Thursday 13 February 2014

Thoughtful Thursday ~ Sweet Comparisons


Twice this month people have compared my two books to Tolkein, saying that my first book, First Light, is like The Hobbit while the sequel, Wisdoms of the Light, is like Lord of The Rings. To have your writing compared to some of the greatest books ever written is incredibly sweet. I tear up every time I think about it. 
 

I first discovered The Hobbit in High School, when a very remarkable teacher opened my eyes and heart to a new and magical world. It was my first step into the world of Fantasy books written for adults rather than children. My Saga isn't quite the same type of Fantasy, no elves or dragons, but I think I did take that urge to write a "great quest" from Tolkein's books. Both First Light and Wisdoms of the Light share that much in common with Tolkein's ideas - they are stories about the personal quest as well the bigger struggle of Good against Evil.


First Light isn't a children's book, but it is a lighter, more humorous mystery quest. In that respect it does fit in rather nicely with The Hobbit. Although I don't think Idrith would qualify as being like Bilbo Baggins. Most times he's more like Smaug! ;-)



But there's no denying that Wisdoms of the Light felt like I was writing a great saga, just like Lord of the Rings. I knew, by the time I'd reached half way and was still no where near being finished, that it was going to be a big book! It's over twice the size of First Light and the story plot is equally heavy. Although it is, ultimately, a story of Good triumphing over Evil I wept a buckets writing some of the scenes in Wisdoms of the Light. Which is ironic, since the first time I ever wept over a book was when Gandalf falls to his death in Lord of the Rings.

I don't think Harmion quite matches up to Gandalf in mystery and power. Harmion is far more human, but it is rather nice to look at the seven members of the Septar and compare them to the little band who set out with Frodo. Both sets of friends are full of personal frailties and fears, but still determined to make their world a better place. All held together by the loyal love of friends and family.

3 comments:

  1. I must be honest and say that I don't read a lot of fantasy books, because I find that usually the visualisation is much better in movies than in my own imagination ha ha ha ha...I only read halfway of the Hobbit (told you I'm a bad reader LOL!!! And I left the book in Indo when I moved to Finland) and never actually read LoTR.

    I'm about 190 pages into your sequel and I must say it's MUCH better than the first one. I think it's also because the first one is the prelude, whereas in the second one there are many more characters and the plot thickens, so it gets much more exciting that way he he he...and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Aerdas and the fact that you've created some of the images yourself really help me in visualising the characters. :-)

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  2. Thanks, Amel :-)

    There's a lot of plot twists left. (hee hee)

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  3. He he he...I bet there is! :-D

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