|
I think LotR had just the right amount of action, and Tolkien's style was far more interesting and immersive than the standard blow-by-blow thirty pages for one fight style that a lot of fantasy authors use.
That might be what throws people: The quality of the action in Tolkien's books comes from dialogue, and the vivid description of the atmosphere of the story (like how you could almost feel the will of Sauron striving against the fellowship, or how the orcs only spoke of the Nazgul in whispers and they were at first only seen as a black shape blotting out the stars), and when the real "action" arrives, half of it is in the breaking of the suspense, and seeing how the characters react to the situation, so there is less emphasis on personal combat.
Personally, that's the way I prefer it, it was Tolkien's characters that stood out to me and made the book great - not the battles.
|