[p]His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, or The Lord of the Rings

[Neo-Xantios]

Greetings, which trilogy series would you prefer. I would choose His Dark Materials over The Lord of the Rings by a very narrow edge. HDM is full of surprises that TLotR simple does contain. And the ending of HDM was the only one by text that made me weep.

EDIT: Ah yes, His Dark Materials include the three books The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

[Perdanski]

Harry Potter Series.

Because it has a great plot that even when it is breakfast, lunch, dinner and even when it was time to sleep, I still had to at least finish the chapter which I was reading. I like the books, especially the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because it had the most interesting plots I've seen. I wouldn't want to spoil some of the plot, so I won't be talking more about it. But if you want to know more about the plot, you could go buy/borrow it to read. It sure would be your book! ;)

[shazza]

I don't know what the hell HDM is :no:

Lord of the Rings is boring, but the battle scenes are :cool:

I will say Harry Potter. I guess :confused:

[Gengachu]

I'm going to go with Lord of the Rings, because I don't know what His Dark Materials is, and I hated Harry Potter.

[Sheik]

I liked all of the three series. I didn't choose LotR because there were a lot of boring spots in the book. I'm only halfway through the first "His Dark Materials" so I can't count that.

I've read all the Harry Potter books, so that's the one I went with. I loved all five of them, but my favorite was the 4th one. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because it was the beginning of all the evilness with Voldemort regaining power and everything, plus I liked the tournament with the different schools.

[Sorovis]

Lord of the Rings. Not only are the movies exceptionally good, but the books are pretty deep themselves.

[[McGraw]]

I don't understand people's love for Lord Of The Rings. It is quite possibly the most overrated piece of literature ever. There is no depth in writing, the plot is plodding and predictable - a good way for killing time. I remember enjoying reading LOTR when I was 11, but wondering why when I returned to it recently. Maybe I lost my imagination and became more cynical during that time, but I feel robbed.

Harry Potter is enjoyable if taken at face value. I find that if you try to read into it, you will be disappointed. It entertains but is by no means memorable. His Dark Materials is on a different level. Pullman's writing is far superior to JK Rowling and I was definitely more engrossed by his storyline and characters.

[gomez]

Don't know what HDM is, I've only seen the first HP movie and read 0 books, so TLOTR is my only option.

I read the books in the eighth grade and have seen only the first movie, so that is the only choice for me. I don't like it much though.

[Agent Elrond]

I don't understand people's love for Lord Of The Rings. It is quite possibly the most overrated piece of literature ever. There is no depth in writing, the plot is plodding and predictable - a good way for killing time. I remember enjoying reading LOTR when I was 11, but wondering why when I returned to it recently. Maybe I lost my imagination and became more cynical during that time, but I feel robbed.

The Lord of the Rings is overrated because it happens to be an extemely good piece of writing. It has a lot of really powerful stuff in it that you don't find anywhere else. (Mind you I'm talking about the books here.) It touches on temtation and the curruption that comes with power. It addresses the issue of man's destruction of the natural world, and the importance of remembering hope. It touches on a thousand things that most books balk and turn away from.

And the one thing you must remember: before The Lord of the Rings there was no fantasy. LotR started all of that, it did for fantasy what Sherlock Holmes did for detective thrillers. The Lord of the Rings is THE epic fantasy novel, the reason it may not seem fresh to you is because just about everbody copies the **** out of it. Before LotR there was no such thing as Trilogies. We woudln't have The Matrix Trilogy, or the Star Wars Trilogy, heck, even His Dark Materials is a trilogy.

Do not say it has no depth, it's just so deep you cannot see the bottom.

All that being said, I like the Chrestomanci Quartet better, but since it's not on the poll I'll just have to go LOTR. :D

I only read The Golden Compass and the fist chapter of The Subtle Knife so it would be rather unfair to compare them.

I loved the first three Harry Potter books. The fourth was okay, but it needed polishing up a bit.

I do not want to speak of the fifth one.

[Yoh Asakura]

I prefer The Hobbit over LOTR. I find it a better and more enjoyable read. HP books, bleh is all I can say.

Never read the other so I'd have to go with LOTR, even though I think The Hobbit is better, untill they turn it into a 9 hour movie that's so boring and ****s up everything.

[Aeges_Ateri]

I would have to say "His Dark Materials" by Phillip Pullman. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter series to this point, which was a close second, as Neo-Xantios stated HDM was full of some good surprises and I found the ending very sorrowful as well. I hate happy endings without a little extra. As far as the LOTR series goes, I haven't finished the books yet (though I did enjoy the movies), but LOTR is also a very strong competitor.

[[McGraw]]

LOTR was the first fantasy story? I'll take your word for it. Well, Robinson Crusoe was the first adventure novel, but that doesn't stop it being absolute drivel and probably the most dire book I have ever read. At the end of the day, the topic is purely subjective and a debate of opinion versus opinion is about as productive as trying to hang yourself with spaghetti.

