Tolkien was, frankly, a better writer (at least of fiction) than C.S. Lewis. The Narnia books have their moments of brilliance (eg, Puddleglum's speech, Aslan's deep magic), but Tolkien defines the genre for good reasons.
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I, personally, would probably rank Narnia fourth among the great fantasy epic series I have read, behind (1) Middle-Earth (2) Harry Potter & (3) Thomas Covenant. All four are tremendous works in their own way, with different strengths & shortcomings.
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Narnia is more like the Potter books in terms of its reliance on children as protagonists. It's deeper & more Christian, but also less lively & cohesive as a unified piece of storytelling, shorter on its characters.
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Also, the Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe is (like the first Harry Potter & the Hobbit) more obviously a kids' book than the rest of the series. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is easily the best of the Narnia series.
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Confession: I didn't much like the Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe as a kid, never read the series until I tried with my son, gave up halfway thru Horse & His Boy. Only with my youngest did I get all the way through the series to appreciate the later books.
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The Hobbit, by contrast, was the first 'real' book I read, a a second-grader. Tolkien's world engrossed me throughout my youth.
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The two other big fantasy series I've read were Terry Brooks' Shannara series, which I read in my early teens and can no longer even remember at all, & Christopher Paolini's Eragon series, which I read aloud -- it was fun & had some great moments but was very derivative.
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Replying to @DavidAFrench
Maybe someday I will go back. Liked them at the time, but then, I liked Battlefield Earth when I was 13.
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Replying to @baseballcrank @DavidAFrench
I read Shannara in graduate school. Don't judge me.
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I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 28.
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Shannara does not hold up.
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I wonder if the Donaldson books hold up. Was surprised to see them all translated in Russian some years ago in a store in Moscow.
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