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J.R.R Tolkien vs. J.K Rowling vs. C.S Lewis?

Tolkien vs Rowling vs Lewis? Who is the best?

  • J.R.R Tolkien

    Votes: 18 50.0%

  • J.K Rowling

    Votes: 16 44.4%

  • C.S Lewis

    Votes: 2 5.6%
  • Total voters
    36
kingusama92

kingusama92

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This is a question asked by numerous readers and a discussion point for fans and critics of all three.

Who is/was the best writer of the three?

Tolkien vs Rowling vs Lewis.

Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter vs Chronicles of Narnia.

All three series turned into huge successes. All three writers are/were extremely gifted and shaped their worlds with a brilliance only reserved to themselves.

Poll Added.
 
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Personally, I feel J.R.R Tolkien's work with Lord of the Rings is unmatchable. This is coming from a huge HP fan.

Tolkien changed the whole concept of fantasy novels and made it his own. Beautiful control over his writing, superlative character and world development.

He got everything spot on.

C.S Lewis doesn't get as much appreciation for his work as he should in comparison to Rowling and Tolkien. His work was tremendous in it's own right, as a child I raced through the chronicles of Narnia. He had a target age group in mind and he delivered with aplomb.

Still, no match for Tolkien.
 
LOTR is excruciatingly slow and unevenly paced. It’s too descriptive and I wonder why Tolkein thought that filling pages upon pages writing tedious, long-winded, prose would somehow qualify him as the best new thing? He does seem to have a powerful imagination though, but somehow his work in LOTR came across more as an encyclopedia than a novel. And if I wanted to read an encyclopedic type of material, I would have searched for it and not gone for a novel!

But then, I’m not into fantasy genre tbh. I enjoyed reading HP more but mostly cuz of its characters then the plot.
 
^

Yes, it's not the easiest of reads. I concur.

This is indeed where J.K Rowling trumps Tolkien. She struck a finer balance between tedious details and the development of her narrative. A big reason why I am a huge HP fan and raced through the books as they came out one by one. I think you touched on a good point, the characters in HP were supremely well crafted. There was this sort of attachment that was felt with them that isn't seen in other series, even the minor characters at times.

Same goes for C.S Lewis. Very easy to read, but this could be due to the age group he targeted with his series.

Still, Tolkien as a pure writer trumps Rowling and Lewis. His work can indeed be tedious at times, but the level of depth he provides is unparalleled to other works of literature. The believability of his characters is superlative even though they are fictitious.
 
Nice thread for some of us nerds KU.

And I would say Tolkien to be honest. Fell in love with his books back in Grade 7, and I haven't looked back since. Tolkien's novels for me are so beautiful :heart:

Harry Potter books don't even come close to the LOTR Trilogy, although I really do like the HP series as well.
 
Rowling.

Even though her prose is often cliched and oversimplified, her storytelling abilities are unbelievable. Tolkien tends to over emphasize seemingly unimportant details, and to me, that takes away from the plot.
 
kingusama92 said:
^

Yes, it's not the easiest of reads. I concur.

This is indeed where J.K Rowling trumps Tolkien. She struck a finer balance between tedious details and the development of her narrative. A big reason why I am a huge HP fan and raced through the books as they came out one by one. I think you touched on a good point, the characters in HP were supremely well crafted. There was this sort of attachment that was felt with them that isn't seen in other series, even the minor characters at times.

Same goes for C.S Lewis. Very easy to read, but this could be due to the age group he targeted with his series.

Still, Tolkien as a pure writer trumps Rowling and Lewis. His work can indeed be tedious at times, but the level of depth he provides is unparalleled to other works of literature. The believability of his characters is superlative even though they are fictitious.
Click to expand...

I disagree.
You have to see when LOTR was written and when HP was written.
Before it was expected that boks be long and descriptive. Reading was a pleasure and was suuposed to be used to pass time. If you think LOTR was descriptive try Tolstoy :D

LOTR is in my view the best of the lot.
Narnia is not well written, it is correct for its age group but the stories are not tight, and the Christian underlining in it are very strong.
HP is different, very welll written and taught, though I do think Rowling lost it in the middle. Unlike LOTR which just gets better with each succeeding book HP series fluctuates. Without doubt because of the commercial needs of the publishers :D

another series that might become legendary is GRR Martins - Song of Fire and Ice. IT is good though a throwback to the old days where a 1000 page book was considered just a bit big :D
 
chaiwala said:
Rowling.

