Did they explain how the Chosen were selected in the books? Because running around blindfolded & bonking head-on into trees was hilariously dumb in the TV show lol.
The tree "chose" them at a ceremony where all elves are presented every year. For thousands of years the elcry only chose men, but all elves were to presented. Amberle was the first female chosen in thousands of years. Since it had been so long, everyone forgot the significance of that in the books.
She was chosen and didn't want to be chosen. She ran away originally and that's when the original "reaper" demon broke free of the forbidding and killed the chosen soon after she ran away.
More than a bit different in the book vs the show there. The Reaper constantly hounding them wasn't even present in the show. In the book, 3 of the most powerful demons broke out once the forbidding started to go. Not the single one we had in the show. It ended up similar, as the original 3 were the demons release were the Dagda Mor, the Changeling, and the Reaper.
They then worked to unleash thousands. It wasn't based on the leaves of the tree falling either, but oh well. There were massive battles as demons were released all over the world, not just around the little parts of the elf homeland. Although in the books the prominent fighting was against the elves to kill the elcry faster. Humans, elves, dwarves, and others all had to fight against the demons being released. The TV show watered all that down though and focused more on the teen angst BS of it.
Book synopsis wiki if you care to read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elfstones_of_Shannara
Highlights the major plot points and characters. As you can see, non of the Free Corps and Homelands human soldier characters that were fighting were in the show. Not that it was "needed" but it does setup later interactions and why certain prejudices are the way they are in later books. As well as introducing the Leah family and locations.