NeutralDrow said:
They're starting with Elfstones? Don't get me wrong, that doesn't sound bad to me at all (it's what I did, and Sword is basically just Lord of the Rings, three times shorter and with all the Norse mythology replaced with Celtic), it's just a strange choice.
To be fair, Sword isn't "basically" just LotR, it's pretty much a word-for-word copy without even bothering to change all the names. I have no idea how Brooks avoided being sued when it was written, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if legal concerns are at least part of the reason for avoiding it now. The other part of the reason being that even without any legal issues, it's an incredibly generic retreading of one of the best known fantasy stories ever.
I don't watch Game of Thrones or read A Song of Ice and Fire, but I'm given to believe the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara would be a closer choice in tone.
That's probably more of a reason
not to choose it. If it looks like they're just trying to copy Game of Thrones, no-one is going to care. Elfstones is probably a pretty good choice really; it's relatively recognisable fantasy with elves and demons and so on, but with a reasonably original story that doesn't just look like a rip-off of something popular. The only big problem is that the plot of Warcraft 3 (and hence the backstory to WoW) was pretty much a direct copy of Elfstones, so people might end up thinking it's a rip-off even though it was there first.
