Sci-Fi & Fantasy Girlz discussion

I haven't read any of Terry Brook's Shannara books yet, but I remember hearing about this book series being adapted for TV ages ago, probably more than 5 years ago, so I added it to my to-read list but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Here is a trailer for the TV show and it does look kind of cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjkQ...

Have any of you read the Shannara books, are they worth reading?

Honestly, I thought they were awful, but it's back when they came out that I read them. I was a teen and they seemed like a poor copy of LoR (there wasn't a lot of fantasy extravaganzas back then; wasn't this one of the early, um, imitators?) I can only give my 14-year old judgement -- although my slightly older sister felt the same. Up to you. At times TV is better.

I can't say much positive about that series either, though I read more than one.... I can only put the fact that I read them down to a nearly insatiable desire for more Tolkien--and that's pretty much why I think he wrote them: he wanted more JRRT too.

However, they are a poor man's LotR in every major component. To cross-over a bit into another thread, there's a comparison to be made between LotR/Shannara and LeGuin's EarthSea series and Rothfuss' Name of the Wind. I'd argue that Rothfuss' work is better than Brook's simply because of his superior writing skill, but when it comes to the plot, characters and themes, they are both standing in the shadow of other writers.

I also read them when they were fairly new, but found them 'OK' rather than really good. I think I read about three and then gave up.

Certainly the trailer looks impressive, however, given that I can't really remember a lot about the plot, you can probably tell how much impression they made on me.

It's so wrong, but I remember nothing of these. Read them a little over 20 years ago...yet I remember well most other books. Wonder if I should read them again...

Yikes!

After reading your comments I read some reviews of The Sword of Shannara and all I can say is "wow" (and not the good kind of wow).

In a way, the "poor man's LotR" reference reminds me a bit of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. I read those books in my teens and loved them (still do) before even knowing LotR existed, so when I watched the movies (I haven't read the books yet) I felt cheated. But Dragonlance Chronicles is so much more than a LotR rip-off, let's say, it was "inspired" :) But based on what you guys say about Shannara and the reviews I read, it looks like they have nothing new to offer.

The "poor man's LotR" is, maybe, a bit unkind, but I don't think it's untrue. There's something of a tradition of that in SF/F, of course. Star Wars/Star Crash. Conan the Barbarian/Ator. Every once in a while, that kind of thing has a kitschy kind of charm or "so bad, it's good" quality.

I don't know if the Shannara books qualify as either of those, though. I think I'd have to put the fact that I read them down to something comparable to Brynn's point: being fourteen.

Most of Goodreads reviews one way or have that "poor man's LotR" feeling.
I loved this review:

Everyone keeps saying that this is just a rip off of Lord of the Rings. I strongly disagree with this assessment. First of all, in Lord of the Rings, the crew is taking a magical talisman *to* the bad guy's evil lair. Here, they are picking up a magical sword *from* the realm of badness. Also, LOTR supposedly is our history, while Shannara is post-apocalypse. See? Totally different.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

So maybe poor man's LotR is not so unkind after all...

I have the same experience as most of you who have already commented - I remember reading about 3 of them before giving up, but I can't recall anything about them, which says a lot, and not in a good way.
On the other hand, the trailer looks awesome!
Thanks, Yoly, for sharing it :D

It does look good in that trailer. Cinematography seems to have "figured out" how to "do the epic" these days. (Bless the Computer Graphics Department.)

The elements they included of the actual program look pretty cliche. We'll see. Personally, I'll not be holding my breath, but I'll give it a shot.

Honestly, if one were going to make a fantasy series into an episodic TV show there have to be dozens I'd have thought of before Shannara. They did a tragically bad version of The Wizard of Earth-Sea, but that was SyFy IIRC, and they're generally pretty awful--which, again, can be "so bad, it's good" but that appears to be (literally) dumb luck. Personally, I'm finding the Game of Thrones adaptation increasingly tedious, which is odd because they're getting to some of the more interesting aspects of the books.

MTV as a production company doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence....

The show looks good! But I haven't read the books and the reviews aren't great. Not all of them are terrible though, which makes you wonder why this series was chosen to be brought to TV life. I'm definitely curious about them.

It's certainly sold a lot of books. It was quite a big thing in the eighties and nineties.