MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Bennett

[JD]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

They released a new trailer, with a bigger focus on the story, at NYCC today. The more I see of this the better it looks. I'm definitely going to have to start the book soon.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

Looks fun; I'm glad I don't know anything about the source material that will make me second-guess or give pause while I'm watching.

 

[Mudd]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The less familiar you are with the source material in this case, the higher your expectations are likely to be.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I've only read the first book so far and I had a tough time getting into it. I am intrigued enough by the story to keep reading at some point though.

 

[Relayer1]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The whole premise of a post apocalyptic fantasy with elves and magic is just indescribably horrible. It looks kind of well done though...

 

[Skywalker]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I've only read the first book so far and I had a tough time getting into it. I am intrigued enough by the story to keep reading at some point though.

I've been reading the first book here and there on the side, too, since I'd always meant to check the series out but never got around to it. I'm only like five or six chapters in, but I can already see why the show skipped ahead to the second book.

 

[stardream]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

Argh! The guy who is playing Wil looks like my high school boyfriend.

However I will not hold that against him.

I remember reading these books a long time ago and thought how much of a LoTR rip off the first one was but after that they were fairly good stories.

 

[DWF]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I've only read the first book so far and I had a tough time getting into it. I am intrigued enough by the story to keep reading at some point though.

I've been reading the first book here and there on the side, too, since I'd always meant to check the series out but never got around to it. I'm only like five or six chapters in, but I can already see why the show skipped ahead to the second book.

I read the first book when it came out and I was in greade school at the time, I had no problems geting though it. I still haven't been able to though Fellowship Of The Ring though. The second book is a good one too, but without the explainations fomr the first one I do think some people are going to be confused.

 

[JD]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I'm assuming they have a way to work any backstory we need into the show. I think even Terry Brooks has said that the second book was better source material for the show than the first would have been.

 

[FreezeC77]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The whole premise of a post apocalyptic fantasy with elves and magic is just indescribably horrible. It looks kind of well done though...

It never seemed as pronounced/visible in my mind while reading the books as the TV show is presenting in some of those ruins. Some of the later books deal with it more closely and a prequel series actually takes place during the fall of modern society and the aftermath.

 

[Mudd]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The first books weren't necessarily set in a post-apocalyptic world; that was a bid of retconning that Brooks did to set the series apart from LOTR (as if there were any chance of confusion...)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

One of those books I shelved, sold but never read in my years of being a bookseller.

 

[sojourner]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I read Sword as a kid shortly after reading LOTR. Even then I found it to be shamelessly cribbed. Tried reading Elfstones a few years later and never finished it.

Never looked back at the series after that.

I'll give the show a chance though. Fantasy on TV always gets more leniency from me than books do.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I've had first book of Heritage of Shannara for as long as I've read fantasy books, must have been pretty newly published when I got it as a christmas present. I probably have read it, but never have had any desire to read rest of the series even though they most likely were at my local library. For some reason it was never that interesting to me even though I read a lot of fantasy books in my youth when I still had time to read. Will need to check out the tv-series.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The first books weren't necessarily set in a post-apocalyptic world; that was a bid of retconning that Brooks did to set the series apart from LOTR (as if there were any chance of confusion...)

I've only read the first book but there seem to be strong hints in it that indicate this is a post apocalyptic world.

 

[Relayer1]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I read Sword as a kid shortly after reading LOTR. Even then I found it to be shamelessly cribbed. Tried reading Elfstones a few years later and never finished it.

The first proper fantasy novel I read was Lord of the Rings and it ruined the genre for me. Almost everything else I've tried to read has come across as a cheap knockoff. I eventually gave in and read A Song of Ice and Fire and am very glad I did, but could do with some pointers - I've been considering Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Gene Wolfe and Robin Hobb.

I've also heard 'things' about Terry Goodkind.

Comments and suggestions ?

 

[JD]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I've heard quite a few complaints about Terry Goodkind. I haven't read them myself, but the impression I've gotten is that they start out good, but go downhill pretty quickly.
I've heard nothing but good things about Hobb, Sanderson and Rothfuss though.
Jordan seems to be kind of hit and miss. From what I've read online the first few Wheel of Time books are great, but go downhill for while before Sanderson takes over and things pick back up. I'm still planning on checking the series out, since it seems to be good overall.
I've been planning on checking out Hobb's Farseer series, TWoT, and Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles once I finish up on some of the other series I'm reading, so I've read quite a bit about them online.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I can recommend first few books of Terry Goodkind, or maybe just first one. Been a while since I've read them. They do get kind of repetitive and preachy towards the end. I pretty much forced myself to read last ones. Tv-show is nothing like the books in this case.

I still havent finished Jordans WoT. Too long.. Definately worth the read if you want to read really long series of books.

Been reading a lot more scifi lately so cant much comment on what else would be worth reading.

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

The first books weren't necessarily set in a post-apocalyptic world; that was a bid of retconning that Brooks did to set the series apart from LOTR (as if there were any chance of confusion...)

I've only read the first book but there seem to be strong hints in it that indicate this is a post apocalyptic world.

The Four Lands were not always explicitly meant to be a post-Apocalyptic version of the world in which we as humans live, but they WERE always meant to be a post-Apocalyptic environment.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: MTV's The Shannara Chronicles-Starring John Rhys-Davies, Manu Benn

I can recommend first few books of Terry Goodkind, or maybe just first one. Been a while since I've read them. They do get kind of repetitive and preachy towards the end.

I used to be a really big fan of Goodkind but his writing seemed to change after 9/11. It's like he was putting the war on terror in his book and wanted to win it at any cost. As a result the hero became less likable.