The ripoffs go ever on and on.
May. 10th, 2010 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clo_againPacking my fantasy paperbacks and idly opened The Elfstones of Shannara; I loved the Shannara series a *lot* when I was about twelve because it had elves and magical swords and epic quests. I read Lord of the Rings a lot later so I didn't connect the similarities between the two until my dissertation on the fantasy genre when Shannara was included in every single list of books that copied from LotR. I thought "Actually yeah, I see that!" and moved on since it wasn't really important.
But flicking through just one of the series now, I keep stumbling across names. Like Elessedil. Durin. A mysterious dark-clothed stranger called Allanon. The quest party in The Sword of Shannara had a druid, two 'normal' people from a sheltered idyllic place, a dwarf, two elves and a man who was a prince of somewhere, which is kind of beyond inspiration and into the realms of...seriously Terry Brooks, did you think no one would notice or did you just not care?
Now I feel bad for throwing Magician by Raymond E Feist across the room when I got to the chapter where the quest party reached some impassable mountains and were planning to use ancient dwarf caverns to travel underneath, only there was aBalrog something nasty lurking in the dark. I mean, the only reason I didn't let Feist get away with it is that I didn't come across Magician until I was smart enough to spot the ripoff.
Oh Tolkien. I wonder if you're spinning in your grave like Stéphane Lambiel on the ice or if you'd be flattered? Hm.
eta: I just bashed my toe on the full box of fantasy paperbacks. Now my toe really hurts. Curse you Anne McCaffrey!
But flicking through just one of the series now, I keep stumbling across names. Like Elessedil. Durin. A mysterious dark-clothed stranger called Allanon. The quest party in The Sword of Shannara had a druid, two 'normal' people from a sheltered idyllic place, a dwarf, two elves and a man who was a prince of somewhere, which is kind of beyond inspiration and into the realms of...seriously Terry Brooks, did you think no one would notice or did you just not care?
Now I feel bad for throwing Magician by Raymond E Feist across the room when I got to the chapter where the quest party reached some impassable mountains and were planning to use ancient dwarf caverns to travel underneath, only there was a
Oh Tolkien. I wonder if you're spinning in your grave like Stéphane Lambiel on the ice or if you'd be flattered? Hm.
eta: I just bashed my toe on the full box of fantasy paperbacks. Now my toe really hurts. Curse you Anne McCaffrey!
