Which epic fantasy writer writes the best prose, in your opinion?

The Procrastinator said:
I must read more of the old stuff, I do like good prose (Austen freak).

Its an interesting question, because prose quality can be considered separately from the overall story, or as part of it. There are as many approaches as there are authors.

I'm going to be boring though and plump for Tolkien. I've reread LOTR I don't know how many times, and yes I know a lot of people find him boring, but I find his writing style a lovely balance of art, history, whimsy and grit, expression and restraint. I love that his prose style varies so much between the Hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion - that functional mastery he displays still captivates me. Stopping now, I'm tired and liable to start waxing paeanically...
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I agree with you on JRR Tolkien. I do not find him boring at all and like you I have read him more than once and each time I've enjoyed him more. I think his language is itself magical in that it takes you to a magical world that is real and that you want to be part of. The other element that I find in Tolkien's writing is that's it musical. I discovered this one day by reading it out loud. Try it some time you'll be amazed.

The other writer I think belongs in this category is Guy Gavriel Kay. I remember being surprised and amused that he correctly used the word 'congress' for sexual intimacy. In doing so he elevated something that other writers make cheap and tawdry to something beautiful. In one of his other books, I remember he wrote Lancelot's battle against a foe (I can't recall the foe) in something heroic (and maybe spiritual) instead of just blood and gore.

I know I know. War is not glorious, but maybe there is an element of truth to it in some circumstances.
 
dustinzgirl said:
I'd have to go with Robert Jordan.
But, I could be wrong. I usually am.
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My experience with Robert Jordan is bad. A number of years ago I began reading his 'Wheel of Time', however after reading two hundred pages I quit. I've blamed my lack of interest on the characters I didn't care about. Yet, now that the subject of prose has come up maybe poor prose was a contributing factor to my lack of interest.
 
Is The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights by John Steinbeck epic? It's not especially long, but it's incomplete, and the story - a retelling of the Morte D'Arthur - certainly feels epic in scope. If so, I'd nominate him and Tolkien. To be brutally honest, I think there's been quite a lot of mediocre writing in epic in the past, but perhaps every genre has that to an extent.
 
Guy Gavriel Kay, Tad Williams Steven Erikson and GRRM all spring to mind for the last 30 or so years. Tolkien would also count, although ROTK was a slog The Fellowship was absolutely magical when I first read it and remains so to this day.
 
I could open LOTR up on any page and read a passage and it would sound like poetry.

Opened entirely at random:

Gandalf had hardly spoken these words, when there came a great noise : a rolling Boom that seems to come from the depths far below, and to tremble in the stone at their feet They sprang towards the door in alarm. Doom, doom it rolled again, as if huge hands were turning the very caverns of Moria into a vast drum. Then there came an echoing blast : a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a hurrying sound of many feet.


Beautiful imagery.
 
paranoid marvin said:
I could open LOTR up on any page and read a passage and it would sound like poetry.

Opened entirely at random:

Gandalf had hardly spoken these words, when there came a great noise : a rolling Boom that seems to come from the depths far below, and to tremble in the stone at their feet They sprang towards the door in alarm. Doom, doom it rolled again, as if huge hands were turning the very caverns of Moria into a vast drum. Then there came an echoing blast : a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a hurrying sound of many feet.


Beautiful imagery.
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Absolutely and from The Fellowship of the Ring. Not too sure you can do that with The Return of the King. However it is a matter of taste :)
 
Bick said:
None of which wrote epic fantasy.
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How aren't books like The Well at the End of the World by Morris, Lilith by George MacDonald, Jurgen and the Pocesteme novels of Cabell , Mythago Woods and the Ryhope Novels not considered Epics fantasy ?:confused::oops: And before you answer , I know that Clark Ashton Smith is not considered aa wetter of epic fantasy, he only one or two actual novel neither of which really qualify as fantasy.
 
BAYLOR said:
How aren't books like The Well at the End of the World by Morris, Lilith by George MacDonald, Jurgen and the Pocesteme novels of Cabell , Mythago Woods and the Ryhope Novels not considered Epics fantasy ?
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Lilith and Mythago Wood might contain some big ideas, but they feature a small cast of characters acting in a relatively limited physical space. I don't think you'll find a widely-held definition of epic fantasy that would encompass them.
 
J-WO said:
Smith was an acclaimed poet in his teens and early twenties and it shows in his later prose.
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And his prose was phenomenal.

Smith's story The City of the Singing Flame really soars . ive read nothing quite it or its sequel Beyond the Singing Flame.
 
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