Yeah, REH is just such an easier read that he wins out. JRRT has greatness, mind you, but he's also a little too self-indulgent and it can lead to long, dull patches (it really seems like often he was writing to amuse himself more than anything else, so it may not be fair to criticize writing that should never have seen the light of day).

Rowling has a nice style, but meanders over into goofy too much for my taste. While REH and and JRRT's worlds make some consistent sense, the world of Harry Potter just never made any sense to me. Granted, she's writing for little kids, so this may just be a personal issue.

Still, REH is "the man" when it comes to writing (even if I acknowledge he has a pretty limited range and when he doesn't write Conan...he's writing Conan).

I haven't read Rowling but I wouldn't excuse weak writing because it is for kids. A lot of top flight fantasy has been written for kids: Carroll, Le Guin, Bellairs, Alan Garner and more.

And I've never totally bought the LoTR is for adults argument, the hobbits seem to be standins for kids in terms of reader perspective and the books are notably lacking in sex and moral ambiguity, sure signs of a conservative adult writing for kids. Parts of the Sillmarillion and The Children of Hurin suggests that he was capable and willing to write on those subjects so why are they so absent from LotR? Of course I don't mean that adults can't read LotR with pleasure but that's true of any good book written for children or adults.

When it comes to Tolkien I always preferred the concise, fairy tale feel of The Hobbit to LotR. I also feel the humour is more succesful in The Hobbbit and the characters more memorable: Bilbo outclasses the rather blank Frodo for me, plus Thorin and of course Gollum and Smaug.

There are lots of great books for kids and no kids I know (including mine) want stuff that is just "for kids." You don't need to make things dumb for kids. The best kids' stuff is often as good as or better than the stuff for adults. Just look at the Lego DC super hero cartoons and compare/contrast with the godawful live action "mature" crud Warners keeps spewing out.

Quote from: Dumarest;985048There are lots of great books for kids and no kids I know (including mine) want stuff that is just "for kids." You don't need to make things dumb for kids. The best kids' stuff is often as good as or better than the stuff for adults. Just look at the Lego DC super hero cartoons and compare/contrast with the godawful live action "mature" crud Warners keeps spewing out.

Scarily I find myself agreeing with you for the second time today :eek:

Some of the 'kids' books I grew up reading or the cartoons I loved differed from the adults only by the lack of foul language and unnecessary ''mature' themes. I pity kids today, with a few exceptions the stuff they have to read is utter drivel.