The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien · 1954
The ur-text of modern fantasy. Tolkien's three-volume epic created the template (secondary world, invented languages, full cosmology) that virtually every fantasy novel since has responded to, positively or negatively. Its influence is total and irreversible.
The case against
Tom Bombadil stops the quest cold for three chapters and answers to nothing in the plot. The verse interludes invite skimming, the archaic registers wobble, evil announces itself by being ugly, and the women barely speak. After the Ring falls you still have a hundred pages of farewells. Foundational, yes; efficient, never.
Science Fiction & Fantasy · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
