Best of the Tolkien Clones

[Alchemist]

So what are the best of the (post) Tolkien clones? I'm using "clone" mainly tongue-in-check; I don't necessarily mean completely derivative copies, but more of the "offspring" of the Father of Modern Quest Fantasy - books that follow a similar approach and touch similar bases, as many of the following as possible:

• A quest from simple/innocent farm land life (Shire) into the Wilderness (most of Middle Earth), to the gates of the Dark Lord (Mordor), including a series of trials and tribulations (Barrow Downs, Weathertop, Moria, etc)
• A Magnificent Seven-style traveling group (the Fellowship)
• A deeply detailed mytho-historical background (the Silmarillion)
• Magical items (the Ring, mithril, various swords)
• Magical creatures (Elves, Ents, etc)
• A Dark Lord and his minions (Sauron, Balrog, Nazgul, trolls, orcs, etc)

Or something like that. There are obviously hundreds of such books, but what are the best of the obviously Tolkien-influenced quest stories?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Perhaps the quintessential Tolkien clone is the Sword of Shannara trilogy, which has all of the elements you highlighted, since it was designed to be a retelling of Tolkien's story. It's "good" in the sense that it follows a similar plotline, and it is certainly one of the earliest clones on the market (first book published in the late 70's). It read well for its time and it remains an especially good choice for younger readers (...and many of us older readers have also enjoyed its simple take on the tropes of fantasy).

 

[Alchemist]

Yeah, it is funny how Sword of Shannara has become a bit of a classic. I remember enjoying it when I read it in the early 80s, and liking Elfstones and Wishsong even more. Actually, it was Sword that was thinking of - wanting to read something with that sort of nostalgic/homage feel to it (although not quite wanting to re-read it).

I was also inspired by R Scott Bakker's The Judging Eye, which I just finished, in particular the Cil-Aujas sequence which was an homage to Moria. The thing I liked about Cil-Aujas is that it was an obviously deliberate homage to Moria, but it was also unique and rather different. I'm looking for more of that - Tolkien homages that stand on their own quite well.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Agreed, that section of The Judging Eye was great. I guess my favorite would have to be Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, though it too is different in its own ways. If the reader can survive the opening 2/3 of the first book (i.e. very often critiqued as slow), then they're in for a treat.

 

[Davis Ashura]

An obvious, but not best Tolkien clone would be the Iron Tower trilogy by Dennis McKiernan (? spelling).
Another one that is obvious is Magician by Raymond Feist.
A clone that is quite subversive would be Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.

 

[C-1]

How is "Magician" similar to "Lotr"? It seems almost the polar opposite, no side is evil, very little "questing", flawed heroes (some of them at least) etc..

Great book though.

 

[mshnd06]

The ones that come to mind immediately:

Second Apocalypse by Bakker
Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Donaldson
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Williams
Sundering by Carey

All clearly pay homage to Tolkien while skillfully exploring further narrative and thematic complexities. The Williams is probably the best of the lot, while imo the Bakker is the weakest as it loses a great deal of its humanity in its subversion and sacrifices depth in some areas for glut in others.

 

[Davis Ashura]

How is "Magician" similar to "Lotr"? It seems almost the polar opposite, no side is evil, very little "questing", flawed heroes (some of them at least) etc..

Great book though.

I was thinking of how it was published in paperback in the 1980's. Back then it was split into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master. It was really Apprentice I was referring to. No, there isn't a Dark Lord or quest or magical items of power (other than Tomas' armor), but it was the other aspects of Tolkien I was thinking of: wide-eyed naifs in the back-end of nowhere, immortal and beautiful Elves, mountainous dwarves.

 

[PeterWilliam]

A clone that is quite subversive would be Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.

Yeah, another favorite of mine. In terms of series, my favorites have long been LoTR, Covenant Chronicles and MST. My 'first loves' in genre fiction - probably why I hold them up in pride of place (i.e. my own bookshelf, lists, etc.).

 

[sullivan_riyria]

While I've never read it I've heard that Dennis L McKiernan's The Iron Tower was supposed to have done this.

