What fantasy book have you read that gave you the same 'feel' LotR?

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Martin's work is more grey and grimy. Unlike Tolkien, there is little by way of clear cut right and wrong or good and bad.

That's an interesting thing to say. I don't think I'd call, say, the Fëanorians good or bad. I think we sometimes over-simplify Tolkien's works, because there is a lot of emphasis on 'doing the right thing' - at least, that's my impression.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

That's an interesting thing to say. I don't think I'd call, say, the Fëanorians good or bad. I think we sometimes over-simplify Tolkien's works, because there is a lot of emphasis on 'doing the right thing' - at least, that's my impression.

In my mind, the distinction is not about whether the characters are right or wrong / good or bad, but whether there is such a thing at all. In ASOIAF, it's not clear there is.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Eönwë

In my mind, the distinction is not about whether the characters are right or wrong / good or bad, but whether there is such a thing at all. In ASOIAF, it's not clear there is.

The thing about ASOIAF is that it allows contradictory "goods-and-bads", contradictory worldviews, to coexist. Most often a piece of writing takes on one worldview; while it might not be exactly what the author believes, or not all of what he believes, it is the view presented in the work. But in ASOIAF, you get the glorification of different points of view and thus different standards. Thus, no point of view is right or wrong, and each character has his own definition of good and bad, so no overall definition for the book. I don't find this a bad thing - in fact, I always struggled with the inability to put all one's contradictory fancies and beliefs into one work, and ASOIAF gives a great answer and does a great job of that - but it is quite un-Tolkien.