Concidering how this is supposed to be a clone of LOTR in novel form , how do the knowledgable dopers feel if this was made into a movie ?
Comparing the novels, I found that I liked the shanara series better than I did the Rings trilogy, but its not really fair , since tolkien pretty much gave the world the blue print for how such a world would look.
But your opinions would be interesting to read.
Declan
Well, I liked the Sword of Shannara and I don’t care who knows it!
I even named my daughter Shannara because, dammit, I liked that name.
I read the series up through The Druids of Shannara. Then my daughter swiped my books and started reading and collecting them herself and I haven’t read any more. But I was a bit miffed that he kept writing more after The Wishsong of Shannara. I can’t remember why though.
Only if it were produced by Roger Corman.
I have to admit – I read the first book, saw the “twist” way in advance, felt annoyed by the brazen Tolkien-cloning in it, and never read another Brooks book. For all I know the series got a lot better, but I’ve never felt compelled to try and find out.
The very thought of rip-off artist Terry Brooks makes me sick. I would not pay one penny for one of his Tolkien-clone books, nor pay any heed to any movie made from one of them. Bah.
(Saw TTT for 2nd time on DVD last night. Whee!)
But his first “Magic Kingdom for sale/SOLD” book was so funny.
Plus I also really like the Shannara series. While the broader details in the first book may look the same but when you get down into it, the feel is quite different. And when you get to the second book it’s a totally different creature. And then the second series. Again totally different. I chalk it up to him being just a novice who had never written before borrowing a formula that had worked recently. I mean Tolkein did the same thing right? Only using much older sources. Anyway once he got that one down he matured. But Magic Kingdom is still my favorite book of his by far. Indeed one of my all-time favorites.
I don’t know if it would work well in movie form. Although I suppose I thought the same things about the LOTR. I also think Shannara’s ending would be too difficult to put on screen. I think it would work much better serialized as an hour long TV drama. This is the same thing I said about the Silmarillion. Serializing would allow us to really get to know the characters. Allow the tension of the quest to really build up. Plus with Brooks still alive and writing he could help add lots of new dialog to make it work as a serial.
Oooo! This book pissed me off so bad. There are soooooooooo many logical errors. I could have sworn I wrote a review on Amazon, but it’s not there. Maybe it’s on a different discussion group. I specifically remember writing “what I enjoyed most about the book was writing comments in the margins for the next sucker who reads my copy.” The worst error was that he kept losing track of time. He would say something would happen in 3 days, then one night would pass and this prophetic event would happen. Then he would claim that it was prophesized a week ago. Man that got annoying. Geez it’s not that hard to keep track of how many times your characters go to sleep. I could go on, I still have the heavily marked up book but I don’t want to bore you guys.
Frankly, I am suprised that any Dopers enjoyed this book. I expected more out of you people.
Sorry, hit submit too soon.
If the screenwriters can fix these errors, it might make an interesting story for a movie. Frankly I enjoyed the story. But unless it has ground breaking effects it won’t get the kind of appreciation the LOTR movies are getting. No way. After all, we’re talking about comparing it to Tolkein.
Frankly I didn’t see the connection with LOTR, even after I heard other people compare it. I think you have to really stretch it to make the comparison. After all, just about every fantasy novel out there follows similar themes. It’s hard not to copy Tolkien.
I made it through Sword once, but haven’t been able to do it again. I find it pretty slow going. Of the ones I’ve read (the first four, I believe), my favorite is the Elfstones–I’ve actually read that one more than once.
Of all the things in the series that Brooks did, I think I like the feeling of isolation and the sense you get of how very large his world is and how scattered and alone human settlements are. His world feels like a world caught in a dark age.
I agree. I remember reading the Shannara series once a while back. I only ever bought the Elfestones book though. For the most part I remember enjoying them. I have tried to read a couple of his books since then and I think they are a bit too heavy on the description and easy on eht dialog for me.
I’d probably watch the movie though…
LOTR was the kernel story of most major fantasys from about the 80’s on , when sword came out i believe. Its not that its an exact clone ,but it does follow the formula pretty well.
So far as I know ,the only writer so far that has shied away from the clone wars , was Ray Fiest with (pick a series) , and yet still have the same elements as lord.
Declan
The second Shanara series was much better than the first triad.
I loved 'em when I was thirteen. Haven’t read them since. To be honest, I never really picked up on the Tolkien-clone thing. At least, it didn’t seem that much more of a rip-off than 90% of the other fantasy novels out there.
Well, I read the Shannara books before I read LOTR. The same person gave them to me to read after I finished TSOS.
I read the Magic Kingdom books first and they were /okay/ - so I approached SoS (how appropriate) with a sense of hope.
To date, it’s the only book I’ve ever hurled across a room in disgust. It is so badly written, I don’t know how it ever got published. It’s littered with technical faults and ham-fisted cliches. Its popularity is a total mystery to me.
A movie could only improve on the source material - but I doubt I’d go and see it.
Alright MetalDog! That’s what I wanted to hear. Someone with taste! Out of curiosity, what books are good to YOU?
Yeah, I would be hesitant to go see the movie. It would have to get totally rave reviews. I’d check moviemistakes.com and I’d even risk spoilers by reading all the reviews before I risked the $8.
How would I feel? Repulsed.
I went into SoS with no preconceptions about it, just looking for a good read. Very quickly, I felt the JRRT estate should be suing the guy for intellectual property theft. And bad writing.
The sad thing is, I picked up the book as an autographed first edition at the bookstore I worked at as a teen, when it was first released. It’s still in my library.
What am I bid for an autographed first edition of SoS, with a protective cover over its dust jacket?
I don’t think I can claim /much/ taste, given that I really enjoyed David Eddings Belgariad. The man couldn’t plot his way out of a wet paper bag, but the characters gave me endless joy.
I assume the later Shannara books cleaned up their act technically at least?
Being one of the five people on the planet who hasn’t read LOTR (except the first two chapters which there was alot of walking involved. dreadfully boring.) I will confess that in high school, somehow SOS came into my posession and being bored, in class, I read it.
I loved it. (It could have something to do with being a captive audicence.)
Frankly, I am surprised that I am not a fantasy dork…er…nerd…reject…what, is star trek in reruns or something? like the rest of you because of the imagry that it presented.
I read the first three books and loved them like any other obsessed teen would.
it is one of the few book(s) that the characters have stayed with me over the years. I haven’t read it since, so I cannot say if it would stand the test of time for me.
I probably would be like one of you Lost, forlorn, pathetic except I discovered romance novels ( right after I discovered the internet) and have been whoring myself since, leaving me lost, forlorn and pathetic.
And I like the name Shannara for a girl. Very pretty.
I pronounce Shannara as “sha-NAR-ah”. It turns out that it’s pronounced “SHAN-uh-ruh”. I am more disappointed in this fact, than that generally Terry Brooks is a very averagely-skilled writer.