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A review by maxwellthomas
The Nature of Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien
(This is a review I started back in August of 2021, never posted, and never updated Goodreads with my completion of the book. So here it is as it was written back around August 2021.)
The Nature of Middle-Earth makes for a wonderful addition to any collector or reader of Tolkien. The title itself, The Nature…, is an indication of the two broad categories that essentially make up this volume: one being the physical nature of the facets of Middle-earth (ie. There is a section titled Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor), but also of the metaphysical characteristics of Middle-earth (ie. Sections titled Fate and Free Will or Knowledge and Memory).
In the “Editorial Practices” section that follows the “Forward,” Hostetter details the ways in which he “edits” the work of J.R.R. & Christopher Tolkien’s writings to ensure the reader that the words are not his own, and are in fact Tolkien’s. In this section Hostetter also informs the reader that familiarity of The Silmarillion is assumed with ready access to Unfinished Tales and volumes X-XII of The History of Middle-earth as further aid in understanding the texts including in this title. Having touched on the the assumed familiarity with The Silmarillion, I would add that any reader wishing to further their exploration into Tolkien’s works should acquire (and read) both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales rather than this particular title.
In form, it feels quite similar to The History of Middle-earth in regards to the revelation of the painstaking detail that J.R.R. Tolkien put forth in creating his mythology, with sections of charts and mathematical equations explaining the growth and aging of Elves in regards to their “Growth Years” versus their “Life Years” and how the time equaling one year is not the same between the two. Having said that, I must admit that I merely skimmed some of these pages and flipped to sections that I found more interesting.
All in all it's a great addition to any collector of Tolkien's works, but for the average Tolkien reader who may not have read / enjoyed the Silmarillion and Tolkien's other works outside of LOTR and The Hobbit, this may not be one that will grab your attention.
The Nature of Middle-Earth makes for a wonderful addition to any collector or reader of Tolkien. The title itself, The Nature…, is an indication of the two broad categories that essentially make up this volume: one being the physical nature of the facets of Middle-earth (ie. There is a section titled Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor), but also of the metaphysical characteristics of Middle-earth (ie. Sections titled Fate and Free Will or Knowledge and Memory).
In the “Editorial Practices” section that follows the “Forward,” Hostetter details the ways in which he “edits” the work of J.R.R. & Christopher Tolkien’s writings to ensure the reader that the words are not his own, and are in fact Tolkien’s. In this section Hostetter also informs the reader that familiarity of The Silmarillion is assumed with ready access to Unfinished Tales and volumes X-XII of The History of Middle-earth as further aid in understanding the texts including in this title. Having touched on the the assumed familiarity with The Silmarillion, I would add that any reader wishing to further their exploration into Tolkien’s works should acquire (and read) both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales rather than this particular title.
In form, it feels quite similar to The History of Middle-earth in regards to the revelation of the painstaking detail that J.R.R. Tolkien put forth in creating his mythology, with sections of charts and mathematical equations explaining the growth and aging of Elves in regards to their “Growth Years” versus their “Life Years” and how the time equaling one year is not the same between the two. Having said that, I must admit that I merely skimmed some of these pages and flipped to sections that I found more interesting.
All in all it's a great addition to any collector of Tolkien's works, but for the average Tolkien reader who may not have read / enjoyed the Silmarillion and Tolkien's other works outside of LOTR and The Hobbit, this may not be one that will grab your attention.