As to the upcoming TV show, we already know how it will turn out:
Legend of the Seeker - Wikipedia
The Shannara Chronicles - Wikipedia
Legend of the Seeker - Wikipedia
The Shannara Chronicles - Wikipedia
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Probably. It's from the PoV of the Annalist, which gives it an interesting viewpoint with whole flawed narrator bit. Also, if you read other Fantasy stuff you'll see a lot of elements in this series that heavily influenced them. Wheel of Time and The Malazan for example. I personally consider it one of my favorite fantasy series.As someone who loved studying the French Foreign Legion, the Rhodesian Light Infantry and South African mercenaries in the Congo, would I like this series?
I know it's about mercenaries. But what I'm kind of looking for is the fantasy equivalent of Military Science Fiction. Currently on the first of the Hammer's Slammers series and loving it.
Forgot he was putting new BC stuff out. Gonna have to pick this up probably. To echo others, if you're thinking about picking up the series, the first three are phenomenal. And you could totally stop there, and I wouldn't judge. After that it's kind of a slog sometimes, but it does indeed have a fantastic final entry. Takes a goddamn while to get there though.Got my hardback copy of Port of Shadows yesterday!
Haven't been able to read as much as I'd like yet, had to finish off the series I was on, but I did read 40 pages or so, and it is The Black Company I remember. Thankfully he hasn't allowed the absolute atrocity that infected his writing for Instrumentalities of the Night (at least the first book, I boycotted the remainder of the series after that) to seep into this one. I was so fucking worried about that. Nope, this is as short and succinct and lacking in extraneous details as the original series, which is exactly how I like my Black Company. I know it sounds bad when I describe it that way, but it isn't, and it is such a fucking welcome relief after reading so much of the latest style of fantasy. You don't really think about it, but reading this book puts it starkly into contrast. Not to mention, this is written pretty much exactly how you'd imagine an Annalist would write the accounts of what happened, which is vastly different than an omniscient narrator, etc.
Anyway, so far I'm fucking loving it, but I'm barely a tenth into it so far. I think I remember it being almost 400 pages. And for those wondering, it seems to take place between books 1 and 2, and is even called out as "1.5" in the book itself. Which is smack dab in the middle of the best part of the series.
Cook used to live in Rocklin, a suburb of Sacramento literally 10 minutes from the suburb I lived in, and I wish I had known it at the time. I would have tried to go to something he was at to get all my books signed and talk to him. Truly my favorite books of all time, so any reviews might be tainted by those glasses.
Finished Port of Shadows over the weekend. Solid Black Company book, not truly epic or anything, which is probably why I'm a little let down because I've been dying for more for a long, long time. I'm going to say a solid 4/5, if you're a normal person and not a fanatic like me.
He did solve the problem of writing a book in-between already established books and explaining why they never once got mentioned in the already existing ones, sort of like why R2D2 and C-3PO never mentioned knowing Annakin, Ben, etc. The solution was not the greatest, but given that most people wouldn't even try, it was about as good as I could think of myself, I suppose.
I tried to temper my expectations a bit, but it is difficult to not wish it were something truly grandiose, but then you'd have that whole problem of not mentioning it later again. I did like some of the history it gave, and I sincerely wish (and have wished for years) that he'd give us more of that. I'd buy 10 more books if they focused on the Domination era. We got a glimpse of some of the Senjak sisters and the Dominator, but I want entire books dedicated to that shit!
Spoiler discussion about the ending:
I prefer to believe it was the Lady, partially because I've always loved her and the fact that she falls for Croaker. It would also sort of explain how she treats him differently in subsequent books, "special" or whatever, and eventually puts her life in his hands. It would be a lot easier to do that if she'd already spent time with him in a similar capacity, even if there was hardly any "romance" between Mischievous Rain and Croaker. It also explains why all the other Taken do everything she says. Even if they don't know it is her, her natural power and leadership might shine through. I never like when they leave things open to interpretation, but I was kind of amused how he actually spent a couple pages at the end spelling out how it is open to interpretation! Oh well, dumb readers gonna dumb. Anyway, like I said, I choose to believe it was the Lady, but I'm a sucker for her anyway, so who knows. They obviously could have fucked around with all the names to hide her real name too, which is what I suppose is also the reason behind making everyone forget.
Either way, I want more of her history.