Favorite author/authors

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RA. Salvatore!

 

Max Berry and Frank Herbert.. and Rowling of course (Potter books rock )

 

I have to say George Martin has dethroned good ol' Tolkien. But I still love ya J.R.R, it's just that, well... there's another, and we're going to run off together.

 

Wow, two replies i got. These people must really like to read...

 

G RR Martin, David Gemmel and Bernard Cornwell. And, of course, good old Tolkien.

 

Stephen King still rules supreme. The man has the Midas touch. R.A. Salvatore is my favorite as far as fantasy novels are concerned, followed by Weis and Hickman.

 

Tolkien. GRR Martin still doesn't match his brilliance.

 

GRR Martin is my favourite all categories, surpassing Tolkien with many many horselenghts. After Martin it is Hobb and then nothing and then nothing and then Orson Scott Card and Robert Jordan. Both have written some brilliant books but both has also written some less than brilliant stuff.

 

Tolkien. No doubt about that.

 

I'd have to be boring and agree with Ara. Tolkien, certainly.

 

Hmm.. I have to add that as soon as Son of Strife gets published, I ca "officially" start praising Shura in these threads as well.

 

Tolkien is my favourite, no one else comes close. I would have a difficult time picking someone for second place, Martin would certainly be a contender but so would at least a dozen other authors.

 

I can't even begin to THINK about trying to pick just one.

So I won't.

 

Hmmm. lemme see. Terry Prattchett. I just love the discworld, although some are better than others...
I think Margareth Weis and Tracy Hickman did a good job on the Chronicles - Legends, but then, I don't fancy any of their newer books....

Dan Abnett writes some good books set in the WH40K universe. I especially like the Inquisitor trilogy. But then, I do like to read a lot of Black Library's publications these days. Their fantazy novels are set in a much darker world compared to your avereage fr-book.

 

I am not a big fan of Martin, whom, IMHO, is very overrated. Most writing fantasy/adventure today are in some way informed by Tolkien. That would make him the benchmark against which others are measured. And if one believes that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," then many owe much to him. Certainly George Martin learned from Tolkien. I just wish he had learned more.

 

You Chandos are the first one I have ever heard that have read Martin that isnt stunned by the brilliance of his writing. Have you read all three books of a Song of ice and fire and may I ask you what you base your opinion of?

All authors borrow from other authors and other sources. Actually the only thing I give Tolkien credit for is his restarting the old genre of fantastic epic story telling. His novels are not very good books, it is Tolkien's creativity and world building that makes him something at all in my eyes. His novels are from a purely story perspective extremely shallow and rather uninteresting with his cardboard characters. With Tolkien it is all about the setting.
Martin has in my eyes perfected the genre that Tolkien reinvented.

Ok end rant, I just get slightly annoyed at all the people that lifts Tolkien to the skies in all aspects just because you are supposed to. Just like one might lift War and Peace to the sky just because you are supposed to even if you dont like it (note that I have not read War and Peace so I dont know if it is good or bad and I dont think Tolkien is crappy I just think his work is extremely overrated).

 

Robert Jordan
Salvatore
Eddings(i know they are adescolent but they always drag me in)
and as much as i dislike his style Tolkien is up there
havent read hobb or martin...yet

 

And who said that is the only reason people like Tolkien? His books are damn good, yes, including the characters. Bilbo is certainly one of the most interesting characters I've read about, and I'm obsessed with the story of Fingolfin (even though there is only small amounts of writing about him).
So methinks you should not make such assumptions.

 

Michael Crichton, Mario Puzo, Arthur C. Clarke

 

Ah, I should have put in a disclaimer in my post up there Aikanaro, the novel Bilbo and the character Bilbo is of a whole other level than the Lord of the Rings. Bilbo is without a doubt my favourite Tolkien book, much much more likable than LotR.

What I meant was that people give Tolkien extra points just because he is Tolkien. I know I did up to a year or so ago when I really gave LotR some thought and had much other literature to compare it to. Most of the time it doesnt happen consciously, if I set down to read a book that is supposed to be great written by a writer exclaimed by everyone for decades or even centuries to be one of the great works of fiction then I have already formed my opinion of it before I start, then whatever fault I find in the book I put up to a fault in me instead of the book. Do you see what I mean?

This still doesnt change the fact that different people have different tastes.