[01010]

Originally posted by kasperl


as i already stated, there sure is a transition, after book 3, things go darker and more serious every page. the dying was indeed an example, everything is set in a moodyer atmosphere.

Then it's just a dark childrens book that's enjoyable for adults?. I think people maybe try to read too much into it than is there.

I haven't read any of them but that's because the subject matter doesn't really appeal to me all that much and there are a lot of books I want to read before it.

No shame in enjoying a Stephen King book either, as long as you remember that it's nothing to read too much into. I'd recommend Desperation as something fun to read with it's over the top bodycount.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Zeronet
According to our local fanatic, all of tolkiens books were kids books too.

Nuts to that. I'm reading the complete history of Middle-earth and Valinor (twelve books in three huge volumes, £150 worth) and it's beginning to melt my brain. Even carrying one to work to read during lunch is hard work.

That said, there's nothing wrong with children's books. I'd like a box set of the Narnia stories, or the complete Asterix works.

As for the Potterer, I have nuff respect for the fact that Rowling got an entire generation of kids reading instead of watching TV (she's done more for literacy than the government ever has). But having been brought up on Pratchett and Tolkien, I don't see how I could ever appreciate a Potter book.

And last but not least, Stryke mate - leave it out with correcting people's opinions, aight? It's hella annoying, and one of the reasons that few people around here like Zylon Bane. Ta.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Black Wolf


Hmm - not sure If I fully get your meaning here, but the actual LOTR trilogy was never meant as a set for children - Tolkien said so himself ina letter to his publisher, who was expecting another Hobbit style Kids book. If you were talking about the Hobbit as the beginning of the LOTR series being a childrens book (and the series eventually becoming an Adults one) then I'll gladly accept you as correct.

The trilogy wasn't for kids I fully agree. But if you look at the first part of Fellowship the writing style is a lot more like The Hobbit than it is in Return of the King.  
 A good example of what I mean is Tom Bombadil. There's a character who wouldn't be at all out of place in The Hobbit.

[01010]

Originally posted by karajorma


The trilogy wasn't for kids I fully agree. But if you look at the first part of Fellowship the writing style is a lot more like The Hobbit than it is in Return of the King.  
 A good example of what I mean is Tom Bombadil. There's a character who wouldn't be at all out of place in The Hobbit.

Or the bit where the fox in the woods is thinking about seeing hobbits in the woods.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by 01010
Or the bit where the fox in the woods is thinking about seeing hobbits in the woods.

An even better example

[Nico]

yeah, but Bombadil is cool. gotta love his hat

[01010]

Originally posted by karajorma


An even better example

I like it because it's a good point to compare the difference in atmosphere between the start and the end of the book.

I like Bombadil but purely for the fact that he's an enigma and I like to think of theories as to what he might possibly be.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Venom
yeah, but Bombadil is cool. gotta love his hat

Absolutely no disagreement from me there

[Rictor]

Tom Bombdil is much deeper than he seems. The whole character and  concept are one of the deepest in the Middle-Earth series, and considering this includes the Silmarillion, thats saying .

[Nico]

Originally posted by Rictor
Tom Bombdil is much deeper than he seems. The whole character and  concept are one of the deepest in the Middle-Earth series, and considering this includes the Silmarillion, thats saying .

well, if you've read "the adventures of Tom Bombadil", you wonder even more wtf is that guy

btw, I dunno if it's because of the localisation, but the begining of the felloship of the ring, in french, with the whole passage of the ring wraiths in the Shire was REALLY moody, and creepy as hell. I loved it ( I loved it about 12 times actually )

[Stryke 9]

Forget the ringwraiths; Bombadil was scary. Sorta like an all-powerful proto-Barney!

Err... anyway. I think at this point it's rather hard to imagine what niche the LOTR series would fit into, as since its creation it's developed a rather solid one of its own, which it's hard to extricate it from (admit it, first thing you think of when you hear about elves or mithril is some character like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons). Me, I suspect it was made with the intent to appeal to no greater market than the author- he had elves and dragons on the brain, so he wrote about 'em.

[Nico]

Couldn't be closer, actually, he never wrote tLotR to sell it. the Hobbit was for his nefew, and the LotR turned for years in his academy ( Oxford, wasn't it? ), where he kindda got a cult toward himself when the studients found about the books. It somehow spread out of the university a few ( quite many, actualy, iirc ) years later, tho.

[an0n]

Speaking of books: I was once tasked with clearing out my Primary School library with some other kiddies and a teacher (we wuz like 9 at the time) and I came across this book from like the 30's called "A Negro in a White Man's World" about this fictional guy called Mack Black and it described his careers as a cotton picker, farm hand and general slave. It was like 30 pages long and aimed at little kids. I almost suffocated laughing when I found it.

[Knight Templar]

hell, at 9 I would have been giggling uncontrolably at the word negro...