Harry Potter is the best Fantasy book of all times. It is even more interesting than my own books I write

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Stefany, web programmer

Blasphemy! LoTR simply has no peer in this genre, it practically started it. And in modern times Song of Ice and Fire is much better.

Harry Potter was entertaining, but I felt a little let down by Books 6 and 7. Had a feeling the author didn't really how to wind things down.

I started feeling let down around the 4th book; I think that's the first one that was a real windbag. By the end, I was just slogging through them to finish. They were too long, too vague, and the story was not really going anywhere.

LotR did start the genre; but it's not necessarily the best, it's only the touchstone by which others are compared. And IMHO, Song of Ice and Fire is just one long slog; I read about 3/4 of the first book and gave up because I thought, "I have no feeling for these characters and don't care what happens to them." The problem with BCFs (big commercial fantasy books).

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

The thing about Tolkien is that he _did_ create a genre. His work was, at the time, sui generis. This said, his writing is not that great, and you have to really get into the story to appreciate LotR. The Hobbit is a bit better, because simpler, but the rest of the stuff that's been published since his death is very dense and not really the most readable (unless you're used to reading myths, sagas, etc.)

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

Um, really? I'm not sure that's true. I've never read any bios of Tolkien, but I don't think he was suspected (outside of Sweden) of such things.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

Including C.S. Lewis is funny since I view him as a Christian author.

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Sanity is for the weak.

C. S. Lewis was a Christian author. But the kind of people who write things like that cartoon aren't always the most, um, observant...

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

I read Tolkien for the first time when I was 24, and reread several time up to now (I'm 33). I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it when I was a teenager.

Sentences like "I did appreciate it when I was 11", or "His writing is not so great" makes me strongly think someone missed something inside.

I precise I'm not at all a Fantasy fan (I read recently one book by Moorcock, a go player saying it was so much greater than Tolkien, and was quite disappointed. Will try one more, to be sure).

I haven't read any of the Eternal Champion stuff, but I've read the Elric of Melnibone series, and I think it's more like psychological psychedelic than fantasy. At least, it doesn't follow the Tolkeinesque tropes in most fantasy. Moorcock also wrote the lyrics for many of Hawkwind's songs and the lyrics for "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Oyster Cult are about Elric (or maybe it's the Eternal Champion in general, of which Elric was retconned to be an incarnation.) I'm not a huge fan of his writing style (which is why I haven't read the other stuff), but the theme in the Elric saga is pretty interesting.

Haven't checked publication dates, but looking back, I'd guess that the Elric books were written with a span of years (or maybe just lots of acid) in between them - they almost but not quite form a coherent timeline, and give me a vague sense of unease in the same way that R'leyh-ian architecture is supposed to in the Lovecraft books.

I figured I might as well post my thoughts on The Waste Lands



I'm looking forward to volume four, and hoping optimistically that it can justify its 700 pages.

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

Jedo: once you've finished the series, you should get your hands on the dark tower comic series. It focuses on how Roland became the man he is in the series, and also fleshes out the characters of Alain and Cuthbert. I've read the first three collections, and they mesh very well with the tone of the series.

Book four is great, although it's a flashback.

I love all R.A. Salvatore books. Of course my favourite are Drizzt Do'Urden series:

* Homeland
* Exile
* Sojourn

From Sci-Fi I recommend Isaac Asimov: Foundation series

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http://akademiago.pl - Polish Go Website

Yes, I've been keeping up with the comics in their hardcover releases. They're ok, but I find the drawings are a bit much compared to the stories; I'm not sure they always capture the feeling of the books. They do cover things that are not fleshed out in the books, and for that they're interesting. The stories are written by Robin Furth, who is King's "research assistant" or whatever, so they do probably have his approval.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville