In my case, the Illearth War was probably the first mature fantasy book I read. Afterward I compared every other fantasy book to it in some way, shape, or form.
More than likely our youthful exuberance intensified our overall enjoyment and emotional involvement in the series. Now as we age we remember them with a loving nostalgia.
Regardsless of the aforementioned, good fantasy writing is good fantasy writing. And good writing is timeless. I don't think I really answered your question.
"We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and remember:X never, ever, marks the spot."
- Professor Henry Jones Jr.
"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."
I first read the chronicles in my mid teens and got enjoyably lost in the fantasy of them. After re-reading them some years later and with a bit more worldliness I've found them less enjoyable. I'm more aware of the inconsistencies and on occasion Covenant's actions seem to be quite unrealistic.
I still enjoy them but they don't have the same un-put-downable appeal they had when I was younger.
I read the books when I was about 17 or 18. I agre with Kinslaughterer. I have gauged every other fantasy book I have read with TCTC. So far, the only ones that I have really enjoyed as much and kept me on the edge of my seat are George RR Martin ASOIAF.
Adults I have recommended the book too seem to have a harder time getting in to it. The rape scene in particular had a very big impact on me, but that might also be due to age. Thankfully it was a good impact and not a bad one.
I read the books when I was about 12 or 13, and though I enjoyed them thoroughly, it wasn't until I reread them when I was 18 that I learned how great these books really are.
I didn't have the most sheltered of childhoods (combined with a love of books/language, probably the biggest reason I read so much fantasy was to escape), but I still think I hadn't been both mature and wounded enough to really get the whole message.
It's a very complex body of work, and it pretty much requires you to internalize it in order to enjoy it. I don't know about you guys, but it takes a lot out of me even when I re-read. But that which doesn't kill you...
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
It depends on the individual, but generally I would say no. It doesn't matter at what age you read them. As Kinslaughterer said earlier, good fantasy writing is good fantasy writing, and good writing is timeless.
I was 13 when I was reading both The Chronicles and The Belgariad. Over the years, I have returned time and time again to Covenant while the Belgariad books have gathered dust on my shelf (well, to be accurate, they're stored away in a shoebox in a dark corner of my closet that will stay dark for a while yet). So the fact that the Covenant books tend to invite repeat readings is a measure of how well-written they are. It is a quality independent of the age of the reader.
In 2001, at the age of 31, having never read Tolkien, I went to see Fellowship of the Ring and was deeply moved. That proved to me that I wasn' t too old to feel awe. I still have not yet read the Lord of the Rings, but once I do, I suspect I will be moved all over again. So, I feel that the power and conviction of works like The Chronicles and The Lord of the Rings would surely affect a reader at any age.
By comparison, I wonder how many young readers would feel awed by The Belgariad the second time around? I didn't. How many adult readers would be awed by The Belgariad the first time around?
(Brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood Canuck...)
Heh, I reread the Belgariad for kicks about a year ago (I'm 26), and though it took me about a week, it was still kind of fun. Can't say I was moved, but I can't say it was entirely unejoyable.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
Anonymous wrote:By comparison, I wonder how many young readers would feel awed by The Belgariad the second time around? I didn't. How many adult readers would be awed by The Belgariad the first time around?
(Brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood Canuck...)
To digress into the Eddings country for a short while I would say that although I did enjoy the Belgariad when I first read it it is not something that I feel would awe me now. Eddings just does not have the skill to do that. But the books (at least the first ones) are okay as fantasy series goes, they stay the distance and they deliver as promised. Additionally they are not too long, which is a problem these days.
But after having been disappointed by lots of fantasy for a long time now I am wondering if it if quickly getting to the point where if I want a great fantasy novel that I like I will have to write it myself.
"Und wenn sie mich suchen, ich halte mich in der Nähe des Wahnsinns auf." Bernd das Brot
I read covenant at 13. Seems to be a common age. It blew me away. I re-read about 6 years after that, and again 6 or so years after that. Time for a re-read.
I first read Covenant at around 13/14 too. I fell in love with the Land and its people, considered Covenant the world's worst whiner, and it spoiled me for anything I've read since. (There have been some good books and series, but never anything that has moved me in quite the same way.)
Re-reading at 27, I fell in love with the Land and its people all over again, had more sympathy for Covenant (although I still found myself wishing he'd just GET ON with it), and started to understand a little of why it spoiled me for anything else. The power, the complexity and the depth is something no other fantasy writer has reached IMO.
Would it have made any difference if I'd come to it first time with adult eyes? I don't know. I'm sure I would have been a different adult for not having read it as a child. But I think the child in me would have still responded with the same wonder and delight as I did at 13.