This is how I heard the story: Originally he wanted to do a sequel to the Lord of the Rings. The Estate didn't want some one writing a sequel, so his publisher asked him to rewrite what had essentially been Lord of the Rings but set in a different world so that the sequel he wrote would have something backing it.

 

[Pub]

the belgariad by david eddings i think is a lot like it to some degree you could say the wheel of time too.

 

[algernoninc]

Put me down with another vote for Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams.
And add Winter of the World by Michael Scott Rohan.

I have on my TBR a series that intrigues me in the choice of writing from the POV of the Dark Side : The Sundering by Jacqueline Carey.

 

[Grokl]

My memory suprised me and I remembered this old thread from another board:
http://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-311323.html

I think Prydain is very similar to Middle Earth

 

[AmethystOrator]

I tried Memory, Sorrow and Thorn awhile ago and wasn't terribly impressed. The plot was fine, but I had the impression that the writing was very much representative of it's time (the 80's). OTOH, I've felt the same about some other, much more recent, books that a fair number of people around here enjoy. So as ever, ymmv.

 

[Alchemist]

I read MST back when they came out and remember enjoying them but finding them exceedingly frustrating, especially the second book, because Williams would change characters every hundred pages or so, shortly after I finally got into the viewpoint change and wanted to read more of it. Bakker's The Judging Eye was like this, but he switched by chapter so you didn't have to start a new section thinking "I have to read 1-200 pages until I get back to my favorite viewpoint character?" But the problem with Bakker's latest two books, for me at least, is that I find Achamian's sub-plot much more interesting than Sorweel's or Esmenet's. Bakker also suffers from a complete lack of warmth, love or a sense of humor behind dark irony and sarcasm. Good thing he's got some other really good things going for him.

Not to "jack" my own thread, but this tendency of epic fantasists to switch characters is tremendously annoying and overused. I don't mind if it is done somewhat, but as a general rule I'd like for at least half of the book to be from the perspective of a singular protagonist.

Back to the recommendations, I've already got a couple of them on my to-read pile: Rohan's Winter of the World and Carey's The Sundering. Most of the others I've read and liked to varying degrees.

 

[Hobbit]

this tendency of epic fantasists to switch characters is tremendously annoying and overused.

I agree with that, though perhaps not as strongly as you.

Though I am enjoying Abrahams's King's Blood at the moment, I think it would really annoy you: the characters are every 10 pages or so!

Happens in SF too. It's a modern style thing.

There are times when I much prefer the old-school linear narrative: might be what keeps me reading the old stuff!

Mark

 

[StoneBurner]

I always considered Jordan's books (esp the early ones) tolkien clones. 3 parts tolkien, 1 part herbert = the first 6 books.

 

[Winter]

I agree with that, though perhaps not as strongly as you.

Though I am enjoying Abrahams's King's Blood at the moment, I think it would really annoy you: the characters are every 10 pages or so!

Happens in SF too. It's a modern style thing.

There are times when I much prefer the old-school linear narrative: might be what keeps me reading the old stuff!

Mark

Pretty much. I mean, the prevalence of this has started to frustrate me more and more lately and I don't even read epic fantasy. I think it was China Mieville's Embassytown that set the annoyance in place. It has gotten to the point that I have contemplated avoiding any books with more than one POV character for a while.

 

[Pub]

See that doesnt annoy me i actually like the different POV's. I think in most cases it adds to a deeper plot than your typical straight forward farm boy saves the world type fantasy.

Though thats not to say its not impossible to have a good plot with a linear style. I think the king killer chronicles shows that.

I agree though i'm a bit over the 80's style fantasy a'la eddings, feist, brooks. The plotlines are all very similar (though i have to say eddings is the worst for it)

Jordan i think the first book was a tolkien homage book but i think he went on to write fantasy on a much deeper level than tolkien.

Also i don't get this herbet rip off that everyone seems to mention. There may be some similarities between aiel and herbet desert people but to say they're a carbon copy is beyond me.

Personally what im sick of is fantasy with elves dwarves and humans in them its been done to death and its good to have different races or just humans in fantasy

 

[Jussi]

My favourite Tolkien "clones" are:

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.
The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip.