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<blockquote data-quote="Dioltach" data-source="post: 8182409" data-attributes="member: 21843"><p>Agreeing on Shannara. It's also interesting to read <em>Sometimes the Magic Works </em>by Terry Brooks: he explains that the only reason that <em>Sword </em>was published was in fact <em>because </em>it's so similar to LotR.</p><p></p><p>Lester del Rey had been given the job of establishing fantasy as a separate genre. For those of you who weren't around at the time: fantasy was mostly a collection of separate works, often by established SF writers, with no unifying traits. Lester del Rey decided that the best way to do this was to publish a book that people would immediately identify with LotR, and he chose <em>Sword </em>for that. If I recall correctly, they even made some changes to reinforce the similarities.</p><p></p><p>It was an immediate hit, and fantasy as a genre was established: elves, dwarves, powerful but mysterious wizards, an ancient evil, a quest that starts in a sleepy rural town, a party of companions who become separated along the way and - by the time <em>Wishsong </em>was published - generally as a trilogy too. This was pretty much the staple of fantasy literature throughout the 1980s, and it was all thanks to Terry Brooks and Lester del Rey.</p><p></p><p>Nowadays people say, "Oh, it's so derivative", but at the time <em>Sword </em>was both reminiscent of Tolkien and refreshingly new and modern. And <em>Elfstones </em>is a completely original and wonderful book.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dioltach, post: 8182409, member: 21843"] Agreeing on Shannara. It's also interesting to read [I]Sometimes the Magic Works [/I]by Terry Brooks: he explains that the only reason that [I]Sword [/I]was published was in fact [I]because [/I]it's so similar to LotR. Lester del Rey had been given the job of establishing fantasy as a separate genre. For those of you who weren't around at the time: fantasy was mostly a collection of separate works, often by established SF writers, with no unifying traits. Lester del Rey decided that the best way to do this was to publish a book that people would immediately identify with LotR, and he chose [I]Sword [/I]for that. If I recall correctly, they even made some changes to reinforce the similarities. It was an immediate hit, and fantasy as a genre was established: elves, dwarves, powerful but mysterious wizards, an ancient evil, a quest that starts in a sleepy rural town, a party of companions who become separated along the way and - by the time [I]Wishsong [/I]was published - generally as a trilogy too. This was pretty much the staple of fantasy literature throughout the 1980s, and it was all thanks to Terry Brooks and Lester del Rey. Nowadays people say, "Oh, it's so derivative", but at the time [I]Sword [/I]was both reminiscent of Tolkien and refreshingly new and modern. And [I]Elfstones [/I]is a completely original and wonderful book. [/QUOTE]
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