[phaedrus]

lotr. you all dont understand it, which is why you all think it sucks. :mad2:

it is the best book(s). evar. :oh:

[Angel Blossom]

I don't know what the hell HDM is :no:

Lord of the Rings is boring, but the battle scenes are :cool:

I will say Harry Potter. I guess :confused:


Hehe, my thoughts exactly. ^^"

I don't have a clue what HDM is, to tell you the truth. I watched the the first LoTR, didn't like it. We rented the other two because my parents wanted to watch, and I thought they were boring, annoying actors, etc. but the battle scenes weren't bad. I haven't read the books, so I wouldn't know much either. *shrug*

Since I've read two books in the series and it isn't THAT bad, I'll go with HP. I'm not a big fan of any of these, but that's my choice heh.

[EVme15]

I voted for His Dark Materials.

I honestly never read LotR. I know I'm going to be hurt for that. *inches away from LotR fans with torches and pitchforks* eheh...

Harry Potter was good, but it really wasn't quite as engaging a story as the HDM trilogy was.

BTW: N-X, you may want to note in the first post that HDM are the books Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. I think a few people have read those, but don't know the collective name of the trilogy.

[Snork]

Totally His Dark Materials. Without a doubt. That series is the man.

[Snork]

And the ending of HDM was the only one by text that made me weep.

It did to I as well. =P

[Last Exile]

I voted for Lord of the RIngs because if that wasn't writen, fantasy writing wouldn't exist, full stop. Or, at the very least, it would be much weaker.

If I could have, I would've voted for Fiona McIntosh over all thsoe options. Now her style of fantasy - very good! Watch out for a trilogy called The Quickening to come out this year over in the US. It is absolute magic!

[ChicRocketJames]

Hmmm.... so without Lord Of The Rings, today we wouldn't have a generation of even less talented fantasy hacks ripping off Tolkein's already plodding drivel. Somehow that doesn't endear the books to me.

Harry Potter I loathe because I'm sick of hearing about it. As a series of books to get kids into reading, it's great. It's fine for some adults to enjoy it. But stop going on about it like it's some life-changing piece of literature - for god's sake, I have video tapes of some Pokemon episodes that I find amusing, but I don't go around ramming them down people's throats as the height of cinematic sophistication. I'm old enough to know better.

His Dark Materials I know nothing about. It hasn't been made into a movie (yet), and so far I haven't been inundated with irritating commercials about it, everybody talking about it, and friends whinging at me to go and see the movie with them. Therefore I choose it as my favourite, as it's the one I find easiest to pretend doesn't exist.

[Pork]

HDM is awesome!! The Golden Compass is my favorite book. Harry Potter...well, it's not that good, and it got too much hype. And LotR is a really really good movie (all of them!!) but the book is not the best. Good, but not the best. But HDM is just so, so, so surprising and beautiful...and with the magic and 'windows' and angels it stretches the imagination. (At least mine. I don't know about yours.)

[Da Fragger]

Lord of the Rings all the way. For those of you who say it sucks you kind of have to read all three once, and then read bits and pieces you like again before going to bed.

[Charizard04621]

The Lord of the Rings. I read it a while before the movies came out, so no, I did not read it just because I saw the movie and screamed "Legolas is hot! Aragorn is hot! I want to read the books!" I've always loved the story and Tolkien's vivid descriptions. He has an elevated writing style, which makes you have to pay attention to prevent your mind from wandering, but the book held me all the way. I reread it again a few months ago because it's just such a great story.

[Angel Blossom]

I read it a while before the movies came out, so no, I did not read it just because I saw the movie and screamed "Legolas is hot! Aragorn is hot! I want to read the books!"

:eek: I didn't know girls who actually read the book without that reason until now. XD

[en0miz]

Have no idea what HDM is and I tried to read LotR a few years ago and it bored me (shrug) so I have to go with Harry Potter. I know Harry Potter isn't something of "series of the year" status, but I find it an enjoyable read. My favorite fantasy series of all time would have to be the Redwall series. If you like stories about animals, you'll enjoy it. :o

[Carbonite4]

LOTR owns everything and everyone.

True story.

[Craig]

I'm going to go with Lord of the Rings, because I don't know what His Dark Materials is, and I hated Harry Potter.

Posting in agreement with Gengachu. Also, Lord of the Rings is :k-rad: , aswell as :revolution: (why is there no revolutionary emoticon:( )

[Crystal Mew]

Um, I dunno what dark materials is, and I don't like harry potter, but I love lord of the rings. I have to admit, I do think the actors are hot, but when I watch the movie, I get so into it that I forget to drool over them XP But really, the movies have encouraged me to read the books....not only cause it was a great movie, but both my parents read the books and said they were great...right now I'm reading the Hobbit :O