A review by bbrassfield
Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien

4.0

First off, I've been a Tolkien geek since I was twelve years old. I've read the biggies three times over and the various Silmarillion related publications too. I love it all. I love Tolkien's understanding of culture and metaphor, and his great respect for the power of language (see his wonderful essay On Fairy Stories) in creating mythology. Being a philologist he also understood the timeless nature of the various elements that come together in mythmaking and this adds a certain level of depth to his fiction. Despite all of this, I had never read his "lighter" work that he created early in his career, works that reflect his belief in the power of fairy tales. I remember after reading the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings for the first time picking up at the library a copy of The Tolkien Reader, which features all of the tales collected here, minus Roverandom, but somehow the tales remained closed to me until now. My loss really as I absolutely loved Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wooton Major. Simply wonderful, beautifully told allegorical tales of pure magic. How's that for a description haha. Farmer Giles of Ham is also great fun, with some creative wordplay that perhaps only philologists or lovers of semiotics might truly appreciate. I can imagine Umberto Eco enjoying Tolkien's little tale of the odd relationship between the dragon and opportunistic farmer. Capping the volume off is the so called hobbit-verse Adventures of Tom Bombadil, perhaps the most enigmatic character ever to grace the pages of Tolkien's mythological fiction. The verses show a being both in love with, and at one with his natural surroundings. No doubt the author felt a great kinship with old Tom. I know I do. Oddly enough, Roverandom, not published until 1997, but dating to 1925, is my least favorite in the collection. Perhaps if the story had featured a cat instead of a small dog (I prefer the German Shepherd type) I would have enjoyed it more.