Worldbuilding in Epic Fantasy

I don't write this type of story, although I enjoy reading epic fantasy romance romance (FR) novels. I had to work a bit too hard in the Lord of the Rings books to tease out the tiny bits regarding any hint of romance (Aragorn and Arwen, Eowyn and Faramir, Eomer and WHO?). Even Peter Jackson apparently felt he had to add the character of  the Elf Tauriel to the Hobbit movies, to get some romantic elements in there! So I'm thrilled many people write big fantastic novels with romance, including our own Jeffe.

Although I certainly had no quibble with the consistency of Tolkien's LOTR/Hobbit worldbuilding.

It just so happens that this week my column over at USA Today Happily Ever After was all about epic FR, and since the other Whores have so eloquently covered the topic of the worldbuilding in their own posts of the week, I'm going to point you to my column. Eight epic FR authors (including Jeffe) talk about the appeal the genre has for them, and make book recommendations. A lot more suggested good reads in the Comments as well.

Here's the link to my post:
ow.ly/LZ0yF 

And here's "The Last Goodbye" video for Billy Boyd's song for "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies", which gives some pretty good visuals of amazing worldbuilding IMHO. Almost makes me cry every time: