[Kitanna]

Ok it's clear Tolkien didn't invent the fantasy genre. I mean that's been around since the days of ancient Greece. I think Tolkien just took it to a new level. Just reading some fanatasy books out there now you can tell that the author had to have read Tolkien or that's just an amazing coinidence. Not all fantasy authors do it, but many do it's hard to write a fantasy and not have someone compare it to LOTR. I don't think fantasy authors are "ripping off" Tolkien's work, but there are similarties. Hey, but that's just my opinion.