Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Tolkien Companion



Author: J. E. A. Tyler
Genre: Companion (to books!), guide

Series: It accompanies Lord of the Rings

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 531 (hardcover!)

Time period: Fantasy

My overall opinion: This book seems to be a great resource, and it’s obvious that someone put a lot of work and time into it. However, I got it hoping that it would prove a helpful companion to The Children of Hurin by Tolkien. I was disappointed to discover that it basically just had the names and locations used in Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. It, like The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster, was in alphabetical order, with short (or occasionally several pages long) articles about people, places, and things from LOTR and Hobbit. Each article was written in a “Tolkienesque” way – similar to Tolkien’s way of writing. It was easy and enjoyable to read. But if you are looking for something to help with names and place in Silmarillion or Children of Hurin or another more obscure work involving Middle Earth, I would recommend the Complete Guide previously referenced. This is a good book for borrowing from a library, and a handy resource if you’re researching LOTR or Hobbit!

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