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Ask HN: What are you reading?

467 points · 883 comments · dan-bailey

  1. nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
    The Wheel of Time.

    I was very happy to find this. I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone and Jordan doesn't portray women well. But what I found was kind of a relic. It's an excellent fantasy series that probably couldn't be written again. Wish we had more like it.

    1. RunSet · · focus · HN ↗
      > I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone

      What a flattering complaint. Reminds me of this:

      "Terry Brooks has often been disparaged for imitating Tolkien, particularly by those reviewers who find his books inferior to Tolkien's own. I can say only that I wish there were more imitators -- we need them -- and that all imitations of so great an original must necessarily be inferior. "

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20110823100353&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thenightland.co.uk&#x2F;MYWEB&#x2F;wolfemountains.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20110823100353&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theni...

      1. nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
        Yes, this is exactly how I feel. 1) The parallels arent that strong and 2) the parallels work well.

        It doens&#x27;t feel like a Tolkien clone. There are definitely parallels you can draw but they start very broad and become even less defining as the books progress. A hero&#x27;s journey, humble beginnings, a powerful magic user, clear good vs evil. And the world is very different than middle earth.

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