I've tried to read his drivel several times,and never could make it past the first few chapters.
@sneakypete I suppose it depends on how young you were.
Most of his characters were washed out, bleached stereotypes lifted from old Viking poems and tales of 1,000 years earlier.
It cracked me up that his main hero, Gandalf, wasn't even his.
The name comes from a section of an old poem, called a 'thular' which was a listing of Viking Elf names.
It translates directly as the "Sorcerer Elf".
And his mythical 'Varg' the wolf like creature his Orcs rode, is a Viking name for Outlaw, meaning Wolf.
Comparing him to Lewis, that don't work for me either.
Tolkein was fun when I was a little kid but Lewis I didn't get to till my forties.
And by then his Narnia was juvenile gibberish so I never got there.
But I did make 2 stabs at his explanations of Christianity.
EGAD! Circular arguments that made NO sense at all.
Both those guys made a Major Impression on me, and all of it bad by the time I sat down to write my own.
It was "DON'T DO THIS" under any circumstances.
And since 'magic' and witches are almost required, I made some adjustments.
My witch has no supernatural powers beyond suggestion.
She's a nasty old woman with a tongue like a razor.
And she's the Chieftain's lawyer.
Lawyers/Witches, what's the difference?
