Discussion History Main / HighFantasy

I know it\\\'s been a while, but I\\\'m just chiming in to say I have absolutely no idea where the OP\\\'s definition of \\\"High Fantasy\\\" comes from, and I\\\'ve been voraciously reading every fantasy I could get my hands on for nearly fifteen years. I\\\'ve always understood \\\"High Fantasy\\\" to be primarily a case of scope, themes, and tone, not magic level, which seems an arbitrary distinction. By the OP\\\'s definition, freakin\\\' \\\'\\\'Wheel of Time\\\'\\\', one of the textbook High Fantasies, a sweeping (perhaps \\\'\\\'too\\\'\\\' sweeping) epic about prophecy, legends, and saving the world from an evil god, wouldn\\\'t count, since its magic is decently widespread and only gets more common as the series goes on, while \\\'\\\'The Lies of Locke Lamora\\\'\\\' (a dark, gritty story about a gang of morally-ambiguous thieves who get caught up in an underworld revenge plot in one city) \\\'\\\'would\\\'\\\', because magic is rare and tightly controlled by a small elite group. That is utterly at odds with any understanding of \\\"High Fantasy\\\" that I\\\'ve ever run into anywhere else on the \\\'net or in real life.

This entire discussion thread just seems bizarre to me, and I had to say my piece.