(no subject)

[skygiants]

Sometimes, people have inexplicably terrible taste.

Sometimes, um . . . sometimes those people are me.

This story starts - as so many regrettable stories do - at tvtropes.org, where I was wandering idly a few weeks ago and stumbled over the page for Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Of course I read it. I read the whole thing. And suddenly I found myself on NOSTALGIA ALERT.

For those of you unfamiliar: the Shannara series begins with The Sword of Shannara, which has the distinction of being the most unabashed Lord of the Rings ripoff ever to make it onto the New York Times Bestseller list. (Our plucky band of hobbits Valemen, elves, dwarves, dispossessed princes, and one mysterious wizard Druid travel through marshes and mountains and halls of the dead while chased by wraiths! Seriously, you can compare the plots point-by-point, and it is hilarious.) At age 11, I found this enormous tome buried somewhere in a pile of my dad's old sff novels from the seventies, ate the whole thing up with a spoon, and went looking for more. There are two slightly more original sequels in the first trilogy; the books I really loved, however, were the Heritage of Shannara series. These were set three hundred years after the original book and followed some super-distant descendants of our original Plucky Valeman, as they all simultaneously went out on quests for Magical MacGuffins to save the land from the evils of democracy the evil subjugating and magic-suppressing Federation. I loved these books so much I tried to write myself into them. You are probably thinking "Mary Sues!" here, but no, no; I was not yet that fannishly far advanced. My version was much simpler: I just sat down at a computer and started retyping it out with myself inserted. "They had arrived in Varfleet two weeks earlier, Coll and Par and Becca." IT WAS VERY SATISFYING. (I WAS TWELVE. STOP JUDGING ME. ;_;)

ANYWAY. I am now twice the age I was then and had not thought about Terry Brooks in many years . . . until that fateful day on TVTropes, when all of a sudden I found myself thinking about the Heritage of Shannara books, and craving a reread. I knew it was ill-advised! I managed to quell these urges for several weeks! And then last weekend I found myself with a long subway ride ahead of me, and I had finished the book I brought with me, and the library was right there, and the Heritage of Shannara omnibus containing volumes one and two of the quartet was also right there, and I said, "you know what, it will at least entertain me for the ride home." I was expecting that they would be awful and shatter my childhood love! I was prepared for that! I was not prepared for what happened, which is: guys, I totally still love these books. I devoured the omnibus over the past few days and I need the rest. It is not that they are good! It is not that AT ALL. They are standard Eurofantasy, everyone's descendent acts almost exactly like their ancestor did, the politics make no sense, 3/4 of the female characters exist to be Designated Love Interests, at one point a woman is literally created out of flower petals and unicorn hair . . . you get the idea. AND YET.

Honestly, I think what gets me is that, flaws aside, all of Terry Brooks' magic is extremely ominous. All of the magic in his books takes some kind of terrible toll, and I still find that really interesting - and I don't know if it's actually due to Brooks' talent at all or just pure nostalgia, but I still get that thoroughly creeped-out-in-a-good-way feeling from his books, the same feeling I got from the Mines of Moria sequence in Lord of the Rings, exactly the same as I did when I was twelve.

The omnibus that I read contains The Scions of Shannara and The Druid of Shannara. Scions of Shannara goes pretty much like this:

GHOST DRUID: Okay, descendents of Shannara, THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH! I have given you prophetic creepy dreams! Here are some impossible tasks and some magical MacGuffins to look for, go go go!

WALKER BOH: I am the angsty and cynical one! AND I WILL CUT OFF MY RIGHT ARM BEFORE I ALLOW MYSELF TO BE USED TO FIND A MAGICAL MACGUFFIN. In no way do I see this phrase coming back to haunt me ironically later.

WREN OHMSFORD: I am the free-spirited one, and am actually pretty well-adjusted! So I'll ask around after my MacGuffin. I hope you enjoyed this brief appearance of a non-love-interest woman; you won't be seeing one again until the book completely dedicated to my adventures. Spoiler: IT'S AWESOME.

PAR OHMSFORD: I am the young excitable one! Dude, I'm a DESTINED HERO, this is awesome! Magical MacGuffin, go go go!

COLL OHMSFORD: I have no magic and am Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Prophecy, and, as such, I suspect this is going to go even worse for me than it is for the rest of you.

PAR: Don't worry, bro! This is Terry Brooks, so all that means is that you are the Sam Gamgee.

COLL: Valid point! On the other hand, this is Terry Brooks, Darker And Edgier, so when things turn out poorly, I'm just letting you know now, it will be I Told You So time.

