Richard Rahl, the lead character, learns that he is the key to helping save the land, instead of the poor woodsman he believed himself to be. With untapped magic, and a gift for seeking the truth, he begins to understand the importance of his role in correcting the imbalances being created by evil. With the help of his grandfather and some new friends, Richard begins his quest on helping solve the world’s problems.

Probably the most interesting thing I found was that where Goodkind conjures the typical fantasy novel, he brings forth a unique form of magic that the characters utilize—additive and subtractive magic. Along with a remarkable set of good and evil characters, Wizard’s First Rule, takes off brilliantly and continues until the last page. I highly recommend Terry Goodkind’s entire series, but Wizard’s First Rule is certainly the diamond of the group.

What the Sword of Shannara brings is magic, an array of races, and a grand adventure. The main character Shea, must endure many hardships and learn to understand his heritage, so he can save the world of today. Relying on his best friend (accepted as his brother), and doing his best to trust magic that he really doesn’t understand, he goes in search of a legendary sword that will eliminate an evil that is threatening to over take the world.

Yet, the way Brooks tells us the story is the most important thing in my opinion. He is able to lay before the reader a wonderful land and plot that reads comfortably, and actually moves through the story. In this day of Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind (both authors that I really enjoy) and the overly verbose and countless pages of useless discussion of clothing and name dropping, Terry Brooks delivers the information in a very entertaining and robust setting, yet moves the story along so the reader doesn’t lose interest. Brooks will always be one of my favorite writers because of his imagination, but also in the manner in which he writes it. He tells a great story.

He writes in a unique manner where each new chapter is written from the perspective of a different character—yet it is all in the first person.  This allows Martin to continually change the perspective of the story and allows a different voice to carry the plot, but he continues to keep the characters extremely rich and the story very enjoyable.

George RR Martin and A Game of Thrones is a great book and start to what proves to be an exciting series.  His unique style of writing and the thick subplots of the characters carry the story nicely.  Get past the first hand full of pages and you will treat yourself an excellent read.