Shannara Sucks

[St Leo]

No, not the scenario. I bought the book and, honestly, it is a total piece of feces. It is bloated, artificially elongated, and ineffectively worded. This is just a warning to those who might purchase it in the future.

[MagyarCrusader]

Leo you are full of it.

BTW, go to www.terrybrooks.net forums and say that. Did you read the whole thing (Sword of Shannara the first book)? I can respect your opinion if you did, but if you think it sucks I can't picture you wasting your time on all 700 pages. And yes, I have read Tolkien, and love him as well, but I believe in Brooks has him beat in most fields. (The Battle of Pelennor is a joke compared to Tyrsis). Yes Tolkien did have all the original ideas and is the father of fantasy, but, if you place his work in such an ivory tower you are going to come to the same conclusion about every fantasy series, not just Shannara. While Tolkien is still classic, it is very antiquated and there have been many improvements in fantasy novels over the years. I can't say that Brooks is the best, since I've read few others, but I can say his style was more interesting and a lot more exciting than Tolkien. BTW, I believe Brooks has evolved a lot as a writter since he published Sword in the 70s. His new Shannara series is awesome, almost perfect (unfortunately, it's not something I could convert to a scenario).

And to relate this to civ2:
I was pondering of making a ToT upgrade of Shannara. There is virtually no artwork for Brooks aside from covers and fan art, but this is about to change. A companion picture book is coming out in about a month or so to provide fresh material for me to scan and shamefully rip for units, wonders, terrain and cities. But I don't think I'll go through with it since nobody gives a rat's ass about ToT. (and I don't give a rat's ass about FW or MGE)

[techumseh]

Go for it Mike! I'll play it. Hell, I'll even help if you want. I've decided that I'm sticking with ToT for scenario making. It offers far too much potential to leave on the shelf. Sure there's lots of new FW and MGE scenarios around. But what do they have that wasn't already done one or two years ago?

I think you should make scenarios to please yourself, first. Then if others also enjoy them, it's a bonus.

And thanks to St. Leo for shaking up this very boring forum!

[Giant_Squid]

Stick to graphics conversion rather than literary criticism, Leo

[Grothgar]

When i was about 14 i bought the book "Sword of Shannara" by terry brooks from a second hand book store in a market place. I then didnt read it for about 6 months but one night i was bored and so i decided to read it. I was hooked right from the start!!! What a book, fast paced yet still delves into the characters backgrounds and feelings. It was this book that inspired me to read fantasy books and i love the genre now. I have every other book that has been released by brooks in england and i love them all and re read them all the time. Also i bought another book at the same time. A book from a certain Raymond.E.Feist called magician and i also waited about half a year before reading that and surprise surprise i now have all of feists books now!!! SO heres to terry brooks without him i would never have discovered the wonders of fantasy writing

[Jay Bee]

Originally posted by techumseh
Sure there's lots of new FW and MGE scenarios around. But what do they have that wasn't already done one or two years ago?

That's not the point, and I think you know it.

[techumseh]

The point I'm trying to make is this: most everything that there is to be done with FW/MGE has been done. Test of Time has major possibilities which have yet to be explored. Instead of reapplying the same techniques over and over to slightly different historical situations, why not try something new and innovative?

[Berzerker]

Hey Squid, long time no see! You live in Irvine? I have friends there! Used to live in Anaheim/Orange...

[DarkCloud]

Well... I must admit the books do drag... but there are worse novels.

I prefer Xanth to Shannara

I suppose Shannara's main strength is its characters.

As opposed to The Wheel of Time's main strength being its plot.
Considering that some of the supposedly 'good' characters are jack***es (ex. Egwene, Nynaeve,etc.) and he does not know how to do good charactarization of Mat. Changing his counterance and behavior midway in the series.

[MagyarCrusader]

Sure there's lots of new FW and MGE scenarios around. But what do they have that wasn't already done one or two years ago?

Amen.

Go for it Mike! I'll play it. Hell, I'll even help if you want.

I'll take you up on that if I do decide to remake it for ToT. I have to wait though untill the picture book is published before I make a decision.

Right on Grothgar!

[DarkCloud]

MJesczenka- what happened to your Civ site? Did it move?