[Diamond18]

Welcome to the 'Downs, Kronos, and kudos on one of the best first posts I've seen. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I quite agree with your points—though I have not read all the books you cite I've read a fair amount of fantasy that is original and clearly shows the personal imagination and voice of the author (mostly by the authors I mentioned above). The mark of good fiction is when an author really invests his/herself into the work and the characters, so I would venture to state that an honest attempt at writing your own work will always be better than a commercial copycat. And I've been encouraged to see that there are indeed fantasy authors and books out there that do that. To say Tolkien invented fantasy is simply historically inaccurate and I see no justification for the mindset that you can't write fantasy without copying him. That is at the same time unfair to honest, aspiring authors, and a bad excuse for bad writing.

Sorry to start ranting. But as a fantasy author this is a topic dear to me heart. Never say originality is dead, my friends.