The Sword of Shannara is Terry Brooks' first novel, published in 1977 by Del Rey Fantasy publishing and consisting of 726 pages. After the success of the The Lord of the Rings, this fantasy novel was well received by the public, as few other fantasy novels had been published since The Lord of the Rings. Terry Brooks wrote it while in law school as a safety valve from the pressure of his studies; a way to 'keep his sanity'.