What's with the tree fetish in the fantasy genre? Is it just a way to fill up the pages as people are traveling? Because folks, I don't know the first damn thing about trees. You have authors like Robert Jordan waxing poetically about oak, maple, fig, birch, etc. I couldn't tell you the difference between an oak tree and a maple tree for all the money in the world.

It's not a big annoyance but it just seems like authors spend way too much time talking about the trees that surround the characters. Imagine spending time researching different trees to use in your book when all people care about is that there are trees and they have leaves. I don't know if an oak tree's leaves turn colors in the fall but I wouldn't care if an author said they do.

Bloody trees! Excuse me while I go jerk off to Trees Gone Wild.