Great video Dan! Well, when we spoke and you were struggling with Shannara I basically took it off my TBR, but it seems like it might make it back on there now, I agreed about LOTR kind of glossing over the battle scenes and would like more of that. Also as a new fantasy reader I have to admit to my og prance, I had assumed that most fantasy was about elves and dwarves and magic swords, but I've yet to find any in the books I've read, so I am actively hunting for something Tolkienesque.
Thank you Benjamin! I may have judged it too harshly in our original conversation lol. I'm glad someone agrees with me. LOTR is great, I just wish its epic parts were more epic. Its funny because even reading more and more fantasy, whenever I think about fantasy I immediately think of elves and dwarves and magic artifacts before anything else. And you're right, I feel that there isn't a tremendous amount of modern fantasy that has all of those elements together. Even if it may have a variation of those elements. If I think of something else Tolkienesque I'll let you know! (Well Eye of the World is for sure, but we've already discussed that lol)
The Sword of Shannara, along with its two sequels, is one of my favorite novels. Brooks has unjustifiably taken quite a lot of flack, much of it from people who couldn't get past the superficial similarities between his book and The Lord of the Rings. Despite the fact that Brooks is not the greatest writer out there, considering how amateurish Sword is in particular, I always felt a deep and abiding appreciation for the world and characters he created. And the artwork by the Brothers Hildebrandt only adds to the novel’s sense of old-school romantic adventure.
People who complain that Shannara is a Tolkien derivative would be well placed to remember what the publishing industry was like for fantasy authors at that time. Eye of the World is incredibly derivative of LOTR, but that's what authors needed to write to be taken seriously at that time.
I mean it is ok for book that is inspired by the cornerstone of the genres. I know not all the cyberpunk novel and media I consume will have the same story and plot but they will probably share and aesthetic and central themes that I love about the genre
I agree! People love Tolkien's work for a reason, and being inspired by it and using different elements for your own work I think is more than okay. As long as one isn't straight copy and pasting
Great video Dan! Well, when we spoke and you were struggling with Shannara I basically took it off my TBR, but it seems like it might make it back on there now, I agreed about LOTR kind of glossing over the battle scenes and would like more of that.
Also as a new fantasy reader I have to admit to my og prance, I had assumed that most fantasy was about elves and dwarves and magic swords, but I've yet to find any in the books I've read, so I am actively hunting for something Tolkienesque.
Thank you Benjamin! I may have judged it too harshly in our original conversation lol. I'm glad someone agrees with me. LOTR is great, I just wish its epic parts were more epic.
Its funny because even reading more and more fantasy, whenever I think about fantasy I immediately think of elves and dwarves and magic artifacts before anything else. And you're right, I feel that there isn't a tremendous amount of modern fantasy that has all of those elements together. Even if it may have a variation of those elements. If I think of something else Tolkienesque I'll let you know! (Well Eye of the World is for sure, but we've already discussed that lol)
The Sword of Shannara, along with its two sequels, is one of my favorite novels. Brooks has unjustifiably taken quite a lot of flack, much of it from people who couldn't get past the superficial similarities between his book and The Lord of the Rings. Despite the fact that Brooks is not the greatest writer out there, considering how amateurish Sword is in particular, I always felt a deep and abiding appreciation for the world and characters he created. And the artwork by the Brothers Hildebrandt only adds to the novel’s sense of old-school romantic adventure.
People who complain that Shannara is a Tolkien derivative would be well placed to remember what the publishing industry was like for fantasy authors at that time. Eye of the World is incredibly derivative of LOTR, but that's what authors needed to write to be taken seriously at that time.
I agree! Tolkien's work was so revolutionary and captivating that anything even fantasy adjacent was going to have things very similar
I mean it is ok for book that is inspired by the cornerstone of the genres. I know not all the cyberpunk novel and media I consume will have the same story and plot but they will probably share and aesthetic and central themes that I love about the genre
I agree! People love Tolkien's work for a reason, and being inspired by it and using different elements for your own work I think is more than okay. As long as one isn't straight copy and pasting