[Fingolas]

For those that have read the Sword of Shannara, see if you agree with this list of characters in relation to LOTR.

Shea Ohmsford = Frodo Baggins

Flick Ohmsford = Sam Gamgee

Allanon = Gandalf

Warlock Lord = Sauron

Menion = Boromir

Hendel = Gimli

Balinor = Aragorn

Durin & Dayel = Legolas

Skull Bearers = Ring Wraiths

I’m only 175 pages in but so far the similarities are striking. Sort of like low fat Tolkien, or Tolkien Lite. All the elements are there but it just doesn’t taste right.

I have to admit that Tolkien is really the only Fantasy that I’ve read. I read some SciFi, but the majority of my reading is non-fiction, politics, history and such, so I’m a little unfamiliar with what’s available. I actually picked this book up after seeing it mentioned on another thread here. While at the bookstore I noticed that the bulk of the Fantasy offerings seemed to follow the same general guidelines. (Actually this is being discussed very thoroughly on another thread here, Kalessins Rant).

I plan on finishing this book and then moving on to what I hope will be something better.

What I would like is for some of you to suggest some non-formulaic works.
This may be asking too much. After all even Tolkien used a formula that goes all the way back to Homers Iliad. Notice how the fall of Gondolin is almost identical to the Iliad and the fall of Troy.

I’ve seen mention of The Wheel Of Time series, but after checking it out, it didn’t look much better than the Shannara series. Any suggestions would be appreciated.