremen as the last support. He gathers the three other people that listened to his advice, and assigns each one of them a specific purpose and goal. Not only do we see him as a father figure or a leader, but also a teacher. This brings us to the next character, Mareth.

Mareth is a mysterious loner with a very interesting and painful past. Being young and demanding, she comes strait to Bremen asking to join him on wherever he is going. (Bremen is known very well near towns in the Druid Council). By her quiet actions she is very questionable, and all the main characters promised each other to keep a specific eye on her, the irony is that she does the same. Not for awhile throughout the book, do we learn anything about her, where she is from and such. Slowly and giving little bits at when she feels, do we learn of where she is from, where she plans on going, and what she thinks of the events that are going on. She seems to have a form of magic, called innate magic, which has only come from a child of a sorcerer or sorceress. Bremen takes her as a daughter, and teaches her of the history of magic, and how to use it and control it. He allows her to ask questions, and more and more, she makes a friendship with members of the quest, that they are not to antagonize her, but to care for her. She also seems to wrap up situations in the book, and almost puts herself in deaths way to do it. Being one of the loner characters in the story, she shines when she understands that she is not alone in this world, but has friends to accompany with every step of the way.

To accomplish goals bigger then the world itself, friends are invaluable. As we see in First King of Shannara, Bremen fully depends on four friends that decide