08-25-2019, 11:08 PM
(08-03-2019, 02:08 PM)bigcat1969 Wrote: Then again while I did read LotR cover to cover, I don't ever want to do it again, so I may not be a good SF/Fantasy barometer.
In that particular case, I honestly can't blame you. Tolkien was a master world-builder, but I (and I seem to be relatively alone in this) don't think he was a great writer. As in "good at actually writing". His storytelling is roundabout, long-winded and archaic, and his ideas about brotherhood, women and foreigners haven't really aged all that well.
Tolkien was a child of his own time like everyone else, and what he wrote reflected his life experiences and the society and world that formed him. I get that. But there is nothing so singularly brilliant about his prose that I feel the need to excuse him for its flaws.
There, I said it. I think the Lord of the Rings, one of the most celebrated works of fiction from the past 100 years, is very overrated.
