First King Of Shannara By Terry Brooks example essay topic

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 on the fate of the entire civilization of the Races. Although in the story the friends think completely different, there goals are still the same. Even the reader may come across times where they just think the whole plan is now invalid, but someone, even if it isn't one of the four friends, picks up the torch and runs with it. Death can't even come across the goals that are required of people in the story. That is the true value of friendship.

Mareth says in the begging that she just wants to be left alone, but inside she can beg to differ. Towards the end of the story, she is married to one of the main characters, and that is an accomplishment. Some of us are still alive today because of a friend's advice, or some sort of help from a friend. You can always depend on them, and trust that there judgment is good and valid. You always know you will be able to have assistance through times that seem impossible. This is clearly pointed out in the ending of First King of Shannara.

Before I picked up First King of Shannara by Terry Brooks I have only heard good things of the author, but this was a million times better then what I was expecting. Never being too into fantasy, I decided to try it out, and wow was I surprised. The story Brooks created was amazing and captivating as well as the places his mind whipped up. The characters he gave us to learn about was incredible, you got to know everything, For example, he gives us an entire paragraph on how one character thinks a certain way, and in the next paragraph, gives us another characters point of view. This quickly got us to know the characters, and I bet that was the author's intention. Never have I read a book that actually picked me up, and placed me into the book.

This book actually took me into a battle, then to a quiet town, then into the battle again. Sometimes Brooks even got me to feel the ambiance or mood of certain things or places. Never has a book done that to me. I don't think I would recommend it for a student looking for comedy, or a laugh, but I would recommend it to everyone else.

This book covers tons of different genres, in a matter of a chapter or two. This book has captured me enough to continue reading the trilogy of Shannara. First King of Shannara showed us who we depend on when the times get tough. Because his friends and parents believed in what he wanted to do; Terry Brooks had the chance to give us a suspenseful tale of magic and adventure. The book showed us Bremen, the glue-stick of the story and a wise father figure and teacher. The book also gave us an opposite, Mareth who took us on a wild ride of her mysterious past and her creepy thoughts.

Most important it showed us of just how important friendship can be; how even through the tough times we always understand that there is and will forever be someone we can trust and depend on..