The Elfstones of Shannara

I'm a bit torn in my opinion of this book. On the one hand I think there are some good things story-wise that I enjoyed very much, some interesting ideas at play and if you enjoy a good old-fashioned fantasy adventure of good versus evil, it definitely fits the bill- which I still do enjoy from time to time. The writing, however, leaves something to be desired. It isn't bad per se, but the repetition of particular words gets tiresome over the 560 page count. I was sure that if I heard ‘the Elven girl and the Valeman' one more time I was going to chuck the book altogether. Referring characters to what they were rather than who they were was rather odd and way too much over used. Another word used over and over was ‘phalanx'. I'm not sure why this bothered me, but I don't think I've ever come across another book that uses the same wording over and over to describe things and it became tedious and really pulled me out of the story at times.
The story itself is typical fantasy fare, which I don't think is always a bad thing, once in a while I don't mind just a straight forward good versus bad story with wizards, elves & dwarves - that's actually not what bothered me about this book. The typical factor is definitely high, but it is the writing I think that would turn a lot of people away. It almost reads more like a young adult book, for readers who are still finding what makes good writing.
I believe there are some books you read for the pleasure of the language, and maybe not necessarily the story and some books that you read for the story not necessarily the writing - only the best books have both in my opinion.
The Elfstones of Shannara is firmly in the ‘enjoy the story, not the writing' category. I enjoyed it, but didn't come away with an intense love for it. It was good ‘fluffy' read. I didn't really find myself drawn in by the characters as much as I was the world and story and maybe that is why I feel it was just an okay read and not one I'll be singing praises about.
I'm interested to see how they adapt it for the small screen - again I think there are some good ideas at play that may make a better short series of TV than a long gruelling read. That remains to be seen, but I definitely remain on the fence about the book as a whole.