Results tagged “terry goodkind”

Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!

HARDCOVER BOOKS

• Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
• Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter
• And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer
• The Wild Things by Dave Eggers
• Chaosbound by David Farland
• Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman
• Imager’s Challenge by L. E. Modesitt Jr.
• Canticle by Ken Scholes
• Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber
• The Golden Shrine by Harry Turtledove
• Peter & Max by Bill Willingham

• Shadowfae by Erica Hayes

• Drag Me to Hell
• The Haunted Airman
• Land of the Lost
• Legend of the Seeker: The Complete First Season

• The Stepfather
• Where the Wild Things Are

Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!

HARDCOVER BOOKS

• A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks
• The World of Shannara by Terry Brooks and Teresa Patterson
• Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss by Troy Denning
• Traitors’ Gate by Kate Elliott
• The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind
• Nine Gates by Jane Lindskold
• Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
• The Dame by R. A. Salvatore
• Elfland by Freda Warrington

• The Magic Kingdom of Landover: Volume 1 by Terry Brooks
• The Magic Kingdom of Landover: Volume 2 by Terry Brooks
• Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust
• The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl
• Marked by Moonlight by Sharie Kohler
• Star Wars: The Essential Atlas by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry

• The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary [Blu-ray]

• Inglourious Basterds
• Shorts

Every once in a while, science fiction and fantasy is given love from the literary world.

Usually only a little love though.

The New Yorker, the long-standing quintessential magazine of New York City known for its breadth of reporting, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, cartoons and poetry, has run an article titled “Seven Essential Fantasy Reads: Going to Second Base.”

Now if the New Yorker was only read in New York City, I’d say their opinion is a small sampling, despite that city’s diversity and population. But the magazine is read all over the world and offers some of the best glimpses into literary fiction.

The writer, Macy Halford, asked her Yale physics friend to come up with the seven must reads for a fantasy nerd. Needless to say, I was interested in what a Yale guy could come up with. Turns out he didn’t do too badly—Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin Hobb, Terry Goodkind, Patrick Rothfuss and Steven Erikson.

Click HERE to read the article.

It is Saturday! Drink that coffee! Eat the croissant! And sit back and relax while reading some of the interesting posts made by fans of fantasy and science fiction this last week!

In unordered intention:

• Review: Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah’s Kiss by Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: James Enge’s Blood of Ambrose by A Dribble of Ink
• Review: Judith Tarr’s Bring Down the Sun by Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
• Comment: Terry Goodkind’s Fantasy Retirement by The Wertzone
• Review: C.E. Murphy’s The Pretender’s Crown by SF Site
• Comment: Pathetic… by Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Two months ago, when the first episode aired, Shawn reviewed “Legend of the Seeker,” the TV show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. Based on that initial viewing, Suvudu had mostly positive things to say about the show, but the review ended with a “time-will-tell” cliff-hanger.

I don’t like to leave cliffs hanging.

I love this series. This is what fantasy television has really never had—great action, a strong story, and special effects that don’t suck. Seven episodes in (I watched them on the web-site—that’s right, I went out of my way to check it out), and I now have my DVR set up to record the series.

What makes the show work so well is that it really doesn’t try to do more than what it can. In other words, it is strongly character-driven, with the great over-arching plot of a small group trying to take down an evil despot. There are enough mystical elements to make sure this is firmly fantasy, and not, say, like “Robin Hood” on BBC. As such, it’s relatively unique as being sword-and-sorcery that takes itself seriously without being over-the-top. The show is good because it’s a good show.

Now I’ll admit I’m fairly forgiving of popular culture (I won’t divulge my TiVo list for fear of losing my “street cred”). But what “Legend of the Seeker” has are people who understand story-telling writing the scripts, so that the characters are, so far, evolving organically, developing relationships that don’t feel impossibly rushed. I think it also helps to have Goodkind consulting, and, perhaps more importantly, a guy like Sam Raimi producing. As good as a writer and director may be, having someone who understands sci-fi—which Raimi certainly does (Spider-Man movies; Evil Dead and Army of Darkness)—means that big decisions are going through a person familiar with the genre.

It’s not a perfect show, for sure. For one thing, right now, it’s progressing very episodically: while threads of a continuing story connect each week, those connections come through tangents in the conversation while that show’s adventure unfolds. Not exactly a huge flaw, but I think what most fans of fantasy and sci-fi eventually want is a complete story, where you have to watch each week to know what’s going on. As a young show, I can see the need to give as much action as possible, but I hope, as it progresses, they take the time to stretch a story over a couple of weeks.