(Unsurprisingly, Coll is my favorite.)

The Druid of Shannara then focuses on Walker Boh, who I actually identify with way more than I did when I was younger. Possibly this is because he's the grown-up, and I actually appreciate his conflicted feelings about the standard book plots; he is the closest Terry Brooks gets to a genre-savvy character. It also features a creepy creepy deserted stone city, haunted by the creepy creepy creepy Maw Grint. Let me tell you: it is a bad idea to have nightmares about a creature called the Maw Grint when you live ten minutes away from the town of Bryn Mawr. For years I could not shake the association!

The next book up is Wren's book, Elf Queen of Shannara. I am way excited for it because I remember Wren being legit awesome! Also, that it is the only book in the series that passes the Bechdel Test.

And now, a poll, because as always I am curious about other people's formative childhood influences:

[Poll #1511148]

Comments

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

I TOTALLY REALISE THAT THEY ARE AWFUL NOW.

ONLY. UM.

...Hey, look over there! *Flees*

[skygiants]

DUDE I HAVE NO ROOM TO JUDGE

*sits in corner of shame*

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I read the first book only, I think? I DON'T KNOW. I LOVED COLL AND HE WAS TRAPPED SOMEWHERE, OR SOMETHING.

XD

[skygiants]

THAT IS BECAUSE COLL WAS THE BEST. He was so sane! I was totally nervous because I kept having these vague flashes of memory of what happened to the characters every time they were introduced, and I totally had a COLL DIES vague flashed at his introduction, and I was like OH NOOOOOO. But then it turned out he only fake died at the end of the first book, and that is what I was remembering! GREAT RELIEF.

[jothra]

Man oh man, I read so many of those. Wren was pretty awesome, as I recall.

I was most severely addicted to Mercedes Lackey and David Eddings, so I still have some fondness for them, and a few books of each.

(I used to have a bookshelf FULL of only Lackey's books. I do not anymore.)

[skygiants]

I confess the main reason nostalgia was so strong was because I really remembered Wren being awesome, and I wanted to read about it! (Though I think I was also mixing her up somewhat in my head with Wren from the Sherwood Smith books. Not . . . that the characters are actually all that dissimilar.)

I still have a great nostalgia-fondness for Lackey, and, um, still do have a shelf of her at home. >.> Eddings I have not tried in a long time, though, and I am kind of afraid to, but someday I am sure my nostalgia will overcome my common sense. :O

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

Random Fact:

Salvatore is from my hometown, or...at least he lives there now. Every now and again he teaches a creative writing workshop at my highschool. Or...at least he did when I was a student there.

The Woods Out Back is actually set in my hometown. Or well...the "real world" portions of it are.

*cues THE MORE YOU KNOW star.*

[skygiants]

:O DID YOU EVER ATTEND?? What pearls of wisdom did he drop?

(I never actually read R.A. Salvatore! But I have heard enough about him to FEEL like I have read him.)

[djcati.livejournal.com]

LET ME JUST ONE-UP YOU FOR A SECOND: Terry Brooks also wrote the novelisation of The Phantom Menace, which I was unashamedly in love with at age eleven because it had twice as much of Anakin Skywalker's Adventures On Tatooine as the movie.

Yeahhh.

A couple years later, I had a roommate at school who loved the Shannara series, but I never read those. Alas.

[skygiants]

Ahahahahaha man, I did not read The Phantom Menace novelization, but I DID read and adore Terry Brooks' Hook novelization. I don't know whether that's better or worse!

[newredshoes]

REDWALL REDWALL REDWAAAAAAAALL!!!!

[skygiants]

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

(but also I did not include novels that were legit written for YA on this list! Because that would increase it by like TWENTY MILLION, so I arbitrarily decided I was only polling about books that were theoretically intended for adult consumption, and yet still ideally read at the age of thirteen. It is a very different category. *dignified*)

[wickedtrue.livejournal.com]

Oh good lord. Anne McCaffrey. I was 12 and read the first dragon book, and came out asking my mother if these people just had sex because I WASN'T SURE, IT WAS CONFUSING. I related far too much to the Harper Hall books until my parents relented and let me study theatre with a group outside the school. I WAS NO LONGER OPPRESSED.

...I. Does Anne Rice count? I didn't even like most of the characters! I think Anne Rice was my first confrontation with Peer Pressure. I read them and remember thinking that I wasn't very impressed with these vampire books, but people I knew loved them and it was the only books they read, so.

