As long as the character don't end up being like The Chronicles of Narnia then I will have no problem. I dislike the Narnia films and their teenage characters. I expect Mtv to have their teenage appealing characters but there are ways to portray teenage characters and then there are way to portray teengae characters. It could work if done with care and honesty and without staying in superficiality.

Those who know the books may have an idea of what's coming, if the writing guys don't change it enough to make it different.

I am looking for something more akin LOTR. I expect these teenage characters to talk and have the sense of humor of those scenes with the hobbits. And the occassional solemn and serious scene. The series follows that path and I will be more than satisfied.

I have close to zero problems with GOT. Some people criticize the last season and I don't understand them. To me the series have been riding a straight arrow of quality. To each his own, but the others a non-factor to how I see things.

In the case of Shannara, attractive, "young" looking characters make all the sense in the world.  Lots of Elven characters and human characters with Elven blood.  If I remember right, some Elven blood is required to use the relics of Shannara (and thus be a protagonist).

Shannara is very LOTR.  Pretty much every early book is about the protagonist and his party undertaking a quest to do something to stop evil while the demon host, which is trying to re-enter the world from another dimension, attempts to stop them.  The books are held together by Allanon, a mysterious druid who appears when things are bad, very like Gandalf.  The inspiration in the first novel is obvious, though the series does come into its own in later books.  People should keep in mind that these were written in a time when popular "fantasy" basically followed a standard formula of good versus evil.

A Game of Thrones, which I read about the time it came out, pretty much breathed new life into the genre.  There were other books that were gritty but you had to go to science fiction if you wanted unpredictable.  The Thomas Covenant novels were about the only thing that was really out of left field and they were never going to be mainstream, not when the main character rapes is a leper who believes the fantasy world he finds himself in is nothing but a delusion.

Are these books good?

I need something new to read. When does the TV show drop?

I think the name is silly but it looks cool and will be less rapey than game of thrones at least.

If you like LOTR inspired high fantasy, sure.  The first book is probably one of the weakest in the series, though.  The second book is better on nearly every level and it begins to break from the LOTR formula after that.

There are better written and more imaginative works out there, though.  Just depends on what you're after.

agree!! looks outstanding technology and setting-wise but looks like acting quality won't be near as good

I have dislike just about everything MTV has done since moving away from music but this....

This looks amazing and I'm going to watch this. Please MTV don't screw this up.

Recommendations?

I liked reading LOTR, and I had a great time with a lot of Robin Hobb fantasy as well.

Patrik Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles

Richelle Mead - Georgina Kincaid 
Richelle Mead - Age of X
Kim Harrison - The Hollows
Rachel Caine - Weather warden
George RR Martin - Song of Ice and Fire
Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files

All these books series are worth a read, if you havnt yet.

Every one of them, is a 9 out of 10, or a 10/10.

On top of JRPGfans list, I would also recommend:

The First Law trilogy- Joe Abercrombie

The Shattered Sea trilogy- Joe Abercrombie

Night Angel trilogy- Brent Weeks (these can be a bit rough in places (first novels), but the pace of the story more than makes up for it)

The Broken Empire trilogy- Mark Lawrence (similar in the overarching concept to Shannara, but much darker and screwed up)

If you like the Witcher games then I'd also suggest the Andrej Sapkowski books.

Finally, if you want to read an epic series with a ridiculously deep and fantastical world building:

Malazan book of the Fallen- Steven Erikson (note though, the depth and length of these books isn't for everyone)