And here’s a point I think is going to piss off a lot of people: whether or not the show is faithful to the books is kind of ancillary. Now, it’s been years since I read these books, but I do remember them fondly. As such, I would love for the show to be as close to them as possible. But here’s something you should always remember about books and film: movies (and by extension, television) are not “visual novels.” They work differently, mostly because they don’t have narrators or internal dialogue. So lots of times, you have to change what’s in the books in order to make them compelling on the screen. I understand a lot fans want to see the pages of the beloved books exactly replicated on the screen, it simply can’t happen.

But even if it isn’t exact, it’s still the story of Richard Cypher, Kahlan, and Zed fighting against the evil of Darken Rahl. Richard is still the Seeker, still carries the Sword of Truth, and still is learning as he goes while being in love with Kahlan. She, in turn, is also in love with him, but can’t do anything about it because she’s a Confessor. Zed’s still a wizard, much in the same mischievous/powerful vein as his literary predecessors (my favorite of these being Fizban the Fabulous). And while it may not be as dark (or overtly sexual) as the books, this isn’t light and fluffy, either. There’s some depth.

And, more importantly, there’s a blazing hottie—and I don’t use the “blazing hottie” tag lightly (sometimes I change the adjective to “smokin’”). Now, as a true and dedicated fan-boy, my allegiance has already been pledged (call me, Sarah Michelle Gellar), but the woman who plays Kahlan, Bridget Regan, is delightful to watch. She’s a good actress, too. Richard, played by Craig Horner, is probably a handsome guy, himself.

Truly, what is important is that this is fantasy television that works. As sci-fi has made inroads with a number of really good shows, fantasy has generally found itself being terrible, because the production values needed to make it work usually aren’t there. “Legend of the Seeker” makes it clear that fantasy can find a place on the small-screen. As “A Song of Ice and Fire” is being produced by HBO, I think we can feel a bit more confident that there are people in Hollywood who understand how to create fantasy on television. While we wait, we can enjoy “Legend of the Seeker.”

And Bridget Regan.

If you check out the web-site, the top right-hand corner has a place where you can put in your zip code to find the time and station where you can watch the show.

First things first: Sam Raimi is coming back to direct Spider-Man IV. After the stinker of Spider-Man III, he has a lot to atone for, as do Tobey and Kirsten (who are also returning).

That said, I hope Raimi is recharging his batteries on Legend of the Seeker.

Here is some more coverage on the Terry Goodkind adaptation. SciFi Weekly has posted an interview with Raimi and others from Legend of the Seeker, where they talk about the series and what it means to bring a new fantasy series to television. Enjoy!

Legend of the Seeker, the television series adapting the Terry Goodkind book Wizard’s Fire Rule, premiered this weekend on ABC in the United States. I posted my initial thoughts on this series HERE after only seeing the 10-minute preview posted on their website.

I have to say I enjoyed my two hour time period with this opening of the series. It’s not a feature length movie, of course, and the commercial breaks drive me crazy, but it was well done. From my memory it follows the book fairly accurately with some minor changes that I found allowable. I’m not sure how the devout of the Goodkind readership liked or disliked the two hours; I’d love to hear from them if they are out there…

The acting was mostly neutral—nothing spectacular but not subpar. One of my major fears has been cooled, as I was worried this series would be similar in campy style to that found in Xena and Hercules. None of that was in evidence, all of Legend of the Seeker drama. At the risk of sounding like a school boy fantasy nerd, I think I have a crush on the woman who plays Kahlen.

The CGI was great for network television. It made some feature length movie CGI look terrible in comparison. If Legend of the Seeker can gain an audience, perhaps the quality will be maintained.

To be honest, watching this couldn’t have come at a better time. Like many of you out there, I am experiencing election-itis. It was great fun escaping from this all-important election for a few hours. For those of you who missed these opening two episodes, I’m sure they will be uploaded in various places soon.

Let me know what you think if you watched it!

Here comes Legend of the Seeker!

This weekend the bestselling fantasy novel Wizard’s First Rule, written by Terry Goodkind, makes its way to Disney-ABC as an ongoing television series adapted by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Evil Dead) and produced by several people including Robert Tapert (Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys). It is the story of woodsman Richard Cypher (Craig Horner) and the mysterious Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan), who must stop a powerful and evil wizard from unleashing an ancient and terrifying power upon the world.

Here is my Good, Bad, and Simply Ugly Truth about this new television series!