# Comparisons to Tolkien, Valid or Jacket Review Hype?



## HLGStrider (Nov 29, 2011)

I'm a big fan of the TV show "Castle," and in one of my favorite scenes the title character (who is a famous mystery writer if you aren't familiar with the series) is sent a bunch of new books by other authors to provide a short jacket review and rather than reading them he just holds them up to his forehead and uses "psychic powers" to come up with generic praise of the books for the publishers to print on the jacket. I'm leading with this because A. I really like "Castle" and B. to say that I don't usually take those short reviews on the covers of paper backs seriously.

Anyway, introduction and "Castle" plug aside, I've often seen writers compared in these sorts of things to Tolkien. The only concrete example I can come up with off the top of my head is Robert Jordan who had reviews on the first Wheel of Time book claiming he'd come to rule the world that Tolkien created. Now Jordan was a good writer in his own right (definitely a more modern writer which is why I know a lot of readers who prefer him, though he's not my style of author), but other than creating a large, sprawling universe to base his stories in, there are very few similarities between his series and the Lord of the Rings. 


Have you ever found a review that made a valid comparison between Tolkien and another author? Or one where the claim was laughable? Just to add more to your story, which author do you think stole the most from Tolkien (Paolini, cough, cough)?


----------



## Starbrow (Dec 4, 2011)

It seems to me that the comparisons to Tolkien just mean that the book falls into the fantasy genre. I have heard Katherine Kerr's books compared to Tolkien's. I enjoy her books and her Deverry nation is certainly complex and has a history built into the books. However, I can't think of any fantasy authors that really compare to Tolkien. (Of course, you would expect to see that kind of comment on a Tolkien forum.)

The book that I think is the most blatant rip-off of LOTR is The Sword of Shanara.

BTW, I love Castle, too, mostly because of Nathan Fillian.


----------



## HLGStrider (Dec 4, 2011)

Starbrow said:


> BTW, I love Castle, too, mostly because of Nathan Fillian.


 He really IS ruggedly handsome.


----------



## Starbrow (Dec 5, 2011)

> He really IS ruggedly handsome.



You bet. I fell for him when he was in Firefly.


----------

