"le fantastique moderne" are often used. Critical interpretations The fiction gives the author greater agency than allowed in the real world. Since being popularised in the works of E. Nesbit, the "low/portal variety" of fantasy has become a staple for its facility in challenging "established orders of society and thought." Children usually read more low fantasy than high fantasy. The early 21st century is seeing an increase in prominence of the work of authors such as George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie, whose high fantasy novels (works set entirely in fantasy worlds) have been referred to as "low fantasy" because they de-emphasize magic and non-human intelligent races in favor of a more cynical portrayal of human conflict. Fantasy writer David Chandler considered this "rise of 'Low Fantasy'" to reflect the contemporary reality of the War on Terror—characterized by "secret deals", "vicious reprisals" and "sudden acts of terrifying carnage"—much as the horror genre reacted to the Vietnam War a generation earlier. Distinguishing between subgenres High and low fantasy are distinguished as being set, respectively, in an alternative "secondary" world or in the real "primary" world. In many works, the distinction between primary or secondary world settings, and therefore whether it is low or high fantasy, can be unclear. The secondary world may take three forms, described by Nikki Gamble in her explication of three characteristics of high fantasy: Primary does not exist (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons) or is irrelevant (e.g., Discworld) Entered through a portal from the primary world (e.g., Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, and The Dark Tower) World-within-a-world (e.g., American Gods, The Gods of Pegāna, The Magicians, and Harry Potter) A few high fantasy series do not easily fit into Gamble's categories. For example, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is set in the primary world of Earth in the ancient past, and Tolkien adamantly disagreed with anyone who thought otherwise. According to Tolkien, he had set it in the inhabited lands of geographically north-west Europe. Tolkien himself disagreed with the notion that his stories diverged from reality, but rather defended his position that the "essentials of that abiding place are all there (at any rate for inhabitants of N.W. Europe), so naturally it feels familiar, even if a little glorified by enchantment of distance in time." Nevertheless, Middle-earth is sufficiently divergent from reality to be classed as a