Shannara coming to television

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

A volcano was an ancient seat of power for a dark overlord in the Covenant series. Multi-character quests to unseat him abounded. The Elohim were elves and the forests were "alive."

Shiiiit. It seems I need to go back in time again. There was more fantasy in the end of the 70's and beginning of the 80's than I thought.

This way, I'll never catch up on reading every fantasy book ever written since Lord of the Rings

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Eddings wrote one bad series ("The Dreamers"); I think we're all agreed that it was bad? However, despite that he's one of my favourite authors. I read his books over and over again as "comfort reading".

Eddings isn't "bad" per se; maybe "too much of the same" or even "boring" would be better wording.

If you read The Belgariad and The Malloreon, they're a great set.
If you read The Elenium and The Tamuli, they're a great set too. I actually like them much better than the first set.

*However*, if you read both of them, there's just too much of the same stuff, right down to the blue and red sentient stones (Orb/Sardion vs. Bhelliom/Klael), some characters are too interchangeable, such as Kurik and Durnik, the pesky girl vs boy trope (Ce'Nedra/Garion vs. Danae/Talen), gods to be destroyed (Torak/Azash), a main character that becomes all-powerful at some point (Errand becoming a god, Sparhawk with a chance to be even more than that)...

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by jbjb

I also find Eddings to be perfect comfort reading (at least the Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium and Tamuli series), but he lost me before "The Dreamers" - I didn't really enjoy "The Redemption of Althalus" either.

I never read "Belgarath the Sorcerer", "Polgara the Sorceress" and "The Rivan Codex" - are they worth the effort?

/JB

I haven't read Althalus yet. That, and Regina's song, are the only two Eddings books left. The others I've read multiple times; once in Dutch, twice in English.

Belgarath and Polgara are worth it. They effectively tell a very condensed version of the Belgariad and Malloreon, but from Belgarath's and Polgara's viewpoint, throwing in a lot of history about those two characters. I liked those books as they tie up a lot "How did that come about?" stuff.

The Rivan Codex is for fans only. It's pure background material; a 'book about the books'.

===

Hm. In hindsight I clearly like Eddings; he's not bad, but as I said, he can be boring if you read too much of him. The same goes for Terry Brooks and RA Salvatore as well. Some very good stuff, but in the end, too much of the same.

Maybe I'm just outgrowing this kind of fantasy after reading it for over 15 years

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Hm. In hindsight I clearly like Eddings; he's not bad, but as I said, he can be boring if you read too much of him. The same goes for Terry Brooks and RA Salvatore as well. Some very good stuff, but in the end, too much of the same.

Maybe I'm just outgrowing this kind of fantasy after reading it for over 15 years

Would you say the same about L.E. Modesitt's "Recluce" series? I still like them on rereading. The same for Jim Butcher's "Codex Alera".

Luck;
Ken

[AnemicOak]

The 2 hour premier of The Shannara Chronicles will take place January 5th on MTV in the US & Canada. No info on a release for the UK or elsewhere yet.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Would you say the same about L.E. Modesitt's "Recluce" series? I still like them on rereading. The same for Jim Butcher's "Codex Alera".

Impossible to say. I haven't read that series.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Let me ask you this: how much "absolutely zero comparisons to Tolkien can be made" fantasy did you read in the late 70s early 80s?

I was never looking for it. It didn't bother me that people borrowed from Tolkien. Sword of Shannara beat me over the head with a Lord of the Rings stick.

Many years later, I had a similar (though retroactive) reaction when watching Yojimbo. I still like Fistful of Dollars. I still like Sergio Leone. But....

[PKFFW]

The tv series looks good. I'll give it a shot.

As for the books.....I read the original trilogy 20 odd years ago. Enjoyed them but by the end of the third book I was ready to donate to a fund for Brooks to go buy a new plot to use. All three seemed to me to be essentially the same book with different character names. Well except the Druid guy, he was in all three I think. I gave up after that.

I did like the Word and Void series and didn't realise it was supposed to be connected to Shannara. When I heard that it was, I read Genesis series simply because I was interested in how he bridged the gap between WaV and Shannara but just didn't like his writing it in at all and was left majorly disappointed.

Eddings was a fave of mine in my younger days. Totally agree that his books are a bit repetitive though. I re-read the Belgariad when he died but it just wasn't the same. Mostly because I've moved on from that genre/book/style/whatever it was that attracted me way back when.

[AnemicOak]

Just a reminder for folks who are interested that this will premier in a few days on the 5th.

[Conan46]

Looking forward to it. There are some 2 minute clips and a trailer on Google Play Movies. I pre-purchased the series there.
Brooks is the "American Tolkien", with his own spin of a post-Apocalyptic Fantasy setting. Seems many American fiction writers are hooked on the Apocalypse idea in fiction.

[ucfgrad93]

So, who watched it? I got to see a replay last night. While I liked it, it bears very little resemblance to the actual book.

[AnemicOak]

For folks (like me) who haven't seen episode 1 (technically 1 & 2?) yet, it's free (in the US) at...

Google Play
Vudu
Amazon
iTunes

It can also be streamed directly from MTV's site...
http://www.mtv.com/full-episodes/76v...n-1-ep-101-102

[leebase]

Watched it, loved it. I remember liking the books in school but remember nothing about them. From the show...

Great production - like watching a movie
Interesting characters
Interesting plot

My wife caught a few minutes at the end....now she wants to watch. She isn't normally into this kind of show

[frahse]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

So, who watched it? I got to see a replay last night. While I liked it, it bears very little resemblance to the actual book.

I did. I liked it but I am rabid for Fantasy/Sci Fi and this is both so my opinion is very predictable. My wife remarked that it had beautiful scenery and beautiful people. I agree.

After the "required character development" maybe things will be smoother.

I particularly like the idea that "the magic" came after the so called "civilization."

[batpuppy]

I watched the first 4 episodes at MTV. Was good enough that I keep watching it for the rest of this season. It be interesting to see how it develops.