Ok I'm about halfway through The Sword of Shannara and I'm enjoying it but it really feels like we're just doing The Fellowship of the Ring Magic Sword. They just got through the halls of the dead (which they had to take, even though they're guarded by the dead and are super dangerous but it's the fastest route) and I 100% expected Gandalf Allanon to die fighting the Balrog lake tentacle monster. But they get out, and Shae gets washed away by the river, and now Allanon's like "welp, the one guy who could wield the Magic Sword against the Evil Sorcerer, the guy this whole quest is about, might be dead now. He might not be, but let's abandon him and go find the Magic Sword anyway". I mean the author has explicitly stated that Allanon might have other plans up his sleeve but I really don't understand why finding Shae isn't priority #1.