I’ve been a huge fan of the movies since they first came out but didn’t read the books until the beginning of this year. I just wasn’t a reader until recently. I’ve been yearning for some more fantasy but haven’t been able to find anything similar. I tried The Silmarillion but it reads too much like a textbook to me.
What are some other great fantasy books that I might like?
The Shannara series by Terry Brooks has a reputation as being an homage to LotR, and they are quite enjoyable.
If you want to try and branch out and give Urban Fantasy (magic, but more modern society) a try there’s a reason that the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are super popular. The book Dead Beat was written as a mid-series introduction for new readers to the series because Sci-Fi had just come out with a TV series and the 1st few books are weaker because the author was super new to published writing.
Magician: Apprentice & Magician: Master by Feist are great
Long before there was Harry Potter, Ged from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guinn was discovering he had magical talents and going to wizard school. It’s a beloved classic for a reason.
Waaay back, this was what I turned to after reading LotR. He had only published the first then and it was what made me understand the difference between good writing and bad. It gave me nothing else other than that lesson and certainly didn’t scratch the itch that I had for something like LotR. In fact nothing did and I found it best to look for something completely different that was good in it’s own right rather than poor imitations.