[skygiants]

I READ EVERY ONE. The dragon books and the harper books and the super special psychic kids books, I haunted the McCaffrey shelf in my library.

Also, ANNE RICE TOTALLY COUNTS. I am not sure she is quite as much of a fantasy gateway drug as the others - do people go from Anne Rice on to other fantasy novels, or do they just go deeper into vampire obsession? - but still, I DECREE IT.

[kiarasayre.livejournal.com]

TAMORA PIERCE, YO. I kind of reread the Alanna series through my fingers, which are clutched to my face in an oh-my-god-I-shouldn't-be-enjoying-this-so-much kind of way.

That said, I do enjoy all of her stuff but also think that her newer stuff is also pretty legit good. I mean, it's really obvious that she got addicted to Law & Order, but hey, I'm addicted to Law & Order too, so it works out! (And Trisana Chandler still > EVERYTHING.)

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES SHE DOES. ♥ *just re-read Shatterglass*

I need to go read all Pierce's stuff again, now. AND IT'S YOUR FAULT.

[littledust.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE ~*SEEN INTO MY HEART~* because I was just thinking about Shannara the other day BECAUSE OF TVTROPES.

I love how if more than one person is romantically interested in a character, that character is guaranteed to turn into a tree/become one with the laaaand/some other crazy fate. LOVE TRIANGLES CAN ONLY BE SOLVED THROUGH TERRIBLE MAGIC-INDUCED SUFFERING.

But OMG OMG OMG the Heritage of Shannara quarter is my faaaaavorite, although I do respect Terry Brooks a lot for getting better at originality instead of just cashing in on not getting caught for ripping off LotR. The Voyage of Shannara trilogy (or whatever it's called) is pretty fun, although I have not yet read the last book.

NEED TO REREAD NOW. *_* HOORAY FOR HAVING THE HERITAGE QUARTET ON MY BOOKSHELF.

[skygiants]

OH MAN I AM NOT ALOOOOOONE *clings*

And HAHAHA ME TOO. It is a little-known fact that Terry Brooks has cleverly revealed to us that 50% of all women end up magically bonding to nature and losing their humanity! Sorry dudes, good thing there are other fish in the sea.

I do too! And I also really do respect him for what he did with the whole "yeah, half-elven only goes so far five million generations down the line. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ELF MAGIC, KIDS." My love for Heritage was so overpowering I don't think I read any afterwards . . . and then I looked at the Wikipedia page and there are like TWELVE MORE that I NEVER READ and now I am torn between hunting them all down and fleeing in terror. @_@

YESSSSS JOIN ME \o/

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

I remember reading Magic's Pawn when I was thirteen and realising that the reason I didn't like the main character was because he was written how wangsty teenagers actually act instead of how they think they do. I got through the other two books on the strength of him growing out of it, at least a little. :D

[skygiants]

. . . *cracks up* okay, first of all, you should know when I started writing this comment I was totally confusing Pawn of Prophecy and Magic's Pawn. WHICH I THINK IS A LEGIT MISTAKE.

Also: oh man, so true, and yet I ate all the angst up like candy! When I was thirteen, again. But my favorite was definitely the second one, when he actually had to go home and deal with his family like a normal person and his family turned out to be, like, real people, which is always a nice thing.

[daniidebrabant.livejournal.com]

...you know my Eddings love. My deep deep Eddings love.

I'm sad that Feist wasn't on there, considering his ELEVENTY BAZILLION books about how he played DnD with a few other authors *cough*.

[skygiants]

Heeee yes I do. *giggling* Oh Eddings! So formative, in so many ways. <3

- OH MAN I KNEW I FORGOT SOMEONE. Feist should totally have been on there! I totally devoured his books, too. :O

[miseline.livejournal.com]

LOL. I love it.

I too found The Sword of Shannara among my dad's books and he let me keep it... Gee, I wonder why... He wasn't picky, loved pretty much all books, but I think this one wasn't creepy enough for him.

I sincerely hope my own writing won't be like this - Terry Brooks even stole the exact same scenes from LOTR. :) But as you say, at a young age, we aren't too picky.

[skygiants]

Hee, yeah, I'm pretty sure my dad never actually missed his copy! (I'm actually pretty sure he never remembered its existence after, like, 1975. So I do not feel too guilty.)

Hey, the other good thing about reading Terry Brooks when we are thirteen, is that when we are older and writing our own stuff we can say "OKAY, this is what I want to AVOID DOING. Even if he did make a million billion dollars off it."

[misslucyjane]

I didn't read a lot of fantasy growing up and I wish I had--I'd probably enjoy it more now if I'd grown up with it.

