Offline life is busy enough, with few enough prospects for things letting up any time soon, that I am finally forced to admit it’s time for an open thread. So let’s go a little further afield this time, and talk about favorite (or otherwise interesting) responses to The Lord of the Rings in fiction.
Of course in a broad sense the very existence of fantasy as a publishing genre is a consequence of the success of The Lord of the Rings. And I’ve heard more than one writer say that all English-language fantasy has to, in some fashion, come to grips with Tolkien’s influence on the field. But I think it would be more interesting to talk specifically, about books or authors (though those of you who do write fantasy, I would be curious to hear your thoughts.)
Time for chapter IV.6 of The Two Towers, “The Forbidden Pool,” in our Lord of the Rings re-read. As always, spoilers for all of LotR and comments after the jump.
Aaaand we’re back to the Lord of the Rings re-read, finally, with Book IV, chapter 5 of The Two Towers, “The Window on the West.” As always, spoilers for all of The Lord of the Rings and comments after the jump.
Time for a cooking interlude, among other things, in this week’s Lord of the Rings re-read post. After the jump, comments on “Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit” and spoilers for all of LotR.
With this week’s Lord of the Rings chapter, we have only the second chapter whose title is a sentence—but “The Black Gate Is Closed” is just a bit of a contrast to “Three Is Company” (Fellowship I.3). As always, spoilers for the entire book and comments after the jump.
This week it’s chapter IV.2 of The Two Towers, “The Passage of The Marshes,” in our Lord of the Rings re-read. As usual, spoilers for the entire book and comments after the jump.
To help get a fresh perspective on The Lord of the Rings during the re-read, I’m also reading and blogging the occasional critical work. Some time ago, I read a paper by John Garth, “Frodo and the Great War,” but saved it for now, when it begins to be most relevant. Garth uses literary works by other WWI veterans and reports of war correspondents to find parallels to LotR’s characters, themes, and landscapes. My knowledge of WWI is pretty much limited to white-knowledge history, Dorothy L. Sayers’ novels, Rilla of Ingleside, and a few poems, but Garth’s textual arguments seem well-supported to me and illuminate the pervasive effect of WWI on the book.
[After the jump, more discussion with the inevitable spoilers.]
We embark on the second half of The Lord of the Rings with chapter IV.1 of The Two Towers, “The Taming of Sméagol.” As always, spoilers for the entire book and comments after the jump.
By at least one measure, we have hit the halfway point of The Lord of the Rings with the chapter “The Palantír,” which is the end of the first of two books making up the middle volume. Page-wise, we’re actually more than halfway through; structurally we’re behind, since there are six books plus the Appendices. I prefer to call this glass half-full, however. So: yay, halfway through!
As usual, spoilers for all of LotR and comments after the jump.
This week in the Lord of the Rings re-read, chapter III.10 of The Two Towers, “The Voice of Saruman.” As always, spoilers for the whole book and comments after the jump.
In spite of a cranky computer, stomach, and child, it’s time for another chapter of the Lord of the Rings re-read, Two Towers III.9, “Flotsam and Jetsam.” As always, spoilers for the entire book behind the jump.
I’m home from WorldCon and associated travels, and all I can say is that I’m really glad we have a short, transitional chapter this week.
Oh, no, wait, I have two other things to say before we get started with the spoilers and comments: there are some really very shiny verses in last week’s open thread, so if you missed those, go take a look (I got shamefully behind on it myself), and I wrote something non-LotR elsewhere on this site, a review of David Anthony Durham’s Acacia, which as a post-Tolkien epic fantasy may be of interest to some of you.
Epic fantasy and I have a mixed relationship. Obviously I like some of it, or I wouldn’t be bothering to re-read The Lord of the Rings one chapter at a time. I like its scope, that is, the way it delivers society-changing events, significant individual actions, worldbuilding that reaches back into history and outward across countries or continents, and lots of Really Cool Stuff turned up to eleven. And so I’ve read my share of post-Tolkien epic fantasy . . . but almost none recently. I stopped reading a couple of ongoing series because I didn’t have the time, and I never seem to get around to trying new ones, whether because I’m wary of starting an unfinished series, not excited by a teenager with a Destiny running around a medievaloid European-ish map, or just getting my significant personal actions and Really Cool Stuff elsewhere.
I’d heard a lot of good things about David Anthony Durham’s Acacia (Doubleday), however, and this year’s Hugo voting finally got me to read it. (Durham is nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.) I took so long writing this review that it’s now time to give the awards, not vote on them, but I enjoyed it greatly and am glad that the voting deadline finally bumped it to the top of my pile. Acacia has all the things I like about epic fantasy, plus an unusual and fascinating world and a plot rooted in fundamental questions of social justice. And though it’s the first book in an unfinished trilogy—the second book comes out in September—it tells a complete story in and of itself. If you like epic fantasy, or if you want to like epic fantasy but haven’t been excited by the genre lately, give Acacia a try.
[More: betrayals, exiles, sorcery, and ends versus means; no spoilers.]
This week we’re going to WorldCon in Montréal, and I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is physically impossible to do everything that must be done while still writing a chapter re-read post.
So, let’s have an open thread. I have two suggestions from friends to kick things off:
First, Pam suggests that retelling a favorite scene as a limerick or haiku. Or hey, if you can manage other verse forms, go ahead: if you compose a good double dactyl, I will declare you to have officially Won the Internets for the day.
Second, Janni Lee Simner wants to know, “Would you really not take that thing? Even if it lay by the highway?”
Another week, another chapter of the Lord of the Rings re-read. Today we’ll consider chapter III.7 of The Two Towers, “Helm’s Deep.” Book-wide spoilers and comments after the jump.
We come to the midpoint of the first book of The Two Towers with chapter 6, “The King of the Golden Hall.” After the jump, the usual spoilers for all of The Lord of the Rings and comments.
But first, a silly graph: Characters in The Lord of the Rings and Miles Vorkosigan, by Height. (It’s the last item that makes it for me.)
Before we get started this week, a kind correspondent points me to a first-time reader’s chapter-by-chapter posts, via the Wayback Machine: Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s Reading Lord of the Rings . . . the final attempt. I’ve looked at her comments on a few of the chapters we’ve just done and it’s really interesting to see their effect on an unspoiled reader.
And now the next chapter in the Lord of the Rings re-read, “The White Rider.” The usual spoilers for all of LotR and comments after the jump.
Next up on the Lord of the Rings re-read, chapter III.4 of The Two Towers, “Treebeard.” I think this may be my favorite chapter to date, or at least the one I enjoyed most.
Spoilers for all of LotR and comments after the jump.
To make up for there being no LotR re-read post last week (I was having trouble accessing the back end), and to get a bit ahead, here’s chapter III.3 of The Two Towers, “The Uruk-hai.” The usual spoilers for all of LotR and comments after the jump.
Before we pick up The Two Towers with chapter III.2, “The Riders of Rohan,” a note: I have an highly idiosyncratic list of books related to The Lord of the Rings over on the new Tor.com store. Unfortunately the list and the store were developed separately, so there are some things on the list that, uh, you can’t actually get there yet (it’s a work in progress); but you may find it interesting all the same. Note: I did say highly idiosyncratic!
And now, the usual spoilers for all of LotR and comments.
