Boekverslag Terry Brooks

Geschreven door:	Floris Berends (5 vwo) [meer]
Datum ingestuurd:	15 december 2005
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Titel:	The First King of Shannara
Auteur:	Terry Brooks
Jaar van uitgave:	1996

Auteur:	Terry Brooks
Geslacht:	man
Nationaliteit:	Engels
Populaire titels:	2000The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Ilse Witch (1) 1996The First King of Shannara (1) 1998Running with the Demon (1) 1977The sword of shannara (0)

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Title: The First King of Shannara
Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Legend Books
First edition In 1996
Number of pages: 489 pages

Title explanation:
The title of the book refers to the first elven King of the shannara heritage, Jerle Shannara.
I don’t think it’s a good title for the book. I also read the first book in the series, The sword of shannara, and I don’t think that’s a good title either. Because in the prequel,” the first king of shannara”, the sword has an active role, destroying the warlock lord. In “The sword of shannara” it doesn’t, so the prequel should actually have been named “The sword of shannara”.

Genre:
Adventure story/ fairy tale.

Place:
The story is set in a fantasy world, which is made up by the author. It doesn’t have one specific name, like Tolkien’s middle earth. In short, the elves live in the west, humans in the south, dwarves in the east, and the trolls, gnomes and evil beings, altogether with the warlock lord in the north. The druids have a keep in the middle of it all and exist out of all races, except for the evil beings summoned by the warlock lord.
It isn’t very important to know where it is, because the place doesn’t exist. It is, however, very important to know where all things are related to each other. For example, you do need to know that elves and dwarves live a far end away from each other, to know that it takes a long time to travel from the one to the other, or that, if you do, you will encounter the druid keep. Therefor the author included a map.

Time:
Well, that’s pretty much the same, there isn’t one. But since they are still fighting with swords and shields you could say it’s the dark ages. But then again, the druids are studying the science of the “Old World”, so it also could be in the future, after the “fall of the world, as we know it”.
And again, since it is all made up, no it doesn’t matter when it takes place.
The story is told in chronological order, but there are multiple storylines.

Perspective and characters:
We see the story as if it were told to us, through the eyes of a spectator.
Bremen: He is a druid, outcast for using magic that isn’t allowed by the druids. The druids study the science of the Old World and studying magic is forbidden. Bremen disagreed and left the druid, continuing his with the elves. He did the same as the druid Brona, which rebelled against the druids four hundred years earlier.
Kinson: A human tracker, trained in seeing what other people see not. A friend of Bremen, helping him in unrevealing the truth about the return of Brona and the uniting of the trolls.
Tay: An elven druid, friend of bremen and also an adept in using magic but not nearly as good as bremen. He grew up in the capital city of the elves and was a friend of jerle shannara and the king, courtann, when he was young. He became a druid and studied magic, learning from Bremen but keeping it secret from the druid council.
Risca: Dwarven druid, friend of Bremen and Tay. He grew up in the east and had a rough life. His father and mother died when he was only thirteen but he learned to use weapons at a young age and avenged their deaths. Master of arms. Adept in using magic.
Jerle Shannara: Elf, cousin of courtann, the elven king, and very capable with sword and shield. Always dreamed of becoming captain of the elven hunters, but became more important and promoted to military advisor.
Mareth: Druid girl. Very young when she decided to come with Bremen on his quest. She joined Bremen for two reasons: she wants to learn from him and she suspects him to be her father. She has very powerful innate magic, but hasn’t got complete control of it.

I personally liked Tay the most. He isn’t very stubborn like Bremen, knows when to fight but also when to yield, and not as competitive as Risca. He is very easygoing, respecting people for what they are and thinking of other people first. He is very capable with a sword but also can call upon his magic when needed. When he has to fight, he does things calm and thinks things through before doing them.
The other characters all have some characteristics I don’t like. Take Bremen for example, he is stubborn and keeps way to much information to himself, not trusting others to deal with it properly. Risca is aggressive and arrogant. When he sees the troll army he actually thinks he can strike brona down, even if bremen could not when he saw him in the northland. Tay knows when he is beaten, like when he is cornered by gnomes and skull bearers but does have the black elfstone. Bremen warned him not to use it because all kinds of magic will subvert you to it. And the black elfstone, being so powerful subverted him right away. Tay knew this and ended his own life when he destroyed the enemy.

Subject and theme:
I think the most important subject in the book is power. The power of magic is very important. The druids forbid it because it’s so powerful, but at the same time uncontrollable. They study the old world’s science, but of course science is also a way to achieve power. And even within the druid’s keep, the hunger for power is present. The high druid, athabasca, despises bremen for declining the position of high druid, and instead of leading the druids, studying magic. He turned all the other druids against bremen, which finally lead to his outcast.

