The Shannara Chronicles
- Thread starter Goatface
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The Shannara stories are some of my favorites to pickup and read, as I love the post apocalyptic / rediscovered magic & stories set in the same realm but generations apart idea.
I think towards the end of that clip you see the reaper which looks awesome, as it was a walking death incarnate in the book so this sounds like they are basing the story around the failing Elf tree (and leaves falling/turning to ash).
Kind of surprised why they didn't start with the earliest story arc and move forward if it's a hit, as they'd now have to do a prequel if they wanted to cover the finding of the elves / recovery of the druids keep etc?
I think towards the end of that clip you see the reaper which looks awesome, as it was a walking death incarnate in the book so this sounds like they are basing the story around the failing Elf tree (and leaves falling/turning to ash).
Kind of surprised why they didn't start with the earliest story arc and move forward if it's a hit, as they'd now have to do a prequel if they wanted to cover the finding of the elves / recovery of the druids keep etc?
Drakain
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Looks better than I thought it would. I'm trying to remember Elfstones though, I thought it was just Amberle and Wil. Who would the third "teen" be?
A few years ago I read all the prequel books starting with Running with the Demon. The progression from those to SoS was pretty good. SoS sucked after reading those. I never read anything after the Heritage of Shannara books.
A few years ago I read all the prequel books starting with Running with the Demon. The progression from those to SoS was pretty good. SoS sucked after reading those. I never read anything after the Heritage of Shannara books.
Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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The third is probably the girl whose father steals the elfstones at one point. Can't remember her name, but she's with them for most of the book.
Really wish they would have done Wishsong instead, because Garet Jax is a badass. Oh well, the footage looked pretty interesting.
edit: What Gavinmad said. That's what I get for having the browser open on this page forever =\
spronk
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i remember reading the first series as a kid and generally liking it, although I'm sure I doubt it would re-read very well. in the original series, there isn't really any indication this stuff takes place in a post-apoc world, right? No big deal imo since it doesn't really change anything at all, but interesting they aren't trying to save that as a big reveal for a season finale or something
Rezz
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Nah, there's some descriptions in a few of the books about it being post apocalyptic. In SoS, Shea gets poisoned by something that is described as roughly a cyborg monster, in the ruins of a modern city in the mountains. I don't remember it being a thing in Elfstones or Wishsong so much though, as they were way heavier on the fantasy side of things with demons and shit. Towards the end of the Scions books, it starts hinting that the world is is directly connected with the "Word"(modern day stuff with the Word and the Void) novels, and I think Heritage and all the other couplings (I haven't read anything after the Scions books and the First King novel) take it a step further and confirm it.
Gavinmad
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It's post apocalyptic, it's just so far post apocalyptic that it's a fairly normal fantasy world in most respects. You see the ancient technology shit more overtly starting with the Voyage trilogy, but it's there in the originals.
Cogline uses ancient knowledge of science that's so powerful it's a match for the magic of the mord wraiths and later the shadowen. His explosive powder was strong enough to shatter the scythe of Death, who was immensely powerful even if he wasn't truly one of the four horsemen.
Bremen uses that same ancient knowledge of science, combined with his magic, to create the Sword of Shannara. The sword is not just a magical hunk of steel, it's an absolute masterpiece of blacksmithing with no equal.
The creepers from Heritage of Shannara are a twisted mix of ancient technology and shadowen magic. The technology of the creepers is explored further in The Elves of Cintra, which is part of a trilogy that bridges some of the gap between The Word and the Void and The beginning of Shannara.
And as Rezz mentioned, when traveling through the Wolfsktaag mountains, both Flick and Shea were fatally poisoned by some strange creature when they took a wrong turn and got too close to the ruins of one of the pre-apocalypse cities, although they were saved by the Storlocks.
Cogline uses ancient knowledge of science that's so powerful it's a match for the magic of the mord wraiths and later the shadowen. His explosive powder was strong enough to shatter the scythe of Death, who was immensely powerful even if he wasn't truly one of the four horsemen.
