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One of the biggest hazards of a multi-volume novel is an ending that fails to deliver on the promise built up in earlier books. Have no fear in this case -- Smith and Trowbridge bring together all the elements of this richly textured milleu to deliver a slam-bang conclusion that simultaneously ties it off in a satisfying way and leaves open the possibility of future novels set in this fascinating universe. Do not pass up this great novel -- and lets hope that the publishers get their wits about them and start buying more works by these phenomenal authors!
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Primary sources, that is materials written by people who actually participated in a historical event, are the meat of historical work, and often the hardest things to find. While secondary sources (materials written by people who were not personally present at an event, but may have read about it or spoken with people who were) can help us gain a basic understanding of an event, we cannot really begin to understand it until we have studied the accounts of those who were there. Unfortunately, primary source materials are often the most difficult to find. Professional historians often spend thousands of dollars in travel expenses to visit archives and study fragile documents. However,… Read more
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In this volume, Christopher Tolkien continues to explore his father's manuscript versions of The Lord of the Rings. By this point in the story, it had clearly grown beyond the "Hobbit sequel" the elder Tolkien had originally set out to write, but he was still not entirely certain of the road it would be taking. As he made new discoveries about his characters and the world in which they lived, it was necessary to go back to the beginning and make the existing text match the new developments. It is particularly fascinating for me as a writer to see the footprints of the master, to see writing as *process* rather than merely as finished product. Reading this volume and the others… Read more
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