The entire story began with brona’s hunger for power, using magic to become immortal.
That hunger for power is condemned in the book. At first by the druids, which relate the hunger for power to magic. They the magic breeds that hunger, that it’s addictive. Bremen disagrees but also blames the hunger for power for causing the war.

Summary:
The story begins when kinson and Bremen meet each other on the edge of a great plain. Kinson is human and a skilled tracker, Bremen is an outcast druid, old wise and an adept in the use of magic. Bremen tells kinson that Brona, an old rebel druid, united the trolls in the north and is marching east towards the dwarves. He is also planning to destroy the druids, as they are a threat to him. They decide to try and convince the druids of the danger, but already know they won’t listen, since Bremen is outcast for using magic. When they arrive and Bremen makes his plea to the druid council, they indeed won’t listen. Bremen pays a last visit to old friends, and two of them decide to come with him, Risca and Tay. They take food and supplies and leave. But when they set up there base camp for the night, another young druid approaches them, asking if she is also allowed to come. Her name is Mareth and she says she has some powerful innate magic, but still has things to learn and therefore wants to learn from Bremen. They all don’t want her to come, sceptical about her claim to have magic and thinking she is way to young, but Bremen allowed her. When they talk about what to do next, Bremen suggests they go to the hadeshorn, where he will contact the dead and ask their council in what to do next. Kinson has been there before and doesn’t like the idea, but since Bremen insists they leave the next morning.
Arriving at the hadeshorn, Bremen commands them to stay behind and don’t come near the hadeshorn, since it is very dangerous. It’s a lake, so poisonous you die by only touching it. He approaches the lake, starts his chanting, and calls upon the spirits. He receives four visions, the first one revealing the fall of the druid keep, the second one revealing the only way to destroy Brona, the third one revealing the black elfstone and the forth one revealing Bremen’s future apprentice. The black elfstone is an artefact of great power and cannot fall into Brona’s hands. The way to destroy Brona is by forging a sword, which contains the eilt druid, an amulet worn by the leader of the druids.
They split up into three parties. Tay will go to the elves and start a search for the black elfstone but also try to convince the king in aiding the dwarves. Risca will go to the dwarves and try to mobilise them to counter the attack. Bremen, kinson and mareth will go to the druid keep to retrieve the eilt druin and confirm the keep’s destruction.
When they arrive it’s indeed destroyed and everyone is dead. Bremen goes inside to retrieve the eilt druin, but is attacked from behind by three of brona’s followers. He is surprised and instantly destroys one with his druid flame. Then mareth rushes in and disintegrates the other two, proving her claim to have powerful magic. They take the eilt druin and travel south where a blacksmith lives capable of forging powerful weapons. Bremen helps the blacksmith with his magic to increase the temperature needed in forging the sword, and gives him the eilt druin, which is placed upon the hilt.
Tay travels west to inform the king. He and Jerle Shannara, the king’s cousin, speak with him. The king agrees that they have to act swiftly, and convinces the council that the black elfstone must be found and the dwarves aided. But that night, a goblin raid party sneaks into the palace and murders the entire royal family. Jerle is the only one left, except for one of the king’s sons, but he is young and inexperienced. Because the council is busy with ensuring the safety of the elves, tay and jerle decide to search for the elfstone. They form a party and leave the next morning. They encounter many gnomes on their way, and are very lucky in surviving the journey south but when they finally find the elfstone, another raid party has cornered them. Tay, having no other option left, uses the elfstone against the enemy, and destroys every single creature. But the elfstone has taken its toll and tay dies, completely drained in using the stone. Jerle takes it back to the elves, where he is crowned king, being the only one capable in leading the elves left in the remains of the royal family.
Risca goes east. He decides it would be better when he saw the troll army himself. When he does, he sees a black tent in the middle op the camp, containing brona. Risca sees a chance to kill brona and eliminate the enemy with one swift stroke. But even risca, with alle his skill and magic fails in killing brona and barely makes it out of the camp alive. He warns the dwarves of the coming army and the dwarves prepare themselves but they are no match for the troll army. The loose city after city and finally have only one city left when the elven army comes to aid them.
Jerle is leading the army and bremen, kinson and mareth are with him. Mareth proves herself in battle again and again, and everyone is fighting bravely. Jerle is the wielder of the sword, and is the only one capable in destroying brona. Bremen instructed him in how to use the sword and he misunderstood at first, but when he finally faces brona in battle he calls upon the magic and destroys brona.