It is common knowledge throughout the realm that I am a great fan of The Lord of the Rings. From the genealogy of the line of Elendil to the proper pronunciation of Quenya and Sindarin names, I've dutifully studied it all. I'd even wager that I know the history and geography of Middle Earth better than I know the history and geography of my own home town. However, though there is a certain satisfaction in having immersed oneself so thoroughly in one fantasy world, there eventually emerges a longing to explore other worlds, like the sound of the sea beckoning an Eldar in exile. Therefore, I've taken it upon myself to read some other works within the epic fantasy genre and record some thoughts about each.

-Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson – To be honest, I read this just because I loved the name so much. Of all the epic fantasy books I've read on my quest, this is the one that would probably make the best movie or video game. Pretty much every character is a badass, the action scenes are visceral and intense, and Erikson's use of magic is powerful and earth-shattering. The ending, however, left me a little numb.

-The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan – This novel exemplifies the idea that the journey is more important than the destination. The characters are always trying to get to somewhere, then realizing that they have to get to somewhere else. Mind you, this is by no means a bad thing; that's essentially most of The Lord of the Rings. Jordan brings life and excitement to every desperate chase. The characters all grow and develop in a very pleasing manner, despite being put through an emotional wringer. I honestly like and care about every character in this book and can't wait to read more.

-A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin – Apparently, they made a TV show out of this. Luckily, I was able to obtain an older printing without "HBO" written anywhere on the cover, thus preserving my indie cred. This certainly has the most sexual content of any of the epic fantasy books I've read thus far, and Martin goes into dripping-wet detail in many scenes; this is certainly a far cry from the standard Tolkien sex scene, where a man and a woman and/or elf would go out on a hilltop and "plight their trough." Anyway, Martin's characters are exquisitely developed; he somehow manages to make amoral, despicable scoundrels endearingly likable (ex. Tyrion), while at the same time making me hate sweet, innocent children (ex. Sansa). He really puts everybody through hell, and I want more.

-The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien – I'm surprised and saddened by how much I disliked this. Despite the fact that it's written by the same author, the tone and style of this is completely different from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It's the worst kind of slogging, half-developed, inconsequential replication of classical mythology. That said I can't help but wish that Tolkien had had the will to take some of the parts of this book and just develop those into full, cohesive stories; the story of Beren and Luthien, as probably the best example, would make a great novel on its own.

-Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind – Considering the amount of time the TV adaptation of this spent on girl-on-girl action, I have to say that this is much better than I expected. The story's exciting, despite many chapters of talking near the beginning, and the love story's quite beautiful and tragic. I liked it overall.

-The Innocent Mage, Karen Miller – A great read. The characters, especially the salty, sardonic main one, are very likable and well fleshed out. The rules and history of the world are revealed in a very slow and subtle way which I found quite pleasing.  It does feel like half a book, though, because it is; the eponymous "mage" never actually gets around to doing any magic, which I was looking forward to.

I'm going to add to this post whenever I finish another book, but in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment and maybe recommend some other epic fantasies you think I should read. Thanks.