Wondering what everyone here thinks of him. I read him in HS and I'm well past HS now. I read 'A Princess of Landover' over the Christmas break. He doesn't seem to have grown much, style-wise. Back when 'The Sword of Shannara' came out, it was widely derided as a Tolkein ripoff, but his sales are undeniable. Something like 22 million books.

Someone has to be buying them. So let's hear it.

People buy Dan Brown and Stieg Larson too.

I like Brooks. I never considered him a Tolkein rip-off because, as much as I love the books, they read like a cross between the bible and an encyclopedia. I just lump him with every other fantasy writer out there.

His style is easy to read and does not get too bogged down in overwhelming detail (I once got 300 pages into one of the Wheel of Time books before I figured out I had already read it about a year before). I consider him good vacation reading material... something I can look forward to reading, but not get lost or annoyed if I have to put it down every 10 minutes.

I read one a looong time ago. Don't remember which one, but ... that was enough.

That's pretty low. Especially comparing him to Brown. Well, in all fairness, I did most of my Brooks reading when I was in HS and early college...but at least Brooks doesn't try to pass off his stuff as possibly being based in reality.

Larson wasn't high art, but it was much better than Brown too.

Brooks I really enjoyed the early books in the Shannara series. Sword took a long time for me to get into, but once it took off (about halfway I think) it was a great adventure, and the others in the series were the same. Haven't read anything since Morgawr though. Your comment about him not changing much was my experience too. But I liked what he had done before, so that's not a terrible thing either.

I also really liked his Magic Kingdom of Landover series for the first couple of books. Gave up on Tangle Box.

The Shannara stuff is definitely Tolkien-like, but that's fine with me. It was well done and entertaining. I keep meaning to go back and reread them again.

I liked his Word and Void series too, though it's probably too preachy for most on this board.

I enjoyed the first three Shannara books, but like Raymond Feist, and Terry Goodkind, they just WONT QUIT.

Great grand children of Shannara, etc..... I know its money in the bank but please come up with a new universe.

Garet Jax is my favorite fictional character of all time! I loved Terry's books as a child; I have not read much of him since high school.

Yeah, Jax was Snake-Eyes and Strider having a baby.

I read Sword in HS too. Lots of fun, and an easier read for me than Tolkien.

I think I read a sequel or two but nothing since.

Sword trilogy is decent (although Sword is VERY Tolkien-esque). Always enjoyed the Heritage trilogy quite a bit - I thought that was good.

I think things went downhill with the Shannara books after that (High Druid, Jerle Shannara). I read them for the third time a while back (I re-read things a lot) and realized I simply didn't want to read them - I'd rather read the older books instead - and sent them off to ebay.

Things improved a bit with the Genesis prequel IMO. Then again they smacked heavily of the Word & Void series at first, which helped (I think W&V was one of his best works).

I haven't gotten around to reading Bearers of the Black Staff yet.

Landover was entertaining enough. It's supposed to be light fantasy and it feels like it. Haven't read Princess of Landover yet though.

I like post-apocalyptic movies/books so I just finished Armageddon's Children which apparently is a bridge between some of older books. It was pretty good with some magical elements mixed in with the apocalyptic ones. I am looking forward to the next in the series.