The old school style

Anothe rpost from the Amazon board...here's the link....

Remember the good old days, when men were men, elves were pointy-eared wimps and orcs were killing machines whose sole purpose was to be swordbait for our might-thewed heroes, chopped down by the battalion in the endless war between good and evil?

Fantasy has always been a prisoner of it’s clichés, and for the longest time you could open up a book in the genre and be pretty sure what you were going to find: barbarians, sorcerers, and some variation of Tolkienesque elves, orcs, etc. In other words, pretty much what you would find around a Dungeons & Dragons table on a Saturday night.

Now though, the old-school stuff is pretty much gone. For better or worse it seems like fantasy as a genre is maturing, expanding beyond its origins to embrace new ideas. Words without magic, where humans are the only species (more or less….) Stories were science fiction and fantasy are blended together to the point that it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other ends…paranormal romance….

Now, I’m not objecting to any of this. Any genre has to evolve it’s going to stay relevant. But sometimes I miss the old school. So, here’s a question for other fan-atics (pun fully intended….) Can anyone think of a fantasy novel that came out in the last decade or so that goes back to the original style, with elves, orcs, and other fey critters, princesses being fed to dragons and gallant cardboard heroes without a hint of depth fighting against overwhelming odds before ultimately slaying a generic Dark Lord-type villain?