quick, you have 5 seconds to name a better fantasy novel than The Lord of the Rings
teyevo

>>24521282 (OP)
Bakker, king.

>inb4 Gurmfags and tax policy bullshit

>>24521282 (OP)
Well... it's three novels. I'm reading the first now. About 300 pages in. I'll say this:

I've always heard that Tolkien wants to stop the story to describe every tree and its history. Maybe that happens in books 2 and 3, but that is not even close to happening in book 1. In fact, I'm shocked by how little visual description there is in general. I'm with the Elves now and I don't even have a frame of reference for what it looks like besides what the movie planted in my mind. Just vague descriptions about a certain hallway, the scents, and the sound of running water. Maybe it'll come soon.

The other thing is one that will make people mad. It's not... exceptionally well written. It's fine. It just lacks character. I wish for a stronger voice most of the time because it often feels like I'm ending up with a serviceable one. Maybe this is a personal bias with me coming from exclusively reading literature. Don't know.

There are a lot of songs, but how they're making readers struggle is beyond me. They're straightforward and follow simple rhyme schemes. There are a few that struck me as foreign, but nothing impenetrable.

Overall, it's been a pleasant read so far. Might take a break after book 1 to read something short, but who knows? I might barrel on through

>>24521298
>ve always heard that Tolkien wants to stop the story to describe every tree and its history. Maybe that happens in books 2 and 3, but that is not even close to happening in book 1. In fact, I'm shocked by how little visual description there is in general
I actually found that that created very vivid images for me when reading it, my imagination filled everything in, and because it's not detailed I never had the problem of my imagined version contradicting the descriptions. Like in A Song of Ice and Fire, I immediately imagined John Snow with blonde hair which set him apart from his step-siblings, but some time after he's introduced he's described as having dark hair, which annoyed me.

>There are a lot of songs, but how they're making readers struggle is beyond me. They're straightforward and follow simple rhyme schemes. There are a few that struck me as foreign, but nothing impenetrable.
Same, I never found them a problem. Probably some readers get frustrated at them breaking up the narrative but whatever. I don't get people who are filtered by the catalogue of ships in the Iliad eitherz it's not that long and is just a list of heroes and where they're from, it's not difficult to read.

>>24521298
>Well... it's three novels.
it's a novel in three tomes.

Conan the Cimmerian
Just kidding, it’s not better, it’s just as good in a different way

>>24521357
it's not a novel

>>24521282 (OP)
A game of thrones
Hyperion if it counts (sci fi/fantasy)
Gormenghast

>>24521282 (OP)
That's like saying name a better writer in Greek than Homer
>>24521298
I felt its well-written even as someone who has read a lot of "literary" fiction and majored in English. There's some kind of clear and melancholy quality to Tolkien's prose that is hard to replicate, especially later on when he really gets rolling. But all in all it's actually kind of weird how alien some of the complaints about Tolkien are. I always get people saying he is too descriptive or purple but the only modern author that reminds me of the Professor is Hemingway.

>>24521482
>clear and melancholy
I'll have to keep an eye out for this in 2 and 3, but in 1, I would say you're reading too far into it if you feel this way. It's often very plain. He's fine with the cadence of sentences, but I just read a single sentence that had 4 adverbs

>>24521298
Tolkien being too descriptive is the complaint of people who have never read Tolkien. Tolkien is not very flowery so don't expect Gothic novel levels of prose, he was a very simple gentleman with noble aspirations, and his writing reflect his sensivities. However, when he gets the ball rolling it becomes the most powerful writing you can experience. Either way, it sounds like you started with LoTR instead of the Hobbit. I suggest you to read that first since the narrative only gets darker after that.

>>24521847
I read the hobbit years back and found it an endearing piece of kids lit with a braindead last falling action

>>24521282 (OP)
Odyssey: he fucks a mermaid.

>>24521859
Well, you should give it another opportunity. If you have matured even a little bit from your former self you should find new things to like about it.
>Braindead
Feeling pretentious aren't we? The last section of The Hobbit is an accurate portrayal of a military engagement, which isn't surprising because Tolkien himself was a war veteran. If you're not able to appreciate these kind of evident details you're going ill prepared to read LoTR; since it has a ot of these military campaigns later on.

>>24521888
>Feeling pretentious aren't we?
Not really. Just point out a flaw in an otherwise decent piece of kids lit. Doesn't matter if he was an acclaimed war general... It hindered the story.

>>24522001
>Kids lit
>An accurate portrayal of a military engagement is bad
Yes, this is definitely pretentious.

>>24522225
Surely you felt absurd typing that out

>>24522235
No. Why would I felt absurd for saying the truth?

It isn't possible.

