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I wonder if I would have liked and/or read any of these books had it not been for Tolkien?
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Good question. Once I had finished reading all my brother's Tolkien books, I nicked his
Shannara books, too. Then I bought the
Thomas Covenant books, which he in his turn pinched from me. Yet both of us came right back to Tolkien as the one writer we liked above all others. I think we were both so bereft after having finished Lord of the Rings, that we were looking for the same experience from other books, and found all others somehow wanting.
I've said elsewhere on the 'Downs that I don't seem to actually like fantasy fiction all that much. This statement is obviously not true, one look at my bookshelves would tell you otherwise, but I find that it is only a particular type of fantasy which I enjoy. However, I think that now, far removed from my first impressions of Tolkien, I may actually get much more enjoyment from some of those books which I found so 'unsatisfying' at the time. I often scan books for my boss (who uses special software to do his reading), and much of this is fantasy - I can't help but read some of it and find myself enjoying it.
I do believe I would never have picked up those books if it hadn't been for Tolkien. In a way, I've been looking for that same 'mind blowing read' for the past umpteen years, and in some cases, have almost found it, but I very much doubt I ever will.
But I do have an example of someone who arrived at fantasy from another angle. A good friend of mine, a big comic fan, reads just about any fantasy he can get his hands on - I'd say he
consumes it, he reads so much - but, although I have never dared ask (I don't want to offend him if I am wrong!), I strongly suspect he has not read Lord of the Rings.
I don't think imitation is necessarily a bad thing. What is important to me is whether the book keeps me reading, and does it make enough of an impression to make me want to read it again. Much of the best fiction is in its own way derivative or draws on what has gone before. I'm currently reading
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which pastiches early Victorian and Gothic fiction and I have to say, it's a damn good book, and despite utilising these elements from another 'school' of fiction, it's one of the most original books I've read in a long while.