Would your kids not be frightened of gollum munching ontheir raw pets, or siblings? data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
The LoTR are 3 of the worst fantasy books I have ever read. Just a very, very laborious author to read who took far to long to describe anything of note.The Silmarillion is 10 times worse data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I'm amazed at how Tolkein became such a household name on the strength of these books because they really are hard work regardless of the era they were written in. I've read a lot of 19th century horror and fantasy and whilst the writing style from the period can take a little adjustment to get used to, there aren't many which are as boring as this trilogy.
The Hobbit however I enjoyed immensely. It was a cracker. Weird data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
If I was recommending Fantasy, my first port of calls would be:
D.Gemmell
R.Feist
R.E.Howard
R.Jordan
Eriksson
To be fair, he created a world that has been paid homage to a million times and without him, things could have been very different. I read that he had no interest in the characters themselves, and wanted a living breathing world to create races that he could hang a language on - the fellowships fedex quest was an instrument to develop what he really wanted to write about.
I still have not finished the books myself - the council of Elrond is a sore sticking point for me in the first book (stopped me reading it on two seperate attempts) and when I did get past that, during the second book the swampy swamp swamps took their toll and I could read no more.
The Hobbit is a great novel , full of quirky wholesome adventure.
The film version I have to say is a mess.
LOTR I find a very turgid , slow ramble. The immediate thing that springs to mind when I think of LOTR is "lots of walking about". I actually feel the films are a lot more succesful than the books (with the exception of Frodo and Sam who I detest in the films).