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avalydia's review
2.0
Riddled with errors (missing the accents on names like Lúthien/Tinúviel, etc.; implying that Farmer Maggot is a Man by commending Merry on his interracial friendships; and speculation on whether monuments would be made for Legolas in Middle-earth when he died...), and not particularly interesting.
lisa_setepenre's review
3.0
Unsung Heroes of the Lord of the Rings seeks to examine seven characters from Lord of the Rings who have been underappreciated (if they are appreciated at all) as heroes and seeks they are in fact heroes – perhaps not the traditional hero, but a modern interpretation of the figure. Thus, instead of speaking of Aragorn, Frodo and Sam, Lynnette Porter instead focuses on the notion that in both the book and the films, Merry, Pippin, Éowyn, Arwen, Galadriel, Legolas and Gimli are heroes in different guises.
Unsung Heroes felt very structured and "by rote". Each chapter would, after a brief introduction, examine the character(s) as they appeared in Tolkien's writings and then in Peter Jackson's adaptation, then explore the type of hero (inspirational, action, intercultural etc.) before finally surmising how the character(s) fit the criteria for a hero. To me, I found that type predictability a bit boring, especially when it felt as though the examination of both the literary and cinematic character was really just a recital of their scenes in the books and films.
I also felt that there was room for the criticism of the films' handling of these characters to be more, well, critical. Porter notes Arwen's "disconcerting" shift from the strong, assure warrior to victim in the films, which is well and good, but Jackson's reduction of Gimli to comic relief is ignored. It's a very, very common critique of Jackson's handling of the characters, and that it wasn't mentioned at all was, well, disconcerting.
Finally, there were a few mistakes in the text. Names are missing their accents and Porter's assertions that the Elves were the Children of the Valar (instead of the Children of Ilúvatar, who the Valar serve) and that Farmer Maggot was a human (he was a hobbit) were particularly jarring. To my eyes, these are all very basic mistakes and makes me begin to question Porter's knowledge of Tolkien's legendarium and therefore how seriously I should take her analysis. These issues could have easily been fixed by a fact-checker or getting a Tolkien fan to give feedback prior to printing.
Despite all those issues I had with it, I enjoyed the read, particularly the analysis on Arwen and Éowyn's characters. Porter does raise some good points, but a less predictable and more critical approach would have been welcomed, as would some fact-checking.
Unsung Heroes felt very structured and "by rote". Each chapter would, after a brief introduction, examine the character(s) as they appeared in Tolkien's writings and then in Peter Jackson's adaptation, then explore the type of hero (inspirational, action, intercultural etc.) before finally surmising how the character(s) fit the criteria for a hero. To me, I found that type predictability a bit boring, especially when it felt as though the examination of both the literary and cinematic character was really just a recital of their scenes in the books and films.
I also felt that there was room for the criticism of the films' handling of these characters to be more, well, critical. Porter notes Arwen's "disconcerting" shift from the strong, assure warrior to victim in the films, which is well and good, but Jackson's reduction of Gimli to comic relief is ignored. It's a very, very common critique of Jackson's handling of the characters, and that it wasn't mentioned at all was, well, disconcerting.
Finally, there were a few mistakes in the text. Names are missing their accents and Porter's assertions that the Elves were the Children of the Valar (instead of the Children of Ilúvatar, who the Valar serve) and that Farmer Maggot was a human (he was a hobbit) were particularly jarring. To my eyes, these are all very basic mistakes and makes me begin to question Porter's knowledge of Tolkien's legendarium and therefore how seriously I should take her analysis. These issues could have easily been fixed by a fact-checker or getting a Tolkien fan to give feedback prior to printing.
Despite all those issues I had with it, I enjoyed the read, particularly the analysis on Arwen and Éowyn's characters. Porter does raise some good points, but a less predictable and more critical approach would have been welcomed, as would some fact-checking.
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