>>24523755
disagree

>>24521282 (OP)
>name a better fantasy novel than The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion

>>24524462
I genuinely love this book but it filtered all the retards

re-reading the hobbit. going through some stress in life but the book is giving me joy

>>24524462
I will never read this because I hate Guy Gavriel Kay

>>24525036
why? he was just Christopher's errand boy

>>24525036
and it's not even authentic Tolkien

>>24525039
because he is a twitterlib so I can't read the book without thinking of his stupid ass takes. Moorcock will always be based for not having a Twitter.

>>24525041
The legendarium will always just be the Hobbit and LOTR for me. I really wished Tolkien published more in his lifetime because we will NEVER have his final vision for the Silmarillion.

There are none
Once you're done with Tolkien you should read medieval literature, preferably in their original languages

>>24525036
>>24525041
skip chapter 22 if you're that much of a baby about it

>>24525036
>>24525041
The Silmarillion was written by Tolkien and edited by his son Christopher. This guy is irrelevant to the book.
>>24525047
>moorcuck
>based
So you're just antis LARPing as fans, huh?

>>24525281
cope

>>24525167
>>24525281

You niggas know I'm right, search your heart you know it to be true!

>>24523753
Hmm. You're still not grasping this. Let me pitch it in a way you can understand. Let's say you're making food for a child and you decide to make a CHEESE PIZZA. Hell yeah. Kids like CHEESE PIZZA. But in addition to making the meal for this kid, you're also trying to open a winery in some dry part of France to make a Cabernet Sauvignon. You've spent so much time scouting land, planting grapes, hiring and managing and supervising. This winery is your lifelong passion, of course you'd do all this work .. but right now, you're making a CHEESE PIZZA. So here's the question: just because your wine is good, does that mean you should pour half a glass all over the finished CHEESE PIZZA?

Let's stop being a fucking idiot for a moment and think about this. It being an accurate portrayal doesn't mean anything. It completely halts the plot to spark notes major events. It's bad story telling. I know Tolkien ball suckers will defend the wet fart he left in his drawers that one time in the Somme trenches, but I won't. I'll say it like it is. The hobbit is mostly goo, but there's some dumb shit too.

>>24525380
The weird thing here is complaining about "libtards" and then sucking off Moorcuck when he's a literal male feminist libtard.

>>24525425
well.........uuhhhhhhh......it's different when HE does it........

>>24521282 (OP)
The Worm Ouroboros

The Worm Ouroboros

>>24521282 (OP)

>>24521282 (OP)
The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn

>>24521282 (OP)
There isn't a better fantasy novel.

>>24521282 (OP)
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/61077/pg61077.txt

>>24521282 (OP)
that was a very easy one.

>>24521282 (OP)
nobody named the bible, because everybody thinks jewish fantasy sucks.
i agree with that.
hatred, jealousy, greed, rooberies and murders,horrible horrible slaughterings.
it's too vampiric tier.
the bible is like if Sauron would 've won.
tiresome.

>>24521282 (OP)
Children of Hurin

didn't see that coming huh?

>>24521282 (OP)
All three Lyonesse books

>>24521282 (OP)
>character growth from pig-boy to king
>less lore dump, gets to the point
>banger side characters
>no endless walking
overall more human and less autistic fantasy map

>>24521298

He's really not as massively descriptive as people think. He evocative and he detail a lot of things, and he points out the history of things, so people get the impression that he's really just waxing lyrical when theyre skimming. I think TOlkien's prose is great, especially when recounting events from the mouth of Gandalf or something (the first Gandalf description of Gollum was just riveting for me, he's so good at exposition because he treats it as a mini story not an info dump), but i think his true genius is intertextual and metafictional. Also how subtly he changes writing modes. He changes dtyles to reflect different editors of the manuscript, but he smooths the transitions, lulls you into it. WHen he gets really archiac, its not accidental, he wants you to think this is out of date writing that comes from another age even when you get lulled into the high register.

His character work is also really underrated, people get filtered by this because he doesnt show character through clean blocks of first person introspection, he is more subtle.

>>24529090
>His character work is also really underrated, people get filtered by this because he doesnt show character through clean blocks of first person introspection, he is more subtle.
It's actually weird how filtered some critiques are by him.
Samwise and Denethor are pretty deep as characters yet regularly I heard /lit/ critiques and academia label them flat. When you pay attention to everything (dialogue, physical descriptors, thoughts and actions) you get a surprisingly riveting portrait.

Tolkien liked the King of Elfland's Daughter

>>24524539
It does, see>>24525036

>>24525422

>Thinking kids don't like war and battles as part of the entertainment

If you must make a silly analogy, say rather the battles are a time when the grape soda is opened as an accompaniment to the pizza.