As it was, I was ruint by romance and classics. Jane Eyre was the most influential book of my formative years.

[skygiants]

Haha, well. *eyes that list* It's not like . . . you were exactly missing out . . . *sheepish*

I loved Jane Eyre, but I don't think it influenced me deep in my soul the way these cracktastic fantasy novels did. Dickens, on the other hand, Dickens influenced me in my soul. And Hugo. Oh tragically doomed young revolutionaries, I wish I knew how to quit you!

[agonistes]

REDWALL.

Also the Star Wars EU books before they started up with all that X-Wing Squadron and Young Jedi Knights books. LIKE CRACK, I TELL YOU. CRACK. I went back and reread The Courtship of Princess Leia a few years ago and was like WHAT, HOW DID THIS TURN INTO A NOVEL OF SUCK. WHAT.

[skygiants]

I think the only reason I did not dive into the Star Wars EU books was because my little brother read them, and therefore, I was automatically TOO COOL FOR THAT.

Sweeney it is such a tragic mystery how those things happen ;_;

[innerbrat]

Anne Rice.

[skygiants]

I never remember about Anne Rice because I never actually read her . . . but on the other hand, she is another one that I have heard so many people talk about her throughout the years, I feel like I did anyways!

(I saw the Interview with a Vampire film but I don't think that really counts. >.> )

[nextian.livejournal.com]

mumble mumble Wizard's First Rule mumble Terry Goodkind mumble would have made a songvid to Shania Twain if I had had video editing software at the age of twelve

[littledust.livejournal.com]

I FORGOT ABOUT WIZARD'S FIRST RULE. Wh-which I read because of a Gundam Wing fanfic set in that universe.

Now I'm tempted to watch Legend of the Seeker. It at least leaves out the Ayn Rand influence, I am told!

[ceitfianna]

I read those books and could never get into them. I think I finished the first one and then had enough.

Also I just had a dream about Hatter from Alice, it was odd.

[skygiants]

Hahaha, well, I do not blame you; see above re: my lack of taste. (Also, they were CREEPY. I enjoyed that but I suspect not everyone would.)

I never actually ended up seeing more than the first ten minutes of Alice! I still mean to because I enjoyed those ten minutes . . . but I have not had time. :O

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Star Wars EUs and *SHAAAAAME* Star Trek novels...

[skygiants]

Hey, you have seen my booklogging posts; I am just starting to read Star Trek novels NOW. (It is genarti's fault though!)

[dynastessa]

There have been several bad books that I have guiltily enjoyed. Except now I can't seem to come up with the titles of them!

Maybe my brain has an auto-filter.

OH. LKH - Anita Blake. Does that count? Because she rips from everything possible, and her main character is the biggest fliptastic Sue ever. In fact, she's pretty much famous for being a Mary Sue and having a Doom Crotch.

I never read Brooks' Shannara books, but I think that's mostly because the thickness/amount of them really made me shy away. (And for some reason, I always get him and Goodkind mixed up and start thinking the Shannara books are the Sword of Truth ones - also didn't read those.)

[skygiants]

If your brain has an auto-filter you are a lucky woman. :O

AHAHAHA Laurell K. Hamilton totally counts! I never actually read her myself, but it sounds like I had a pretty narrow escape; I would totally have eaten it up when I was twelve.

BROOKS IS BETTER THAN GOODKIND. If I can say nothing else for him, I can say that!

[yakalskovich]

Marion Zimmer Bradley.-

[skygiants]

I realized I had forgotten MZB like twenty minutes after I made the post and started facepalming. Man, I still remember the time I read one of her books, realized 150 pages in that the characters were reincarnations of a set of characters from another one of her books, and practically expired of glee because I thought it was so awesome.

(my . . . my standards of awesome weren't high . . .)

[cupenny.livejournal.com]

I totally went through Anne McCaffery's dragon books in JrHS, as well as anything Mercedes Lackey I could get my hands on (even through my mom tried to sheild me from the omg-sex!), lots of Piers Anthony's Xanth series, and then LOTS of Star Trek TNG and DS9 books.

Well- Piers Anthony got dropped when I tried reading his other stuff and realized how skeevy he was getting. I grew out of the Star Trek books and gave most of them away, but Anne McCaffery and Mercedes Lackey still keep their place in my heart.

[skygiants]

I find it telling that of all the authors listed in the poll, NO ONE has said that they still read and enjoy Piers Anthony. *laughing* Oh Piers Anthony! King of skeeze.

