The Elf's review

These are excellent books which explore the writing of J. R. R. Tolkien which eventually led to the Silmarillion. Granted, these books are not for everyone. They are definately for the very dedicated fan who is willing to take the time to slave over the often difficult writing (these were rough drafts often)and the allusions to things that one has no capability of understanding without reading the rest of the book. Though at first I was very confused when reading The Book of Lost Tales 1, by the time I got to the end of it I understood it perfectly. It was a joy to read all of these books, and it really stinks that they weren't offered as a box set when I bought mine. One of the best books in this set is, The Lays of Beleriand. It is a book of essentially two very long epic poems and they are excellent. I didn't like fantasy until I read Tolkien and the same is true of poetry. The Tolkien devotee will get true enjoyment out of these tales of the ancient days of Middle Earth and will revel in the archaic language of the Ainur, elves and men of the first age of Middle Earth.

Back in fictional time

"Lord of the Rings" was the climax. Silmarillion was the Bible. And the Histories of Middle-Earth series is the big stack of history books. Author J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a vast fictional history of Middle-Earth, and the first five volumes of the Histories are compiled here.

The evolving backdrop of stories about Elves, Men, and the rich tapestry of fictional history is shown here, such as earlier versions of the legendary romance of Beren and Luthien, or the history of the Valar. Not the finished product of "Silmarillion," but older drafts riddled with footnotes and commentary from Tolkien's son Christopher. What's more, it includes linguistic evolution, exquisite poetry, and a time travel story that evolved into something much greater.

It takes a certain amount of geeky dedication to read these books. They are not light reading, and it takes knowledge of the final material to understand their significance. In many of the stories, there is greater detail than is found in the Silmarillion. And in many cases, there are huge differences, such as the mortal Beren originally being an Elf. (Which changes the whole story of Beren and Luthien, and also how we see their distant descendants, Aragorn and Arwen)

Fans of "Lord of the Rings" and "Silmarillion" will undoubtedly enjoy seeing how the unrivalled fantasy stories came to be. Not for newbies, but fascinating for major fans and anyone who likes seeing how Tolkien's writing evolved.