[Nepeta]

Now many have see McKiernan’s ‘The Iron Tower’ as a ‘imitation’ of Tolkien’s work, but I myself found it to have more than enough differences to make it a good compelling tale own it’s own and it must be understood that McKiernan was in fact writing a ‘back Story’ for a book that was originally written as a sequel to ‘LOTR’ and so therefore some semblance was therefore unavoidable.

But isn’t most Fantasy more or less influenced on previous works, which which if you follow back far enough based on ancient myths and bards?

Writing commercially using the universe someone else created without their blessing and cooperation is tacky. There is derivative, and then there is slavish imitation.

Most modern fantasy is rooted in northern European traditions. Tolkien used many elements from such sources, and never pretended otherwise. It is one thing to use bits and pieces from an existing body of lore, and quite another to mine the works of another writer.

There are other writers who wrote lavish fantasy works before Tolkien. E R Eddison is a difficult read, but he was clearly original.

Much modern fantasy falls apart because the characters do not ring true to their universe--they don't think like pre-industrial people, they think like middle class Americans. Even worse are the fantasies written to appeal to bratty middle class teens (Lackey).

[Sherman Logan]

Much modern fantasy falls apart because the characters do not ring true to their universe--they don't think like pre-industrial people, they think like middle class Americans.

Worse than that, even.

They think like upper middle class college-ed liberal Americans.

Some particular pet peeves.

Few or no gender roles. Look folks, in a pre-modern economy there are inescapably logical reasons for men and women being treated differently. It isn't just that the men are being mean. And sexually liberated women in such a society get knocked up and punished with a child, which puts a real crimp in her non-traditional lifestyle.

An extreme variant of this is the female warrior/mercenary. An exceptionally capable woman warrior might go toe to toe with an average male warrior. She meets a better male warrior and she's toast. If you insist on the female warrior, at least bother to provide some backstory for why she is able to compete with men. Don't just ignore the physical differences between men and women.

All premodern societies we know of are deeply involved in religion and/or superstition. I realize modern readers are uncomfortable with this, but again bother to provide some sort of reason why your pre-modern society isn't religious.

One of Tolkien's major flaws, IMO. Not a trace of religion in hobbit society, and not much elsewhere. In LOTR, that is. More in Silmarillion.