Even though her prose is often cliched and oversimplified, her storytelling abilities are unbelievable. Tolkien tends to over emphasize seemingly unimportant details, and to me, that takes away from the plot.
Click to expand...

We're going to get an earful from the goon brigade but I am also more of a Rowling fan. The only thing I disagree with here is the criticism of her prose. She's imaginative, pretty concise and even riveting at times.

LotR is an incredible work of creativity and scope but a touch dry to read.
 
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Tolkien >> Lewis >> Rowling

What gets me about Tolkien is the sheer beauty and power of the language, whereas Rowling's prose is bland and her storytelling derivative IMO. I return to LOTR again and again, whereas I found Rowling close to unreadable.

Lewis has that beautiful language too, and is moving in places - I re-read The Last Battle the other day and was choking up by the end.
 
Agree with the majority here, Tolkein and his LOTR series was slow, moving, too descriptive and me personally just not captivating enough to read all the books. C.S Lewis, is great for the kids, as it doesnt involve alot of complicated concepts and it reads more like a children's novel. This is where J.K Rowling has struck a balance, between boring/too descriptive, and being childish and not descriptive enough. Also harry potter series just captivated me from the first chapter of the first book to the last chapter of the book, and every chapter in between.
 
Still voted for Tolkien, more originality and impact.
 
The main problem with LOTR is readers tend to read the first little bit and toss it aside.

If one grits out through those portions, it's a wonderful read. I remember starting reading the series for the first time and I tossed the book aside as I felt it was like deciphering a math problem. :))

However, I had another go at it after a few years and I toughed it out. Once you get used to the details being presented in the manner they are, you start enjoying it.
 
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LOTR. Not even a contest for me.

Rowling was heavily influence by Lewis and Tolkien.

And she gets very repetitive in her descriptions. The amount of times I remember reading "eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles" - so tiring.

Lewis was good an iconic but had too much thinly veiled Christian/religious mythology that gets a bit tiresome.

Tolkien was way ahead of his time. Simple story but so well developed and expertly told.
 
Also - not as popular as the names in this thread but in fantasy writing circles Raymond E Feist deserves a mention alongside Tolkien.
 
I used to be a big fan of Stephen Donaldson too.
 
tolkien no contest here. Almost all fantasy that is written these days is ripped off Tolkien (excepet maybe the discworld series by terry pratchet) . Before him elves were little fairies and dwarves were things that popped out of the ground and stolen your children. He created much of his own world ( did have Nordic inspiration )while lewis took a lot from the bible and wizarding school stories were around for a long time ( none as good as HP though)
 
Rowling hands down :D

That is totally because I haven't even read the other two series, and I am a die hard fan of HP.
 
Not a competition

Tolkien >>>>>>>> Controversially yours (some fiction :)) ) > Rowlings/Lewis
 
Tolkien without a doubt.

Yes you you have to get through the initial phase.
 
Rowling. Supremely gifted storyteller.

But I do have respect for Tolkien, too.
 
Harry Potter is a mix of fables from Arabian Adventures, Dastaan-e-Ameer Hamza etc, movies are great though. The invisible cloak was a copy of Umr Ayyar's Ghaibi Chadar, etc etc.
 
Tolkien. The world he built was staggering. And he created a new language as well (Elvish).
 
JK Rowling is donating £1m to help homeless people and those affected by domestic abuse during the coronavirus pandemic.

Announcing the financial contribution, which will be split between the Crisis and Refuge charities, the Harry Potter author said the money would go towards helping some of those hit hardest by the outbreak and the impact of the lockdown.

The author told of her mixed emotions at having three key workers in her immediate family during the crisis.

In a tweet announcing the donation on Saturday, she wrote: “Today’s the 22nd anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, but I’m going to be honest and say that it feels inappropriate to talk about fictional deaths today. Too many people are losing loved ones in the real world.

“So on this anniversary of a great wizarding victory, I’m thinking of the people who’re out there doing their jobs to protect us and our way of life. I have three key workers in my immediate family, and like all such relatives, I’m torn between pride and anxiety.

“As ever in a crisis of this sort, the poorest and most vulnerable are hit hardest, so in honour of the Battle of Hogwarts, I’ll be making a donation of £1m, half of which will go to Crisis, who’re helping the homeless during the pandemic, and half of which will go to Refuge, because we know that domestic abuse has, sadly, increased hugely during the lockdown.”
 
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