Tag Archives: Trolls

Re-Reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings After 25 Years (Part 1): ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’

by in Book Reviews, Fantasy and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Friday everyone!

It’s April 10th, do you know where your hobbits are?

I mention the date because in years past I’ve celebrated #TolkienReadingDay (March 25th) by posting something J.R.R. Tolkien — or Middle-Earth — related on this blog as a kind of tribute (and reflection upon) one of the great examples of Fantasy literature.

This year (and apparently last year as well), that date came and went, unremarked upon and unnoticed. I’d love to give some epic (or even reasonable) excuse such as the wizard Saruman held me captive atop the formidable tower Orthanc in Isengard, or that my posts are “never late, nor early. But arrive precisely when (they) mean to”, but the truth is . . .

I just completely whiffed this deadline.

By the Ides of March I was only about halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring, and ten days later I’d progressed little further. Instead I posted about a dinosaur novella (Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur) and then about the Greek hero Daedalus (Daedalus Is Dead) (another novella). And time marched on.

But finally, I’ve finished!

And I’m here to say . . . it was a lot of walking?

I first read The Lord of the Rings, as I’m sure many did, in the lead up to the release of Peter Jackson’s iconic films back in December of 2001. Like right up to the release. I KNOW I’ve mentioned the story of that first theater trip — 11 years old and sitting in the car in the parking lot of the theater during previews, sans shoes like a good hobbit, trying to finish the last pages of Fellowship before going in to see the film — on this blog before though I can’t find the exact posts at the moment.

I LOVED those movies as a kid. My thoughts on the books were more mixed and at least as far as the Fellowship is concerned, are mostly the same as a 35 year old hobbit, as they were when I was just an 11 year old hobbit.

In the long years since I first read The Fellowship of the Ring, I’ve often joked that Tolkien will stop the action of the plot to describe the shape and texture of the petals of each flower in a field of daisies. I forgot to mention he will also name the ancestry of each flower going back three generations, and sing a few songs about the more prominent members of the lineage.

It’s telling that the author’s note in my edition is a whopping 35 pages!

Jokes aside, it isn’t hard to tell that Tolkien has a great love of stories, and he spent an incredible, and perhaps painstaking amount of time inventing them. And so when it comes time to tell one of the stories, it’s a bit of a fire hose with all the other stories rushing out at once.

I know I struggled with this as kid reading LotR but as an adult I found it a bit more endearing and dare I say, magical. I had completely forgotten whole sections of Fellowship, like the entire character of Tom Bombadil, which I found myself marveling at upon this second read through.

And I found myself laughing at just how often the hobbits would stop to eat during the beginning of their quest to leave The Shire. But then again in awe at how little it seemed there was to laugh about by the time they left Weathertop.

And then of course there is Rivendell, and MORIA. Lothlorien feels like a whole other book, sad and kinda depressing, and then BOROMIR!! Yeesh. I couldn’t believe the book ended like that even though it doesn’t really have the shape of a cliff hanger we would read in other books, it totally is a cliffhanger and a kinda a crazy one at that.

I’m not usually one for songs or poetry in Fantasy, as even in a world with dragons and wizards (or whatever other nonsense), it’s always felt a bit unlikely that a character would just begin singing randomly and as a musician I usually get hung up trying to figure out the tune. Most authors are not musicians (or even poets), and with little in the way of reference to the actual pitches they were considering as they wrote, it just sort of comes out sounding bad in my head.

However, I did enjoy the songs within this book more than I expected and can see why they have spawned absolute legions of pale imitators in other fantasies. Some were lofty and refined (Legolas singing of Lorien), others lowly but sincere (Frodo mourning Gandalf). The song Sam sings when they make camp by the stone trolls was positively crude. I mentioned in my review of The Hobbit, that Tolkien can be quite whimsical at times, and while I think the reader sees less of that in LOTR than in The Hobbit, it still sneaks its way in at times.

Finally, the following quote from a little spat between Boromir and Aragorn during The Council of Elrond in Rivendell struck me:

“But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from the sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dunedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

And yet less thanks have we than you. Travelers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. ‘Strider’ I am to one fat man who lives within a day’s march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin . . . That has been the task of my kindred while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown.” – pg 279

This feels like it could have come directly from the mouth of Geralt of Rivia. Strider is a Witcher! A lot has already been written on the influence of LOTR on Andrezej Sapkowski’s elves, and how they subvert the tropes and cliches of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, but I hadn’t made this connection between the Dunedain and Witchers before, and it’s one I’m eager to explore as I delve further into the worlds of both authors.

So, Give The Fellow Ship of The Ring Another Read?

Definitely. Whether it’s because you haven’t peeked into a Hobbit hole in some 25 years (wow), or it’s your first time in Middle-Earth, give this one a read.

Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to keep momentum when page after page has gone into the description of what amounts to a pretty view, or a sprawling backstory, but for any who can push through, the reward is a rich and immersive settings, perhaps one of the foundational 2ndry worlds in all of fantasy. I was in awe not only of the incredible world building, but also in the contrast of the stakes of the adventure between the beginning of the book and the end. When the hobbits first set out, it almost seems like they’re taking a slightly harried holiday, but by the end, we can really feel the (middle) earth shattering potential of Sauron retrieving the ring, and truly just how desperate the Fellowship’s quest is for all people.

Despite all the doom in gloom, there is still some humor and levity within these pages, and really quite a bit of hope throughout. And though I’m not usually much of a fan of lots of songs or poetry breaking up the story, they just seem to make sense in this context.

Finally, it is perhaps not very insightful to say that LoTR has had a huge influence on the Fantasy genre; of course it has, but it was fun to pick out specific examples as I read. The most striking on this read through was between J. R. R. Tolkien’s Dunedain (Rangers) and Andrezej Sapkowski’s Witchers. Obvious in retrospect, but still not something I’d clocked until now.

That’s all I have for this week! It almost feels silly to ask, but has anybody read this one? Recently or as kid? What parts do you love best? What’s your favorite Fantasy that Tolkien helped inspire with LotR? What nostalgic memories does this book bring up for you?

As always I’d love to read your thoughts and stories, so please leave them in the comments! I’m looking forward to talking about this one!

The Best Kind of Nonsense: Why I Loved T. Kingfisher’s Nine Goblins

by in Book Reviews, Fantasy and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Looks like I’m back on my T. Kingfisher kick. This author is becoming somewhat ‘old-reliable’ when it comes to having a good audiobook for a long drive.

I went into this one pretty much blind. I’m not sure I even bothered to read the description. I just took one look at the cover, and the number of hours it would take to listen to (between 4-5) and hit the download button. Two long-ish drives later, I’ve decided to put off writing reviews on two other extremely good novellas, so I can get this one written before the memory fades too much. That’s how much I enjoyed Nine Goblins.

Of the works of T. Kingfisher I’ve read so far, this one feels the most blatantly comedic. I’ve mentioned in my reviews of What Feasts At Night and Jackalope Wives that there were many elements of Kingfisher’s style that reminded me of Terry Pratchett. Readers don’t have to dig very deep to see that same influence in Nine Goblins, it’s right there on the surface. Aside from the fact that it’s not set on the Discworld, I could almost believe this was a City Watch book. As such I think I actually laughed out loud a few times while on the road.

I think a few important choices allow this sort of standard orcs-vs-humans setting (I thought immediately of the videogame series Warcraft) to really bloom into a unique story all its own. First, focusing the main thrust of the story around a group of Goblins reframes the story as a kind of anti-colonial tale, in which humans and elves are (to start) painted as unrelenting expansionists.

Goblins as villainous demons or tricksters is pretty deeply engrained in our mythology and lore, so I was fascinated by all the ways Kingfisher found to make them sympathetic. Mainly this is accomplished through quirks and point of view. The funniest quirk (to me) was the goblin Blanchett, who doesn’t speak unless to express the speech of a teddy bear he carries with him. I think at some point the teddy bear gets promoted for of valor (to describe it in the Wayward Children parlance, this is a high nonsense world lol).

We also see the goblins being quite heroic in their own goblin-y ways. They’re generous with praise, though it comes in the form of an insult, and despite their villainous portrayal in other media, these goblins spend a lot of time finding reasons not to kill but to spare and even save what are by rights their enemies (somewhat tangent but related to this point: one goblin even adopts a kitten mid adventure (which gets named wiggles)).

By giving us this point of view from the Goblin’s perspective, these mythic creatures which are typically cast as side-characters or villains take center stage, the effect being ironically humanizing. I can’t really think of any other Fantasy media which takes on this point of view. And I feel you would be hard pressed to do it so well as Kingfisher does here.

Equally important to the story’s success, is its second POV, through the eyes of the elf Sings-To-Trees. He is a kind of veterinarian who specializes in the care of magical creatures which often just appear at his doorstep when they need help. Somewhat reminiscent of Radagast from Lord of the Rings — pre nervous breakdown — in occupation and function, Kingfisher takes an alternate tac on the Friend-to-All-Living-Things trope, requiring Sings-To-Trees to care for and love the ugliest and prickliest animals as well as the cute and cuddly ones.

This means that Sings-to-Trees has some of the silliest and most hilarious encounters in the book. In particular I’m thinking about pretty much any scene during which he must talk with trolls, who pretty much just repeat the same syllable over and over again with barely different inflections, yet still manage to get their meaning across. I’m not sure if this would be quite as funny in print, but it was absolutely hysterical on audio.

Give ‘Nine Goblins‘ a Read?

Oh yeah! It’s short, it’s funny, and in my opinion a great take on a classic and often taken for granted feature of Fantasy fiction: Goblins.

Whether it’s the baffling conversation between a clumsy, messy elf (Sings-to-Trees is really the opposite of everything we think of as high fantasy elves), and monosyllabic trolls, or the inverted correlation between real intelligence / competence and military rank, Nine Goblins is absolutely brimming with laughs.

