[Link]

I agree on the later books of Brooks - hmm, that made me sound like some rhyming lunatic. I *did* like his more modernistic books (airships, the Federation etc.) in the beginning, especially the ones that started off with the voyage of the Jerle Shannara to the uncharted regions of the Blue Divide . The second and third book of that series - Anthrax and Morgawr were getting a little too weird for me. Without spoiling you, I think these two books are definitely meant for the true fans out there - I'm not sure I belong in that last category.

As for the Shannara-series overall. There's an absolute truth in the statement that 'there's only so many times an author can dip from the same well'. The ongoing, intertwining stories of the lives of the Shannara-, Leah and Elessedil families is getting a little boring. As is Brooks' nasty habit of finding new ways to end the line of Druids in Paranor, and all of the sudden - abracadabra! - finding a new isolated spirit that is willing the bear the torch for the time being.
That being said, I do stick with my original statements: there's absolutely some truly golden fantasy-tellings in Brooks' stories, especially the Wishsong (with all its malfunctioning and side-effects later on in the story) is a way of magic quite intruiging.