Other authors?

[sarathy]

I know there can be no replacement for J.R.R Tolkien, but are there any other authors who write on similar lines?

[Mithalwen]

Yes - there are, I'm afraid that having read Tolkien first most of the others never appealed to me ..... Things like the Sword of Shannara just seemed to be a rip-off version. However I did like Eragon when I read it and I thought the first volume of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials' called Northern Lights in the UK and The golden Compass in the States, one of the best written books I have ever read - but also the darkest and very bleak. The second one is OK but the third I found disappointing. Lalwende won't agree on that!!!!

Anyway I know there are downers who have read a lot more fantasy than me so I am sure they will provide more suggestions,

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

It's not what you might think of as "standard" fantasy but Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is the most Tolkien-esque book I've ever read in that it is able to create so completely another "world" (really a different version of our own world) and immerse the reader in that.

It's also "a ripping good yarn".

[Estelyn Telcontar]

For a long list of fantasy books that have been recommended (or not! ) by other Downers, check out this thread: What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

It's not what you might think of as "standard" fantasy but Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is the most Tolkien-esque book I've ever read in that it is able to create so completely another "world" (really a different version of our own world) and immerse the reader in that.

It's also "a ripping good yarn".

I suppose I should give that another try ... didn't get past page 30.....

[Andsigil]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Yes - there are, I'm afraid that having read Tolkien first most of the others never appealed to me ..... Things like the Sword of Shannara just seemed to be a rip-off version. However I did like Eragon when I read it and I thought the first volume of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials' called Northern Lights in the UK and The golden Compass in the States, one of the best written books I have ever read - but also the darkest and very bleak. The second one is OK but the third I found disappointing. Lalwende won't agree on that!!!!

Anyway I know there are downers who have read a lot more fantasy than me so I am sure they will provide more suggestions,

I find Phillip Pullman to be a fairly loathsome person. He wrote his books not to create a good story, but with the intention of lampooning and degrading the works of Tolkien's friend and fellow Inkling, C.S. Lewis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/st...726739,00.html

Lesser men often attack their betters because they know they can't equal or surpass them.

For a Tolkienesque spin on him, I'll say that Pullman is the literary equivalent of Melkor: incapable of creating beauty, himself, he takes what is already good and beautiful and twists it.

[Mithalwen]

I prefer Tolkien as a person and as an imaginative force but I hold to my statement that Northern Lights is a wonderfully written book.

[Andsigil]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I prefer Tolkien as a person and as an imaginative force but I hold to my statement that Northern Lights is a wonderfully written book.

That's fine. Melkor made the orcs wonderfully tough and adaptable by warping the elves, too.

[Mithalwen]

Have you actually read the book?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

For a Tolkienesque spin on him, I'll say that Pullman is the literary equivalent of Melkor: incapable of creating beauty, himself, he takes what is already good and beautiful and twists it.

Yeah, well... If it makes for a good story...

Don't forget that Tolkien borrowed ruthlessly from myths, folklore, history, and literature. That's what good authors do: they take what's already there and they twist it.

Originally Posted by davem

Actually, some of the most 'Tolkienesque' stuff out there are the Icelandic Sagas.

Discussed here if you're interested... Though you might do better to call young John's work Icelandic-esque instead...

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

(MM seems to think that the way to give a character depth is to make him act like a sullen teenager. That's doesn't make him deep: it just makes him low.)

Worked for Bill Shakes with Hamlet...

In any case, to avoid being particularly snarky without necessity...

I got through LWW as a kid, and another one... can't remember which... before Lewis got boring. Lewis spoon feeds his audience. I tried again a year or two ago before deciding that just because you're famous doesn't mean you're worth slogging through. It's nauseatingly claustrophobic to read Chronicles and downright incomparable to Tolkien's work.

I read Pullman's work at some point during my teenage years and while I found it interesting in terms of ideas, I also found it easy to - guilty cough - skip entire sections. I look at the covers and think, "You know, I know I've read that..." yet I found the works almost entirely unmemorable. I could take a guess at plot lines and themes and probably be right, but I'd be unwilling to stake money on any of it. Everything's worth a read, but for my money, Pullman's not worth my bookshelf.

As for actual recommendations...

Beowulf, The Vulsunga Saga, The Old Testament, The Divine Comedy.

Yes, yes, I know! Too easy.

They barely count as recommendations. It's like reading the same thing half the time. But we were asked for similar...

Here's my main reason for this post...

If any of you have read it, I wouldn't doubt you're about to raise a dubious eyebrow and wonder at my logic for calling them similar.

Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife is the only book I've read since LotR that has captured my interest, my academic mind, my emotions, and my ability to manage my time with anywhere near equality.

You might shun me for saying it, but I actually prefer Niffenegger's story to any of Tolkien's. Naughty me.

Here's why I'm willing to suggest a story that's sci-fi and not really fantasy on a Rings forum: the magic of the writing itself. The themes of fate, love, sacrifice, and waiting. Seriously, I haven't found a story that made me feel this warm and fuzzy since I was a kid and borrowed a beat up copy of the Fellowship from my brother's English teacher. It's both heart-wrenching and hilarious, and is a treat for artists or bibliophiles. I had a blast picking out quietly inserted literary references. One morning, let me share, Claire and Henry's dawn breaks with rosy fingers.

And though it's not a book, I have issues with the separation of anything really. Everyone ought to go watch Pan's Labyrinth. If you insist on the written word, track down the film script if you can. I haven't read it, but if it's anything near the finished product, it's worth the effort.

EDIT: I forgot! How could I forget? Milton. Go purr your way through Milton. Paradise Lost... oh it's wonderful...

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Yes, Milton, Dante, (parts of) Old Testament- but do try to get an edition with the Gustave Dore engravings. *Well* worth it.

And of course Iliad, Odyssey, Morte d'Arthur (don't feel guilty about skipping some- Malory became a better author as he went along), and maybe Aeneid (in places reads too much like second-rate Homer, or naked Julian propaganda).

[Mithalwen]

To be rather more populist, though I do think him a wonderful writer, how about Terry Pratchett? He uses his created world to say the unsayable about our own rather than to create a mythology and is delightfully irreverent but discworld is the only "created world" that has a fraction of the appeal of Arda.