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Rating: 
Summary: buy this book!
Review: Ditto what everybody else said about Tolkien in the Land of Heroes. I got it based on the Amazon reviews and it totally lived up to what they said. Conversational style with an impressive knowledge of Tolkien. Best book on Tolkien I've read this year.
Rating:
Summary: FAN-tastic!!!
Review: I loved this book! This is the kind of book you want to be reading for you college lit courses. Its a fun and easy read that uses comparisons that everyone can understand and/or relate too. I have to give Anne C. Petty high praise for using anime characters and plots in comparision to Tolkien's. Being a VERY BIG anime fan myself, I was very excited to see this in her book.
Rating:
Summary: Review--Tolkein in the Land of Heroes
Review: If you read only one "academic" book on the works of Tolkein, read this one. Clearly and concisely written, Petty's "Tolkein the the Land of Heroes" takes us beyond Middle-Earth into the greater mythologies of all human history and imagination. Unlike many analyses of his works, this one does what it's supposed to do--it makes you want to read those works of Tolkein which you haven't read, and re-read the ones you have. Both heroes and villains in Middle-Earth have their ancient ties. We find out who they really are, and how our Middle-Earth heroes and villains exemplify the archetypes of human culture. The author is a learned guide through the tangled webs of many paths and many stories, weaving them into a coherent whole. Her fondness (to say the least) for Tolkein is evident throughout this intelligent, clearly-written analysis. For readers familiar primarily with "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", this book will motivate you to read Tolkein's other works, most especially, "The Silmarillion", where all the stories really begin. Dr. Petty's carefully-crafted work is a must for all serious Tolkein fans.
Rating:
Summary: Review--Tolkein in the Land of Heroes
Review: If you read only one "academic" book on the works of Tolkein, read this one. Clearly and concisely written, Petty's "Tolkein the the Land of Heroes" takes us beyond Middle-Earth into the greater mythologies of all human history and imagination. Unlike many analyses of his works, this one does what it's supposed to do--it makes you want to read those works of Tolkein which you haven't read, and re-read the ones you have. Both heroes and villains in Middle-Earth have their ancient ties. We find out who they really are, and how our Middle-Earth heroes and villains exemplify the archetypes of human culture. The author is a learned guide through the tangled webs of many paths and many stories, weaving them into a coherent whole. Her fondness (to say the least) for Tolkein is evident throughout this intelligent, clearly-written analysis. For readers familiar primarily with "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", this book will motivate you to read Tolkein's other works, most especially, "The Silmarillion", where all the stories really begin. Dr. Petty's carefully-crafted work is a must for all serious Tolkein fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Overly verbose and trivial
Review: My wife gave me this book for my birthday this year, and it's the first time I've ever been disappointed by a gift from her. I read 75 pages of this before I couldn't force myself any further.
The book reads like one long run-on sentence. Ideas that should have taken a few words to mention are given several paragraphs; those that should have taken a paragraph are given many pages. An example from early on: the author spends an inordinate time speaking of how Melkor's tainting of the Music of the Ainur and his eventual exile compares to the Eden story in the Judeo-Christian belief system. The author states explicitly that she assumes familiarity with the Silmarillion; anyone with such familiarity who was raised by or near Judeo-Christian folk, who also has this presumed knowledge of the Silmarillion, will find this to be obvious and nearly trivial. Instead of being a building block for a larger theme, is in itself given several pages of aimless discussion!
Furthermore, if (besides Silmarillion familiarity) the reader has anything more than a thin overview of knowledge of Greek and Norse myths, then nothing of interest can be learned here. My guess is that, like me, you'll find that you can rewrite all the useful information contained in the first 75 pages as a single paragraph, not taking even a single page, and conveying the same informational content. I wouldn't bother.
Rating:
Summary: A fine study of myth in Tolkien
Review: Not written in dissertationese, as the author's "One Ring to Rule Them All" is, but in very colloquial English. Petty even apologizes for considering LotR alone without the context of the drafts, but there's no need to do that: it's a clear, straightforward, and insightful study of considerable quality.
Rating:
Summary: A fine study of myth in Tolkien
Review: Not written in dissertationese, as the author's "One Ring to Rule Them All" is, but in very colloquial English. Petty even apologizes for considering LotR alone without the context of the drafts, but there's no need to do that: it's a clear, straightforward, and insightful study of considerable quality.
Rating:
Summary: I am enjoying this book!
Review: Solid scholarly content in a readable, thought-provoking format. Not just another "Tolkien" bandwagon effort, this is another fine book from Petty. More readable than her first one, which I assume was her doctoral dissertation. Much mature thinking here, with good awareness of the general reader.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting
Review: This is a very interesting book. It throws yet more light on the richness of Tolkien's mind and learning, and of the world he created. Plainly this is a mine from which much treasure is yet to be dug! To compliment it I would recommend Hal GP Colebatch's "Return of the Heroes." This looks at Tolkien's relevance to modern mythologies.
Rating:
Summary: a great read
Review: What I liked best about this Tolkien book was the approach. It's written by a Tolkien scholar, but the style is highly readable. It was like having a conversation with someone, looking at all the general Tolkien issues from a couple of different points of view, and maybe deciding that there's not any one right answer. She poses intriguing questions as well as offering answers; this book makes you think. A couple of times I laughed out loud, too. Thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. A valuable addition to my Tolkien books collection.
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