A reasonably good successor to GoT?

Noooo.... So, I read the hell out of the Shannara novels when I was a kid, and loved them, until someone pointed out the character-for-character format that it took straight from Lord of the Rings (I read Shannara first, and was also too young to notice things like that).
Brooks novels are mediocre facsimile at their greatest points. They can try all they want to compete with Game of Thrones but there isn't a trace of the depth or darkness (or quality) in Shannara.

that's too bad, 'cause this looks really good.

Yeah, passable but not great series from what I remember (been probably 15-20 years since I read it). Kind of surprised to see it chosen for a TV series.

I also seem to recall it took a while for the series to really reveal the "it's actually in the far future on Earth even though it's a magical fantasy setting" bit, maybe towards the end of the first book at least, where it's immediately obvious from this teaser. That is one of the few things the series had going for it though, mostly it was pretty bog-standard fare. Again though, been quite a while since I read it.

On the plus side, more shows based on books are getting made. There are some fantastic books (I'm thinking the Painted Man books) that could stand a TV series treatment. With the quality of special effects etc lately, and the success of GoT, we might actually get to see some of these great books migrate to the small screen at least.

Moving this video to newtboy's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.

@artician
i hear ya man,
but tolkien set the bar where all other fantasy writers had to follow.

personally i found the "the chronicles of thomas covenant-the unbeliever" to be perhaps the best fantasy series to take what tolkien did to a much greater depth and scope and incorporating much of what C.S lewis laid down.

what a great series.the protagonist is such an anti-hero and you struggle for three books to even like him,nevermind identify with him.

but like you,i sometimes struggle when a writers influence is so blatant.

take Dean Koontz...really...take him..
i find him to be an utter hack,and while his prose is readable,his storylines and ideas are so obviously plucked from better writers and then mashed together so we wont notice.

i notice...and thats why any book of his given to me has a permanent place on my bathroom shelves.that man is pure crapper reading,since i get to play "recognize the plot" without any real exertion ....mentally.

but let us be honest.
while tolkien created a very diverse and detailed land with lore and history.painting a picture in our heads this fantastic world he created.the basic plotline is not that original.

it is your basic heroes quest with an extremely detailed backdrop.

so i will give this show a pass,just as i did brooks books.they were engaging and entertaining,and at the end of the day...what more do we wish out of our books?

ever read any of piers anthony's xanth novels?
they are puntastic and a fun ride (even if a bit cheeky),and nowhere near great literature.

but fun...and i can live with that.

MTV?

Having just finished The Wheel of Time I wouldn't mind seeing a series made out of those. And yes, I did hear about the abysmal episode that was released in the dead of night like a fart you hope nobody notices. I won't waste 30 minuets of my life to watch that crap.