[Houyhnhnms]

Honestly, the Earthsea books were decent, but I didn't think they were anywhere near Tolkien. Tolkien gives you the feeling that there is an entire world waiting just around the corner. Earthsea feels like a shell that you are exploring. Like it doesn't really exist, it just appears when you show up, almost a hollow feeling where the characters don't really exist but are paper cutouts. I read all 3 and enjoyed them, but just not as good as some others and I thought the world was a bit lacking.

[projectramo]

What age did you read them at?

There is something about reading your first Tolkien fantasy book around 13-15 that just feels different. If you had read any of the Tolkien facsimiles at that age (Shannara, Wheel of Time etc) you may feel the same way. But if you reread those books now, you may feel different.

[Houyhnhnms]

That's a good point; I read Tolkien in early teens, then read Earthsea in my 20s, so that would make a difference

[plinkplonk]

agreed.

And I personally found the first book (wizard) decent, but the sequels were pretty meh (imho). And even with the first, I found the climax pretty meh too (and saw it coming a mile away).

[dasil003]

I think what you're perceiving is Tolkien's world-building ability. Given that that was his greatest strength and unique as it goes, I don't think the comparison is quite fair. I mean, he submitted Silmarillion drafts for a sequel to The Hobbit before doing Lord of the Rings. I can't imagine any other fantasy author ever living up to the bar he set on that axis, it doesn't mean they can't be better in other ways.

[vidarh]

There are 5, though admittedly there's a long gap between the first 3 and the last 2 (Thehanu and The Other Wind), and not insignificant stylistic change. There's also the short story collection Tales from Earthsea.

[kjell]

Tales from Earthsea gives a lot of context to the realm and introduces an important character in the plot of The Other Wind. I took it to be the fifth book in the series with TOW #6.

[walshemj]

Yes its a bit of an ask as Tolkien pretty much invented the genre yes I know there where precursors like Dunsanny but my god is that hard to read!

[Iv]

I used to think that but was surprised to discover that Tolkien was actually a revival of the fantasy genre that had declined.

The Conan series, for instance, predates Tolkien by a decade.

[walshemj]

Tolkien defined the ur heroic fantasy genre influenced by by lord Dunsanny and others and of course actual myths - until recently Tolkien's translation of Beowulf was the standard text at uni.

Howard is more pulpy swords and sorcery with some horror he actually rewrote some westerns as Conan short stories. And Tolkien started work on what became LOTR etc before ww1 well before Howard.