But as is often the case, just because it’s funny does not mean it is devoid of depth or nuance. In particular, Kingfisher takes aim at colonialism, giving us the story from the view of the colonized, and maybe a bit of hope that coexistence is possible.

That’s all I have for this week! Has anyone read this story before? What did you like best? Can you think of any other stories which take on the POV of Goblins? What other fantasy main-stays would you like to see given this treatment?

As always please leave your thoughts in the comments section! Am really looking forward to discussing this one!

Celebrate #TolkienReadingDay With a Review of the 1968 BBC Radio Broadcast of The Hobbit!

by in Book Reviews, Fantasy and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

People of the world rejoice!! Sauron has been defeated!!

If you’re wondering why I’m brining this up now, well the answer is that according to the Tolkien Society, March 25th is in fact (fiction?) the day in which The One Ring was destroyed, thereby completing Frodo’s quest and defeating Sauron. Since 2003 the society has encouraged fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R Tolkien on this day even going so far as to dub the holiday Tolkien Reading Day.

So what better way to celebrate the father of modern fantasy, then to review The One Book which started it all, The Hobbit.

Or attempt to do so, but instead talk about a 1968 BBC Radio adaptation of Tolkien’s 1937 classic because you didn’t realize the audiobook you requested from the library was not the original work until about a half hour in when you’re wondering why there are all these breaks, musical interludes, and repeated sections.

And by ‘you’ I mean me. This is what I did. This was the mistake I made.

Anyway, rather than request the original and have to wait several weeks for it to come in (thereby missing this incredible holiday), I just decided to give the radio version a listen and see what was good.

I have no doubt that in the late 1960s, this radio adaptation was the cat’s pajamas, but I’m wondering if modern audiences would find the broadcast somewhat jarring. For me, this discomfort has no better example then after the eagles come to rescue bilbo et al, from the wargs and goblins who have set the forest aflame to try and smoke them from their hiding place within the trees. They soon land on the Great Shelf and speak with the Lord of the Eagles. I’ve done my best to transcribe the encounter:

Lord of Eagles: Raaahhckkk! Gandaaalllfff my old friend. What a pleasant surprise to see you again Raaahhckkk!

Gandalf: I am honored lord of the eagles, may I present Thorin Oakenshield, son Thrain, son of Thror, and his followers.

Lord of Eagles: Son of Thrain, Son of Throrrr, Raaahhcckkk. It be a great pleasure to meet the head of such a famous family of goblin slayersss. Raahhcckk.

I think that is enough to get the gist of the conversation (Raahhcckk!!).

For comparison, here is the same section from The Hobbit book:

“As Bilbo listened to the talk of Gandalf he realized that at last they were going to escape really and truly from the dreadful mountains. He (Gandalf) was discussing plans with the Great Eagle for carrying the dwarves and himself and Bilbo far away and setting them down well on their journey across the plains below.”

So obviously a book is able to simply tell its audience some things in summary when doing so in a radio production would absolutely kill the momentum of the story, however, summary is not completely absent from the BBC adaptation which included effectively two narrators (Bilbo and the true narrator). This means that somewhere along the way it was decided that this conversation was important enough to SHOW rather than TELL.

So far I’m in agreement. Giant sapient eagles who have kings and fight goblins is just about one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of. Definitely a SHOW moment. Only that moment becomes laughable with all the elongated pronunciations and squawking (isn’t that a parrot thing anyway?).

Most of the show’s depictions of magical creatures (spiders, elves, goblins, trolls etc.) seem to suffer similarly from the overproduction of their audio. This combined with two narrators, who often speak over each other, while dwarves are cheering or having side conversations in the background (and all of that often set to music as well!) led to a pretty confusing sound picture which I felt actually detracted from the story rather than added to it.

What I did find striking however, was how similar Gollum sounded to his Peter Jacksonian counterpart (LOTR movies) and Bilbo’s characterization really stood out to me as well. I don’t know if I ever actually saw the Hobbit movies in which Martin Freeman plays the character, but now I’m very curious whether or not they are similar, and if Freeman used the 1968 radio broadcast as an inspiration.

So . . . Worth a Listen?

Despite my relatively negative review of the broadcast so far (and during a celebration no less), I would say it is still worth a listen. The story of a small hero going on a big adventure is always going to be entertaining, and despite the kinks introduced by its adaptation to another medium, The Hobbit is still a fascinating story.

I’ll admit that I had forgotten just how much I enjoy Tolkien’s characters and while middle-earth — with all its histories and legends, cities and places — can sometimes seem vast and overwhelming, this story is a much more digestible place to start.

At the very least, listening to the BBC’s 1968 adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, reignited my interest in Tolkien’s writing . . . which seems to me is exactly the point of Tolkien Reading Day.

Has anyone listened to this broadcast? What are your thoughts? Did they stick the landing or does the adaptation fall flat? What were your favorite parts? Are you doing anything to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day? What is your favorite Tolkien work?

Please leave your answers in the comments. Looking forward to talking about this one!

Ta ta for now!