Rami does it?

[Asmo]

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-samraimiproducingwizardsfirstrule,0,1476971.story

Wow, will he pull this off?

Asmo

 

[Cergorach]

He did Hercules and Xena, I really hope it isn't 'that' quality! While being fun in their own way, it isn't the way I would like to depict the fantasy genre to the masses. More grim, less commical...

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well Xena and Hercules certainly weren't the highest production value TV-shows, and he has stated that this will be a very-expensive TV-show. I imagine that if it comes onto air around the same time as HBO's Song of Ice and Fire series they will be rivals.

 

[horacethegrey]

I'm pretty sure Raimi's smart enough to realize that the Hercules and Xena formula won't cut it in this day and age of Battlestar Galactica.

That said, I've not read any of The Sword of the Truth books. Would you people recommend them as good fantasy literature?

 

[stonegod]

Whoa. That series is a huge departure from Xena/Herc, especially the latter books where the ghost of Ayn Rand hits you over the head ever other page. The series was enjoyable if you could ignore that part (for me, anyway)---Goodkind can describe things very well, and the magic system is interesting, and the characters are engaging.

I don't see how Raimi is going to approach this... but I'll keep my eye out.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'm pretty sure Raimi's smart enough to realize that the Hercules and Xena formula won't cut it in this day and age of Battlestar Galactica.

That said, I've not read any of The Sword of the Truth books. Would you people recommend them as good fantasy literature?

I actually liked Wizards' First Rule a lot. For fat fantasy fiction, it was reasonably original and engaging.

My problem with Goodkind is in the sequels which follow it. Wizard's First Rule was not written with an ongoing storyline in mind. The sequels accordingly had retconning in terms of world construction and you could SEE that Goodkind had no frigging idea where the story was going as he was writing it. The man famously does not use an outline to write this series - and it shows. It shows BADLY, imo.

So the sequels - not my cuppa tea. Others will disagree of course. I think the greatest weakness in the sequels, apart from the above problems, is that Goodkind becomes quite derivative in his characters, organizations, and plot flow. That's a very hard thing to avoid in the genre, so as a sinner he is in good company. Still, that does not make the observation any less true - or obvious.

That said, the first novel is a good one and the characters work well. It's well worth reading, imo.

 

[Steel_Wind]

The thing I find interesting about this is the mere fact of the series production having been green lit.

While the costs involved in terms of cast and scope are vastly smaller than Song of Ice and Fire, it is, nevertheless, auguring very well for HBO to green light SoIaF.

C'mon baybee. Green light that series!

 

[horacethegrey]

The thing I find interesting about this is the mere fact of the series production having been green lit.

While the costs involved in terms of cast and scope are vastly smaller than Song of Ice and Fire, it is, nevertheless, auguring very well for HBO to green light SoIaF.

C'mon baybee. Green light that series!

My understanding is that the writer's strike is the only obstacle to the series being approved for HBO. Once that's over, perhaps we'll see.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

My understanding is that the writer's strike is the only obstacle to the series being approved for HBO. Once that's over, perhaps we'll see.

Amusingly the story said it was to start production in may but had no writers yet. The strike better end soon if they hope to have scripts by May.

 

[Starman]

That said, I've not read any of The Sword of the Truth books. Would you people recommend them as good fantasy literature?

I thought the first book was okay. It had a few neat ideas. It went rapidly downhill from there. I read the next three books and couldn't go any farther.