I have not tried rereading Anne McCaffrey in ages and I suspect it would not hold up for me, but I can still totally devour Mercedes Lackey books in an afternoon when I am feeling nostalgia-overcome.

[agentclaudia.livejournal.com]

I got into the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles in eighth grade. And I read them like a billion times. And I am still all about vampires (and all over the current vampire craze with literary, gothy AND fangirly glee!), but I haven't reread an Anne Rice book in a while, and now I kinda want to...

Other than that, I was mostly about YA stuff... Tamora Pierce, Patricia Wrede, Redwall, stuff like that. And I still read tons of it, although now I feel all old when I go to the bookstore, because there are series that have like 20 books in them now that I remember when they were standalones. o.O

[skygiants]

Sometimes, it really is worth it, even if the books are terrible, just to feel twelve again!

Other times, it shatters the love completely, and it is hard to know which is which. ;_; I got lucky with Terry Brooks!

Oh, I read all those too (and still do) - and I suspect a lot of it in fact holds up better than a lot of these so-called adult fantasy novels! And hahahaha I know that feeling. SO WELL.

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

Cringing a little at the fact that I'm the first to admit to still liking Piers Anthony on occasion. I only read the Xanth novels, and that mostly for the puns -- cooks like puns, for some reason.

Also? Um, Robert Jordan (for which I blame my older -- therefore cooler -- cousin, and a sinus infection I had over Christmas vacation). The Star Wars EU (for which I blame my parents who still think they're good books). And Anne Rice.

Oddly, I read far more YA fantasy now that I'm an adult. No accounting for taste.

[skygiants]

*cracks up* I'm sure someone will come along who admits to still liking him! Eventually . . . (Poor Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman! The only ones without current fans.)

I think the main reason I never got into Robert Jordan was because I kept picking up these other fantasy bricks, and then I'd go read online reviews, and every single review would be like "WELL. That was fun, but I hope the series ends eventually and doesn't turn into another Wheel of Time, hahahaha!" And so I made a vow never to read the Wheel of Time books.

Me too! - well, not more, because I always read a lot. But equal amounts?

[magwana.livejournal.com]

Robert Jordan was my add, but this is a really impressive list of my childhood reading habits. *ahem*

I remember being disappointed there wasn't more Wren in the other books, because she was totally my favorite! But I don't remember the Heritage books all that well, aside from the creepy nature woman (Quickening) and I think I had a crush on Morgan.

I used to walk the dog in the afternoons and have imaginary adventures with Valemen. The best part was when I narrated my own stories to my dog...I do not think he appreciated them!

[skygiants]

Secretly I post this poll to reassure myself that I was not alone in my terrible teenage tastes. >.>

ME TOO. There needed to be more Wren always! She was definitely the best female character I ever saw Terry Brooks write, at least. (Obviously I do not know 100% of his work . . .) Hee, I think I had a crush on Morgan too, but on the reread I am finding him kind of annoying. Now I have a crush on COLL, PILLAR OF SANITY and BEST BROTHER EVER. <333

Aw, that's kind of adorable. (The dog was just jealous! There were only heroic magical cats in the Shannara books, not heroic magical dogs. :O CLEARLY he wanted to write himself in too!)

I'M SO LATE TO THE GAME!!

[blacksheep91.livejournal.com]

Tamora Pierce-Circle of Magic/The Circle Opens for me thank you. I was/still am a big YA Fantasy reader. (ILU Leviathan, why make me wait for book two? D:) It's the only book series I can remember anxiously awaiting the new book to come out every year(?) My BFF#2 keeps telling me, "Oh you need to read the one about the girl who's a knight!" But I've been too lazy to get around to it >3>. And Artemis Fowl too for that matter. (And yes, it trumps Harry Potter. With Harry Potter I was listening to books on tape/CD, and I certainly enjoyed them, but not enough to go to the midnight release parties or anything like that. I did buy a trunk for my wizard bling though. :x)

I'm so cheery that you're talking about this; my mum and I were just discussing our childhood book!loves. <3

It is NEVER too late for a DORKY READING HABITS PARTY

[skygiants]

I am going to second your BFF: read the Alanna books! They were MAD formative for me (as I mentioned above, I wrote my thesis on them!) and also: AWESOME. I never got around to Artemis Fowl though, because my little brother got to them first, and so they were branded Uncool in my prejudiced teenaged mind. (Harry Potter was a family experience for us! We'd buy one copy and all steal it around from each other.)

Dude, I could talk about alll the dorky books I loved when I was a kid for HOURS. As, uh, some of the people around here can attest. >.>