Bremen uses that same ancient knowledge of science, combined with his magic, to create the Sword of Shannara. The sword is not just a magical hunk of steel, it's an absolute masterpiece of blacksmithing with no equal.
The creepers from Heritage of Shannara are a twisted mix of ancient technology and shadowen magic. The technology of the creepers is explored further in The Elves of Cintra, which is part of a trilogy that bridges some of the gap between The Word and the Void and The beginning of Shannara.
And as Rezz mentioned, when traveling through the Wolfsktaag mountains, both Flick and Shea were fatally poisoned by some strange creature when they took a wrong turn and got too close to the ruins of one of the pre-apocalypse cities, although they were saved by the Storlocks.
Yeah read it in high school, read it in my mid 20's and it was terrible. I don't reread some of those older series any more.
This seems over the top and won't make it to S2 but I will watch S1 anyways.
This seems over the top and won't make it to S2 but I will watch S1 anyways.
Gavinmad
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See, I don't mind it being sorta light reading, don't need everything I read being super grimdark. Near the end of the Voyage trilogy, he has one of the supporting characters get raped to death by Mwellrets, which was just so profoundly out of character for his writing that it poisoned the whole trilogy for me and I've never read anything else of his because of that.
Yeah, I am going in with super low expectations with this one, but it would be a fun series if they do it well. Shannara was my introduction to fantasy literature when I picked up SoS in 3rd grade. I grew out of it when I hit books like Game of Thrones, but I have a definite nostalgic love for it (as my EQ name and forum name show; some bastard on Ec'i beat me to the original so I had to change some vowels around). As others have mentioned, the earlier books kinda don't stand up with re-reads, but I still think Running With The Demon was pretty solid, for the most part. I do look forward to Walker Bo if they bring his character in and do him well. The Dark Uncle was always cool.
moonarchia
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Sword of Shannara was one of the earlier fantasy series I got into. I liked his Magic Kingdom For Sale stuff better, though.
It's all hinted at, but even the early descriptions of Paranor suggest that it's steam-powered, vaguely nuclear. There are a lot of other things that could be fallen tech analogs, including the sword and elfstones. I seem to recall some allusion to genetic modification. Anyway, it was ahead of its time in that regard, and people who say Shanara is just bad Lord of the Rings usually miss the post-apocalyptic angle.
Gavinmad
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Sword of Shannara is, I think even by Terry Brooks' admission, super heavily influenced by Lord of the Rings, he just added in the post apocalyptic stuff. I mean almost everything in Sword of Shannara has a pretty direct analog to Lord of the Rings. The Sword is the One Ring and Orl Fane is Gollum. The fellowship of the sword has Allanon for Gandalf, Shea and Flick for the Hobbits, Balinor and Menion for Aragorn and Boromir, Durin and Dayel as Legolas, Hendel as Gimli. Stenmin and Palance are Grima and Theoden, Shirl is sort of Eowenish, but really she's just a strong woman in a traditionally man dominated fantasy setting. And obviously the Warlock Lord is Sauron, but the ancient evil that can only beaten by a long lost mcguffin isn't exactly a fantasy trope original to LotR.
Elfstones and onward seem to be completely original creations though. Shannara really is one of the most engaging fantasy worlds out there considering you don't really see a setting where someone explores before the apocalypse, during the apocalypse, and so far after the apocalypse that it's practically a new world. It's a shame that he put me off so hard when he decided to have someone raped to death by Mwellrets, because I haven't touched one of his books since I finished Morgawr.
The series after that was pretty cool in its own right, Ilse Witch becomes the new Druid lead and wounds up getting banished to the forbidding. If you liked the rest minus the end of the voyage series you may want to give it a shot.
Tarrant
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This is where I stopped as well. With watching the preview, I mean I saw a reference to the elf stones, but I don't ever remember real world stuff from now, being in the books. (ruins and stuff from what we have now) is that something from the newer books? (Voyage and beyond) I haven't read First Druid, Sword and the 3 or 4 book series after that in like 15 years so maybe I'm just forgetting.