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Pentium
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Hi Keith 
True, but advocating a 'hard read' can be a turn-off, rather like recommending the Debian disc collection to a Linux newbie, rather than recommending a LinuxMint Live CD. 
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Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott.
Probably one of the best female authors to tackle military tactics and the fog of war within a fantasy background. She doesn't admit it, but a number of her battles and skirmishes have so much detail it is likely they have been war-gamed through. Unfortunately the series is probably one or two books too long and it tends to lose some focus in the later books. (I mean the later books are not so tightly written - they come across as less well crafted and perhaps stretched to keep the Publisher happy, they are however still a good read).
To be contentious, I'm not sure I agree about Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was well crafted, the LOTR books are a lot less tightly written, and can be a bit of a slog at times. To see what I mean try The Silmarilion (one of his later books), it verges on the unreadable. I actually prefer Beowulf (free electronic book from The Gutenberg Library link ) to LOTR!
If you are strapped for cash, then Baen Books Link have a great way of introducing fringe/newbie authors they give away their books! Some are quite enjoyable and I've actually gone on to buy more of the author's work. If you are a student or train commuter they are great!
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| George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series is Fantastic as well. Col
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Pentium
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Pentium
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EdP (28/11/2008)
To be contentious, I'm not sure I agree about Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was well crafted, the LOTR books are a lot less tightly written, and can be a bit of a slog at times. To see what I mean try The Silmarilion (one of his later books), it verges on the unreadable. I actually prefer Beowulf (free electronic book from The Gutenberg Library link ) to LOTR! I have to completely disagree with you over this.The Hobbit and the "Lord of the rings" were written for his kids, not necessarily to be published . In doing so, he created a Genre and wrote books that are as readable and applicable now as they were 60 years ago.I read the hobbit at 10 and the Lord of the rings at 11 and didnt find them hard going.They are re readable though , and always appreciate something new each time I read them( the same applies to wheel of time). As for the silmarillion . i agree it is very hard to read, but it is more of a historical reference book related to the Lord of the rings,to give background to references made in the lord of the rings. Tolkein was a historian and he was pursuing his interests with itand creating a fictional history to a fictional world.
Cheers, Keith.
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386
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I have to completely disagree with you over this.The Hobbit and the "Lord of the rings" were written for his kids,
If you are going to disagree with me then please don't use facts selectively. The Hobbit (which you will remember I liked) was as you stated originally written for his kids, and subsequently published in 1937. His Publisher then requested a sequal and this set off the Lord of the Rings series. LOTR was therefore a commercial venture from the outset, and was very much welcomed by a less than well-off College lecturer. (He became a Don in 1945)
I think the series suffered to some extent from the usual Publisher time/deadline/money pressures and it was in my view not as well crafted (from a literary standpoint) as The Hobbit. It is still an interesting and entertaining set of books, but it is a lot heavier going than The Hobbit, and arguably under-edited. This was Tolkien indulging himself and his undergraduates with plots plagiarised from the Norse legends rather than a book written lovingly for his kids.
Incidentally, according to the BBC, Tolkien started work on The Silmarillion about the time he was invalided out of the First World War in 1917. That is also about the time he was also working on the Oxford English Dictionary and well before even The Hobbit!
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Pentium
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| oh come on .....don't talk about selectively quoting facts and then come out with what you just have. True the publisher requested a sequel, however it took til 1949 from the 1937 sequel request to finish the books so you can hardly blame publisher time pressure.It then wasn't published until 1954 due to paper shortages andthe fact that he had offered it top another publisher .A fair bit was written during the war and chapters sent to his son in the RAF to read during the war. you talk about it not being lovingly created for his kids , and totally ignore the age of his kids at the time that the hobbit and LOTR was written. By the time LOTR was written his kids were grown up and could apppreciate a 'heavier' book and not necessarily want a light kids book. Tolkein's main interest was in creating the mythology from which the hobbit and lord of the rings then evolved almost as a byproduct and the silmarillion was a part of that mythology that he created.Most authors nowadays , create the world to suit the book they are writing,Tolkein was creating the world and its mythology before there was any thought of writing commercial books set in that world.
Cheers, Keith.
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Pentium
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Well, I've started on "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind.
Loving it 
EDIT: I'd like to add that one of the next books I'll read is "Elantris". It's written by Brandon Sanderson, whom I am sure most of you will now know as the guy who will finish the last Wheel of Time book, after the unfortunate passing of Robert Jordan.
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