Tolkien Rip Off

[Jo El]

Someone bail me out.

As I age and my memory seems to dwindle I forget much that I have previously read. Does any remember the name of the American author who wrote a trilogy that was pretty much a straightforward theft of LOTR? As I remember he had wizards, elves, humans, a halfling type race and of course dwarves. He even had a portion about a Moria type area and Gandalf vs the Balrog battle. Hopefully he won't get recommend as reading for fans of the new movie.

Then again maybe the Harvard Lampoon will reissue "Bored of the Rings" Talk about rip offs.

[Captain Stern]

Is it the Shannara series by Terry Brooks? I remember trying to read The Sword of Shannara but I put it down because it was pretty much identical to The Lord of the Rings.

[Jo El]

No it's not the Shannara series. I think this guy was ex military and maybe it was like McNamera or something. But there was a Shire like area with a halfing like race. I remember a scene where the one character fell through the ice on the river(that the wolves were coming over no less)and almost drowned. There is even a Dark Tower. I was living in Vancouver Washington at the time I read this (about 1995) and the trilogy was in the library. I remember reading it all the way through just to see how much of a rip off it was.

The reason I was thinking of it was just to give folks an example of how close someone can come to outright theft and still receive praise from unenlightened reviewers.

If anyone knows the name of the series I am thinking of, please let me know.

[afro-elf]

it was called the dark tide series

the hobbit-like people were called warrows


there was even an elf named GILDOR


there was a watcher in the lake and a moria

i don't recall a gandalf like character though

but i was too into gildor to recall everything

[Jo El]

THANK YOU.

I knew I wasn't imagining it. I did a quick search and found that the series is called the Iron Tower and the author is Dennis McKiernan. I looked at the back cover of the three volume set on Amazon.com and found the descriptions matched my memory.

Anyone wanting to know why J R R was miffed about being copied by other writers need look no further. This series is about as original as the current crop of covered music being performed by equally talentless performers.

Once more I thank you Afro-Elf. Gildor is indeed cool, I just have a affinity for Gimli.