Favorite Fantasy Book Contest

I held my first contest for this site in October. It was a wonderful experience. I received many entries; all of them provided interesting, thoughtful responses. The entries were difficult to judge because I liked so many. Unfortunately, there can be only one winner. This week I'll be sharing excerpts from some of the entries and the winner with the readers of this site.

J.R.R. Tolkien's books were mentioned the most in entries. Contestants find his work very inspirational and thoughtful. Many of the entries were articulate. J.W. Parsons states: "Though many of those books have been great, in the end, Tolkien remains at the top of my list. The reason for this is that as I get older, and learn more and more about language, literature and the craft of writing, many of my other early favorites suffer under a re-reading. Lord of the Rings, however, just keeps expanding each time I go back to it." Darren Rohlwing put it this way: "Perhaps one of the most cherished features of this series is the fact that I do escape the world around me when I am reading his novels. This , after all, is one of the main purposes of this genre; to feed and encourage the imagination. One final aspect that I would like to add is that the read is reasonably quick while being quite substantive. There are more credible and incredible characters throughout Fantasy, but no series as collectively replete in its roster of characters as Lord of the Rings. New writers are most often compared to Tolkien when they begin; there is a reason for this. He has set the standard, and I believe that is rightfully so."

The Hobbit inspired Jovanka Djukic like this: "It was the first fantasy book I had ever read at the time and it pulled me into the fantasy world with no regrets on my part. I read most of it during listless days in study hall or science. I sang along with the dwarves in the hobbit's hole, rode down the river in the barrels with them, and faced Smaug in his lair. It was remarkable how this story drew me into its world. I found myself breathless as Smaug was described to me by Tolkien. It was then that I knew that the saying was true about books being better than movies."

Other books were represented too. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and his other books inspired many people. Adam Foreman said it well with: "In the book I felt like Rand, and I felt what he he did. the characters were so real to me that when something happened that I did not like, I got mad at the book! I truly hated the dark one and in my head actually cheered for Rand and the rest of the group. I think this is the best book because it allows you to leave every day life and take and adventure of fancy."

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