John Gwynne: the Tolkien heir who fails to convince

John Gwynne, the Tolkien heir who divides readers
John Gwynne is not going to succeed Tolkien. Or at least not unanimously. The epic fantasy writer, born in Singapore in 1968, landed at the Celsius Festival in Avilés, Spain, wearing the heir's label, flanked by a bushy beard and Saxon warrior tattoos. Reading his «Bloodsworn» saga leaves critics in two trenches: the richness of the Norse universe, with gods that take the form of dragon, wolf or serpent, versus a prose style some consider poor. Comparing him to Tolkien is absurd, the argument goes.

The issue is nothing new. Contemporary fantasy has been searching for a big name since Tolkien held the throne, and for many the crown is contested by Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie or even Tad Williams. Rothfuss has the style, they say, but has not published in years. Abercrombie brought grimdark, and Tolkien, with his singing dwarves and the Tom Bombadil hiatus —80 pages that stall the narrative— is left to archaeology. Gwynne, meanwhile, offers world and ambition, but the prose eludes him. Some even claim his writing «gains in translation», which is hardly a compliment.

The «successor» label smells like a headline. That is the most sceptical reading: he is compared to the author of Middle-earth not on real merit, but because the market needs a sellable name. And on social media the inevitable question surfaces: is Gwynne 'proge'? The answer remains unclear, but the suspicion is already there. Meanwhile, the author keeps gaining readers, and the publishing industry pushes him toward the throne the way it pushed other false promises.

If Gwynne wants the throne, he will have to prove that the epic lies not only in the worlds he builds, but in every sentence. As of today, the coronation still awaits the verdict of the pages to come.

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