[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Oh no! Lack of Hobbits refreshing? Don't tell Gilthalion! Or Frodo.

The Sil. and The LotR are stylistically very different. The Sil. is patterned on the epic poem like the Odyssey or Beowulf, with the central "character" so-to-speak, the world of Middle Earth. It's a total milieu-type story. The LotR is a milieu story too, but it's still driven by one central plot. Plot, character, milieu, idea and event-focused stories will attract different types of readers. That's why it's so hard for some people into different types of writing (character or idea-focused esp.) to get why fantasy has such a draw, and so it's chalked up to "escapism." Ten bucks says the same people who love the LotR are into foreign languages, exotic cultures and distant places.