The To-Be-Read Pile: Where did all these elves come from, anyway?

While I've been a genre reader* since my earliest reading days -- I cut my novel-reading teeth on Stephen King and loads of science fiction as a young child -- I never much cared for fantasy. I owned the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but could never get past the first few chapters without succumbing to a serious eye-glazing incident. Same went for Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books.British-sounding elves and dwarves shooting arrows and wielding magic staffs in the service of some watery tart just couldn't compare to the bloody shenanigans of cheap paperback horror or space adventures from Frank Herbert, Frederick Pohl, et al.

Back in the late '90s, I picked up on famed fantasy writer Tad Williams' Otherland series, but that was more an SF virtual reality tale with some fantasy trappings than a straight-on fantasy of elves and knights. Like virtually everyone, I adored the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, but it didn't compel me to go back and read the originals. I did, however, in one of my moments of piqued curiosity while wandering the aisles of Barnes & Noble, grab the paperback version of A Game of Thrones, the first volume George R.R. Martin's ginormous A Song of Fire and Ice series.

And there my problems began.

Thrones turned out to be an engrossing novel, very light on the magic (nearly non-existent at the start of the series) and heavy on truly interesting characters and intrigue. I got hooked and started tearing through the series, up until the cliffhanger ending of A Feast for Crows -- I've been waiting for about two years now for the still-delayed follow-up, which isn't even going to be the last in the series. I expect I'll be 60 by the time it wraps up.

Such is the curse of the fantasy series. But now that I'm hooked, I find myself reading back through some past series, such as Terry Brooks' Shannara novels. I actually got pulled into that series by his more recent work, particularly Running with the Demon, which set the stage for the post-apocalyptic fantasy world he created back in the '70s.

I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic stuff. I blame the Planet of the Apes.

I am a dilettante when it comes to literature -- I have no specialty, and veer wildly among the high, low and middle-brow. When my in-depth fantasy phase ends I have no idea where I'll wind up next (though my choices are plentiful given my bad habit of buying more books than I can read at any given time). Just promise you'll slap me if you see me reading a romance. Even I need to maintain my standards.

*Of course, I mean genre as a literary classification, not the ever dreary and derivative magazine. Just to be clear!

Comments

[Jack]

Okay, I'm momentarily putting down the Andrew Jackson bio (I rarely force myself to finish a book, but I am this one) and picking up A Game of Thrones. I figure if I like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings AND Jonathan Carroll, I might get hooked.