Fantasy

[jonesthecurl]

How to do it: Game of Thrones.
How not to: Shannara.

(true of books and also TV)

[KoolBak]

Liked both in reading (have read all), but GOT was better (although I am not fond of the author's dark sense of style). Never watched GOT on TV, but tried Shanarra and gods it sucked

[waauw]

To be fair, you can't really compare the two:

• Game of thrones: complex non-classical characters(anti-heroes, anti-villains, round characters), aimed at more mature audiences(more complexity, more main-characters, slower build-up, more descriptive and more dialogue-based, ...), more emphasis on character building and plot building(typical low-fantasy), ...
• Shannara Chronicles: simple classical characters (classical heroes, classical villains, flat characters), aimed at younger audiences(less complexity, less main-characters, faster build-up, more action-based, ...) more emphasis on world building and plot building(typical high-fantasy), ...

Though I agree, the shannara chronicles could've done a better job,you should make a comparison to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings rather than GOT.

[tzor]

I'm not familiar with Shannara.

Honestly, I think that the best way is probably more in the Leiber direction. Magic is generally a corrupting force and although powerful can be defeated by skill. There is a great sense of location so that it is not just the characters but how the characters interact with their surroundings; the powerful guilds, the corrupt authorities, the incompetent leaders and the ruthless evil. Not to mention the bickering ... er whatever they are ... who direct the hero's actions directly and indirectly.

[Symmetry]

How to do it- Game of Thrones (TV)
How not to do it- Game of Thrones (Books)

Seriously, Martin is really padding out when he should be paring down. I'm not sure I'll even know who half the characters are when the next book comes out.

[jonesthecurl]

How to do it- Game of Thrones (TV)
How not to do it- Game of Thrones (Books)

Seriously, Martin is really padding out when he should be paring down. I'm not sure I'll even know who half the characters are when the next book comes out.

you do have a point. Can I really reread everything to get me ready like I did last time?

[Symmetry]

How to do it- Game of Thrones (TV)
How not to do it- Game of Thrones (Books)

Seriously, Martin is really padding out when he should be paring down. I'm not sure I'll even know who half the characters are when the next book comes out.

you do have a point. Can I really reread everything to get me ready like I did last time?

Yeah, I read a lot of fantasy, but engaging with the books is just a chore. When the TV series does it better, what's the point?

[jonesthecurl]

No I loved the books, was amazed how well the TV series covered the. It's just so long since the last book I can'r hold all the plots and characters in my head. Incidentally, my son bought me "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for Xmas, three stories set about a century before the GoT stories. Excellent stuff. I'd only encountered then as the Hedge Knight comics previously.

[muy_thaiguy]

Can't say I'm familiar with the Shannara series. And only got through the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire (books go by a different name than the TV series). Though I have watched a few seasons of GOT. Certainly a Dark Fantasy. Though all the hero killing, maiming, backstabbing, and rape for the "shock jock" effect can get old for some.

[waauw]

How to do it- Game of Thrones (TV)
How not to do it- Game of Thrones (Books)

Seriously, Martin is really padding out when he should be paring down. I'm not sure I'll even know who half the characters are when the next book comes out.

you do have a point. Can I really reread everything to get me ready like I did last time?

You should be fine by just reading the last chapter of every character in book 5. Also there should be a list of character names at the end of the books, there are in my copies anyway.
But basically how book 5 ended:

show

[Bernie Sanders]

This is FANTASY

[riskllama]

she looks real enough...

[Bernie Sanders]

she looks real enough...

For you it's a fantasy. For someone with good looks, charms and lots of cash, it's a reality.

[riskllama]

bernie, why are you such a dick?

[waauw]

bernie, why are you such a dick?

Compensation behaviour.

[patches70]

Let's see....

GOT produced by HBO.
Shannara produced by MTV.

I think we've found one of the problems...

One of the show's is for adults, the other for teenage girls and adolescent boys who aren't allowed to watch HBO.

[waauw]

Let's see....

GOT produced by HBO.
Shannara produced by MTV.

I think we've found one of the problems...

One of the show's is for adults, the other for teenage girls and adolescent boys who aren't allowed to watch HBO.

This. Nailed it.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

I remember reading the original Shannara trilogy when I was like 10 or 12 and thinking they were okay. I never bothered to read them again, though. I didn't even know they made a tv series.

-TG

[KoolBak]

I believe we're comparing the entire works here (and the series name of GOT is A Song of Ice and Fire...GOT is just the title of the first book). There are 7 books in the GOT series. Since the 70's / 80's original Shanarra trilogy, Brooks has written TWENTY follow ups.

Have read all 30....guess if I had to choose one I'd go with Shanarra as it is a hell of a lot less dark.

[jonesthecurl]

I wasn't impressed. Though I would say that putting lots of blood and sex into a book/tv series/movie doesn't necessarily make it good. One of my favorites is A Wizard of Earthsea and that's usually marketed as a book for teens.

[Dukasaur]

Seriously, Martin is really padding out when he should be paring down. I'm not sure I'll even know who half the characters are when the next book comes out.

I really liked Martin's short stories. Dark and depressing, but incredibly creative.

The novels, like you say, are just padded. Good short story plots with needless baggage added.

[tzor]

Though I would say that putting lots of blood and sex into a book/tv series/movie doesn't necessarily make it good.

Or sex and drugs for that matter. Star Web comes to mind.



Not to be confused with "The Star Web" by George Zebrowski which is apparently a good Sci Fi book.

[Symmetry]

No I loved the books, was amazed how well the TV series covered the. It's just so long since the last book I can'r hold all the plots and characters in my head. Incidentally, my son bought me "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for Xmas, three stories set about a century before the GoT stories. Excellent stuff. I'd only encountered then as the Hedge Knight comics previously.

That's what I meant by a chore. The first book I loved, and I loved the second and third by extension. When the next one comes out, I'll be lost if I don't re-read the last few. Part of the appeal of GoT was the willingness to kill off sympathetic characters. Now I have no idea who's supposed to be dead, and I've forgotten most of the new ones

The series is like a good editor. It removes the chaff.