It was honestly my favourite book of the series. Though I never actually finished the last book just because my boredom finally overwhelmed my investment. I got halfway through Song of Susannah and I was done.
In my opinion, Michael Moorcock is still the king of science fantasy. What an output! You can forgive the flaws in some of his work. He was like a tree blossoming so much fruit and not all of his progeny was perfectly formed. But it all gets mashed into our literary soil and feeds the ground from which we grow. All those ideas he had! How could anyone keep such imagination contained? He is surely the Homer of our age
I agree that Fantasy is the genre but still people constantly don't need to be writing about the same beings and setting it in the same type of setting as Tolkein. That is why I struggle with Fantasy because it is so samey. Crime is the other one, it's very formulaic. I don't know how many times I've read about a dark, brooding detective with an alcohol abuse problem. So I like to try and branch out with Fantasy and at least change the setting and create new creature. It's better than keep re-hashing what's all ready been done.
Again, though... there's lots of Fantasy that isn't remotely Tolkien-esque. I've been reading a couple series lately that were set in the Wild West, I've read books set in Asia, in contemporary US/UK, in Africa, in space, etc. There are lots of Tolkien-esque Fantasy books, but there are also lots of Fantasy books that have very little in common with that style.
Oh yeah there is! I was referring more to plot lines of unpublished writers. Every time, it seems, that I read a plot for a fantasy story is very Tolkien-esque.
I follow a lot of the other fantasy writers on this site. I have the only 'Tolkien-esque' WIP here, as far as I know. There is some incredible fantasy works being done here, @Stormsong07 ,@zoupskim, and @X Equestris, to name some off the top of my head. Fantasy is a very broad genre with many different writers telling a variety of stories.
That's some of the reason I joined this site, most do think outside the box here. And some people NEED to continue writing Tolkien-esque stuff for the ones that still love reading it. But on some other forums I've tried they are practically all the same thing with little new added.
A lot of those people are new writers. It’s bad form to criticize people just because the first stuff they write isn’t super original. It is quite common for someone learning any skill to begin by imitating other work so that they can learn how the original was made.
They aren't first time writers I never said they were. A lot were looking for beta readers to publish so please don't assume I'm criticising new writers without first getting the facts from me.
My current wip is more GRRM than Tolkein … action adventure with swords, shapeshifter and a talking tree