For the nerds...

... I present a fine selection of fantasy literature. I found myself needing a break from equity investing and forex books, so what better way than to venture into the rather mindless world of fiction. I have completed the first three books in the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. If you pick up the first book, try your best to ignore the parallels between this and Tolkien's work. Through all of the fantasy reading I have done it has become evident that he created the benchmark for the genre that is difficult for authors to escape in attempts to create something new. That being said, Brooks accomplished what he set out to do. He created characters based on classic literature heroism and set them in his fantasy world. Like many of the great stories of the western world, the protagonist is an "anyman" who, with a supporting cast of hero types, takes on all odds to overcome great peril. Subsequent books follow a similar plot idea, but Brooks gets much better as the books progress.

I had been toying with the idea of reading Brooks after I received a signed copy of The Sword of Shannara from Easton Press. I decided not to undertake such a large venture at the time because of the commitment to read so many books (if you know me at all then it is clear that if I read one I have to read them all). As fate would have it, I was in Borders a few weeks ago and saw a new book by Brooks called Armageddon's Children. It is a new series that is supposed to be unrelated to his previous works so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. It took about two days to finish that book and I fell in love with the way Brooks writes. So naturally, my only course of action was to read all of his other books before August of next year when the second book in the Armageddon's Children series is released. Having made it through the first three books in the Shannara series I have found that the new series is not entirely unrelated. It takes place, I believe, during the "Great Wars" that are mentioned time and time again in the Shannara books. Having said all of this, I would suggest this author to anyone looking for some literature to fill the void while we all wait for the final Harry Potter book to release. It is certainly worth the time.