Terry Brooks

[Naaramare]

I always find it rather puzzlingly amusing that many avid Tolkien fans seem to so dispise other fantasy writers.

Granted, most of the fantasy writers don't have such a wealth of detail to their stories as Tolkien did; there are days when even I don't want there to be. Tolkien, for me, demands a complete and total immersion into his world and mythos, and always gets that immersion, whether I want it to or not. But that's tiring and distracting: rereading LotR once can send me into an outward daze for several hours (a very dangerous thing should I need to use the car for some purpose, or walk in busy down town).

I personally have never read Brooks' work other than the novellization of SW: EpI (That was him, yes?). I did enjoy that novellization; if and when I get money, I plan on reading something of the Shannara series. I'm not going to do so because I expect Brooks to be another Tolkien. I'm not going to do so because I expect Brooks to come up with something completely and originally independant of Tolkien. I'll do so because I want an entertaining fantasy read; the same way I watch things like Buffy not because I think they're going to change my life or even be anything but hopelessly derivative, but because they amuse me.