As we finish our course and head into a summer that might contain some new reading, what authors (other than Tolkien) will you be reading or would you recommend to others who enjoy Tolkien's work?
One of my personal favorites is Guy Gavriel Kay, a fantasy writer, who got started by helping Christopher Tolkien compile The Silmarillion. If you are looking for epic fantasy to read, consider The Fionavar Tapestry by Kay. It makes me laugh and weep in some similar ways to Tolkien's texts.
Although it is not in the fantasy genre, the James Herriot books are some of my favorites. I have read them all twice and I highly recommend them to anyone. All Creatures Great and Small is the first book. It is an autobiography of a vet sharing his experiences working in the countryside in England in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, set at the time Tolkien was writing his works. He has a fantastic sense of humor and really draws you into the stories of the people and their animals. As an animal lover I think these books will always be some of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite author (yes even above Tolkien) is Brandon Sanderson. He writes high fantasy as well as science fiction. His works are less directly inspired by Tolkien's work in terms of content than a lot of fantasy, but the focus on description of places and people is definitely very Tolkien-esque. I recommend all of Brandon's work, but my favorites are probably Warbreaker (a single reasonable length novel) and the Stormlight archive series (3 1000 page tomes and counting). They are both character driven fantasy, with a strong focus on really interesting magic systems.
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