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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nikolai" data-source="post: 971630" data-attributes="member: 10130">Hi all,I've posted a message asking for suggestions of fantasy books that won't scar me here:<a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54960" target="_blank">http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54960</a> Then I found this thread and thought I'd plug it...My contribution to the debate is Raymond E. Fiest. I picked up Magician largely because it was a fantasy novel in BBC's "Big Read" top 100 books. (Basically just a poll to find the UK's favourite books <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml</a>). I've read 200 odd pages and it's dross. I can't stand the writing, and the plot's a complilation of trite fantasy cliches. Stay away from it.As for Tolkien, I can see why people more into "sword-and-sorcery" won't be able to stand it. Large sections are really slow and what would be key events and battles in that sub-genre  Tolkien makes happen off-screen (In case anyone takes this the wrong way: this isn't a criticism, people's tastes aren't right or wrong). However, I like it because of the depth of the world, use of language and the way the plot strands are tied together. No other fantasy books come close to matching this. I also like the use of "evil" - such as the corupting power of the ring - and that the story is actually quite dark and sad. These are very different from a lot of other fantasy - even (especially?) stuff writen by professional Tolkien imitators.nikolai.</blockquote>

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