Top Ten Books I’d Love to See as Movies or TV Shows

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (an awesome bookish blog hop brought to you by the Broke and the Bookish) is “Top Ten Books I’d Love To See As Movies/TV Shows”. This is a bit of a fraught subject, because I’d be afraid that any adaptation would be done poorly, like Eragon was. But for the purposes of this list I’m going to pretend that it will, of course, be perfect: able to stay true to the books without bogging us down in details that don’t necessarily work on screen.

I’ve broken these out into separate lists for TV and movies, just so that any big producers browsing my blog for ideas can skip to the format they are after.

You’re welcome. 😉

TV recommendations

The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey is a book series I’ve wanted to see made into a TV show for decades. (YES I AM OLD SHUT UP.) And these days they could do such a beautiful job of animating the dragons. I’m smiling just imagining it. And I’d jump at the chance to fall in love with Masterharper Robinton in the flesh … so to speak.

Jacqueline Carey’s Terre d’Ange books are set across three trilogies but if I had to pick just one, it’d be the first, Phedre’s Trilogy. These books contain some fairly provocative content (BDSM is a feature), and a TV show based on them would need to be produced by HBO or similar. We’re definitely not talking Disney, anyway!

The Lotus War trilogy by Jay Kristoff would also have to be produced by HBO, I think — not so much because of the sex (what there is of that is quite tame) but because of the horror aspect. Kristoff’s world is polluted and corrupt, almost beyond recognition, and it’d be a pity to see that sugar-coated.

The Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth is a “through the portal” fantasy set generations after the initial crossing to the fantasy world; the culture is inspired by the Scottish Celts, but the world is entirely fantastic. The magic element is based on witchcraft, which I love, and the writer is Australian. Yippee!

The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey is a bit like the Jacqueline Carey series I recommended, in that it’s one trilogy that is part of a much greater body of work about the fantasy setting. Just imagine all the potential for spinoffs. Unlike Terre d’Ange, though, there isn’t any bondage. (The main couple are homosexual, which I suppose some might find controversial, but I’d love to see some diverse fantasy on TV!)

Movie recommendations

The Rephaim series by Paula Weston isn’t yet complete — I’m dying for the final book in the series, Burn, which is due out next month. But it’d make a great, action-packed series of movies with demons, half-angels and a compelling “what the hell is going on” (pun totally intended) mystery that spans the entire series.

Santa Olivia, also by Jacqueline Carey, would make a great standalone movie. (There is a sequel to this book but I didn’t love it as much.) It’s set in an isolated town on the border between Mexico and Texas — isolated in the sense that it has been quarantined for decades after a viral outbreak. It has a bi main character and genetically engineered werewolves. What’s not to love?

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black would be another one that would make a great standalone movie. It’s an urban fantasy where the premise is vampires (with a touch of zombie-ish behaviour), but before you roll your eyes, it’s done in a new and interesting way that I really enjoyed.

The Splintered trilogy by A. G. Howard is a surreal young adult inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Howard’s visually spectacular style would translate beautifully to the screen—but this would be more of a Tim Burton-style movie, not something shiny and Disney-ish. (Sorry to hack out on Disney twice in one post; they are good at what they do, but my favourites aren’t rated G.)

It’s totally shameless to add this one, but of course I think my Isla’s Inheritance trilogy would make a fabulous young adult movie series. The only thing I’m not sure about would be how they’d handle Isla’s ability to see emotions as auras. But I have faith that a clever director would come up with a way.

Have your people call me people, yeah? 😉

Seriously, what books would you love to see on the big or little screen?