[Aiwendil]

I find it interesting that your prime example is Turin, which might imply that a character in one of Tolkien's unfinished works is better drawn than those in the LOTR.

Well, I think that Turin is his best character. But there are also good examples in LotR - Boromir, Denethor, Wormtongue. I would say Gollum, but this is one of the few instances where Tolkien does give us something approaching a look inside the character's head.

And you may be able to develop character by showing their actions but since most of Legolas's actions consist of nothing more than shooting, fighting or running there is little character description obtained.

As I said, in many works that lie in the tradition of characterizing through action, characters of less than central importance are not given more than minimal characterizations. Is this good? Certainly not. But does it really detract from the work? I don't think so.

That may be so, but constructing a pastiche of a style 2,000 years old is not really the way to go about writing a book for a modern audience.
After all, very few modern readers will read either of those books.

So the Odyssey and the Iliad are no good?

Or perhaps they are good but it is the duty of modern authors to write for modern audiences that aren't familiar with the classics? But as the popularity of LotR seems to show, modern audiences don't need to be familiar with those works to find elements of their style effective.

In other words, if you are claiming that the Iliad and the Odyssey are not good, then I must simply disagree. But if they are good, then there is no reason that their styles ought not be used.

And I'm not sure why LotR is "pastiche" simply because it utilizes a style found in earlier works. Is the Aeneid pastiche because it resembles the Odyssey in style? Surely not; and yet the Aeneid is far more like the Odyssey than is The Lord of the Rings.

I do agree that The Lord of the Rings has a few minor flaws. But I don't think that the style of characterization is in itself a signficant one.