Because I'm feeling lazy, I'm re-posting my guest post from Never Too Fond of Books. Which if you havent checked out you should. I'm gonna be a regular contributer there.
Like many people, J.R.R. Tolkin was my introduction to adult
fiction. I had been reading for a really long time, but up until the point when
my father gave me his old copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, my favorite books
were the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede (still some of my
favorite books to this day). The thing is, way back when...like fourteen years
ago, when I first read Tolkin I loved it. I was totally engrossed in the story,
and I think I finished all three books plus some of the appendices in two
weeks.
Then I went on to some other fantasy novels. Like Raymond E Feist
Rift War Saga/Serpent War Saga, which became my favorite books through high
school and the beginning of college. In college I found myself more surrounded
by literary novels. Margret Atwood, the Secret History by Donna Taft, Catch 22,
found their way onto my bookshelf and into my heart. Of course I can't forget
Harry Potter, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norwell, Neil Gaiman and the wide variety
of Historical Fiction I found myself reading. Yet I always called myself a fan
of Fantasy.
After college my literary interests continued to span a
broad range of topics. I picked up Christopher Moore for the first time (and
there is a great picture of us somewhere). Continued to read anything by some
of my favorite writers I could find, and what was suggested to me by others;
how I first heard of Hunger Games, among others. And I discovered a lot of
writers that I'd quite happily avoid forever (George RR Martin, C.S Freeman)
It wasn't until I read Brian Sandersons Mistborn series, which started out really
entertaining and took a turn to the why am I reading this. And Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind,
which reminded me why I love Fantasy novels (and the English language) in the
first place. That I decided to go back to my roots (and I'm not talking about a
road trip to Georgia). Earlier this year I re-read the Rift War and the Serpent
War Saga. I re-read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. And I just started
re-reading the Lord of the Rings.
What I can say (and at this point your probably wondering
what's the point) is that I'm surprised. See, between the last time that I read
the Lord of the Rings, probably sometime before the Fellowship Movie came out,
and now, I've read a lot of other Fiction, and a lot of time has passed. And a
great deal of the Lord of the Rings books feel like info dumps, and eons of
text which is full of interesting
descriptions but lacks anything resembling pace, and very little dialogue,
while the dialogue that's there feels like it's from another time. Which
frankly it is.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going to a summer
time tradition in the DC area, called Jazz in the Garden (it's exactly what it
sounds like) with Michael and Robin Sullivan. Now if you're wondering why those
names sound familiar it's probably because Michael is the author of the Riyria Revelations
Trilogy recently published by Orbit, and Robin, his wife, runs Ridan a small independent
publishing company. If you ever want to have an idea what or where the
publishing world is going, I wouldn't over estimate a pitcher of Sangria this
couple, and sitting back and shutting up. At this particular occasion Robin and
Michael were arguing over a fantasy book Robin liked and wanted to pick up.
Michael didn't.
Michaels complaints had nothing to do with the plot, but
everything to do with the writing. (And I really wish I remembered the title of
the book in question). His theory (or at least my drunken understanding of his
theory) is that as readers we deserve more than a good story, with a good plot.
We need to enjoy the reading of the story, the writing of the story, the journey,
as much as the story itself. That in a way, epic fantasy novels have become
stagnated in the 1950's.
To be honest I'm not sure what I think about this. When I
read books like The Black Sun Rising, or When True Night Falls by C.S.
Friedman, where the world is more important than the characters, and I have to
slog through hundreds of pages of world building and info dumps. Or Brian
Sandersons Mistborn (which I will say Michael liked, although he didn't read
the entire series) which starts out by working the world building into the
story, but doesn't stop when the reader gets it (he is a classic example of
beating us over the head with a magic system), I feel like agreeing with
Michael. Other notorious culprits are R.A. Salvatore, Tad Williams, and George
RR Martin (no offence intended to any of those authors), and books which I will
not name which read basically like glorified Tolkin fan fic.
Now I'm not intending to imply that authors of epic fantasy
are too lazy to write well, I'm merely attempting to point out a trend in the
genre (or wondering out loud if one exists like love triangles in YA fiction).
And wondering if the reason epic fantasy hasn't changed is because the writers
fall into such a niche market that the readers practically demand pages upon
pages of archaic prose that their mind warps to reading. Or it could be that
epic fantasy remains a niche market because writers write this way, and are
fans of their own genre in which other writers write this way, and change has
become practically impossible because we are so stuck on what has been done
before us. But then I come back to
authors like Rothfuss who I've filed his books on my bookshelf under literary
fiction vs epic fantasy because the writing is just too good. Or to some degree
Sanderson, who if you read just one book on its own doesn't appear to have the
classic epic fantasy flaws. And I wonder, are we breaking the cycle?
I also wonder if the reason YA novels, and thriller novels
(or fast paced urban fantasy novels like Kevin Hearne or Jaye Wells) are so
popular because they are easier to read, and perhaps if epic fantasy will
change some of the way it tells a story will it no longer become a niche
market, and if that happens, will it still be epic fantasy? And if that does
happen, is it a good thing?
As you can tell, I wonder a lot. I hope you enjoyed my first
guest post. Sorry it was so long.
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