Rating: 
Summary: Really Great Tolkien Companion
Review: Throughout my many, many long years of being a Tolkien reader, I have yet to find a more concise, complete, and useful companion to this great author's works (Middle-Earth works).
I found this to be exceptionally helpful the first time I ever read Silmarillion. Since I had read it in pieces over the course of several months (definitely not advisable), and with so many names, characters, places, and peoples, I have to admit that at times I got a little lost. But keeping this book at hand, all I had to do was flip through I couple of pages in it, read a nice little entry, and I was back into the Silmarillion, with a much needed memory boost.
This book is also just a lot of fun to flip through. It contains almost everything regarding Middle-Earth, from notes on characters, places, kingdoms, to family trees/histories. The only thing it doesn't contain (which is why it get a four) is a complete map of Middle-Earth. Considering that such a map is very hard to find (most only go as far east and south as Mordor), it would have been really nice to have one, especially considering that it is a 'complete' guide.
However, I still would consider this - as stated before - the best Tolkien companion; you simply can't go wrong if you are a Tolkien fan.
Rating: 
Summary: A Complete and Best Guide to Middle-Earth
Review: Robert Foster has created an excellent book for those that want to know more about Middle-Earth. The information is not only complete and concise, it also includes the book source, the Age, word origin, and translation for many words. This book is so much more than I expected. It has made reading J.R.R Tolkien's works more enjoyable, and has made me better understand the great imagination and depth of work created by Tolkien. Thank You, Robert Foster for creating this fine work so that I can quit leafing through Tolkien's pages for information, and can turn directly to the correct page and information.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book To Understand the Middel-earth World
Review: This is a very well written though guide book for the Middel-earth world. I personally think that it's great for any one who wants to learn more about the world that Tolkien created. It answers a lot of questions that aren't difficult to understand.
Rating:
Summary: An Indispensable Reference For The Tolkien Fan
Review: As otherwise comprehensive as the appendices at the end of The Lord Of The Rings are, Professor Tolkien seems to have forgotten (or not to have had time to include) one important thing: a glossary. Fortunately, Robert Foster has come to our rescue with his wonderful Complete Guide To Middle-Earth.Tolkien has created an incredibly complex world in his Middle-Earth books; a world in which it's almost impossible not to (at least occasionally) get lost. Can't quite remember who the Numenoreans were? What the Eldar were? Where Thangorodrim was? Here's the book for you. Highly recommended to Tolkien fans both new and old.
Rating:
Summary: Language
Review: When I bought this book my focus was not on the history (which there was much of), but the elves and their languages. This book contains lots of their words and helpful comments on the origins and developments, but no distinction between the words as to which languages they fit into. Overall helpful as far as history (and very extensive character explanations).
Rating:
Summary: Good... could be better.
Review: I agree with others that the definitions aren't often that clear and require that you know the character/item ahead of time. But there are a few areas of improvement that would really make this book shine: -Including guide words on the top of pages would make finding terms easier.
-The genealogical charts at the end are full of errors - mostly typographical - including obvious ones such as switching the names "Aragorn II" and "Arathorn II".
-Maps would make geographical descriptions so much easier. They may have not been included for other reasons, but would make this truly a superb reference. In conclusion, this book may be misleading in its appeal and not be so well suited to the casual reader. It may also spoil some events you have not yet read if you are reading Tolkien for the first time. It is great for that occasional (aka frequent) confusion though. It is a useful reference and with a good edit would be vastly more excellent and accurate.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you ever wanted to know about Middle Earth
Review: The book has a well thought out design in a dictionary form. You find information on every character, every place, and every thing. There is a section on how to read the sources and abbreviations in the book. There are appendixes with A Chronology of the First Age, Genealogical Tables, and Conversion of page references to Houghton Mifflin Editions. Some may think this guide is geared towards those that already have a basic knowledge of Middle earth. But upon exam one finds it is like any other dictionary those with a large vocabulary may need an occasional glance; while others may have to look up the words that explain the words. I find it indispensable.
Rating:
Summary: Almost everything included
Review: I give kudos for this book. I truly enjoy it. The only complaint I have is I feel it is incomplete. There are characters I'd care to know more about from Simarillion that aren't included. It is a great resource otherwise.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth purchasing
Review: What can I say except that this is truely a 1st rate book. Of the many "Tolkien companions" available I found this one perfect as unlike many others Foster has not forgotten the "lesser characters and places". The A-Z format is easy to use and understand and makes finding certain characters a breeze. The addition of dates, page references and language origin is a bonus I personally found which was lacking in many other companions available. As I mentioned before, what makes this a stand out addition to any Tolkien fan is that Foster has not forgotten the lesser known characters and such. Other companions tend to "omit" things in order to elaborate more on the main characters etc which I feel goes against the point of the book (To help readers learn abit more on characters and places etc). Foster has to the the joy of readers included ALL characters, places, battles AND foods and included the many multiple names and terms of characters so it doesn't matter whether you look up for example Strider instead of Aragorn as Foster will include the various names at the end of each section so you can look up them as you wish.
One "fault" I did find with the book was like many have mentioned, the lack of maps. It has been extremely difficult to find a "complete" map of middle earth and perhaps if Mr Foster should read this, the addition of maps in the future would surely improve my already high opinion of this beautifully put together book.
Rating:
Summary: Essential...
Review: This guide is extremely helpful for first time readers and absolutely essential for fans who intend to embark on the Silmarillion and other works by Tolkien. It is basically an encyclopedia of every thing, person, and place in Middle Earth. And Foster cross-references where needed. The only thing that this guide does NOT encompass are the literary changes in the legends that occured as Tolkien developed them throughout his life. For example, in the Silmarillion it is Gwindor who guides Turin to Nargothrond after Beleg dies, but in the Lays of Beleriand, written much earlier, his name is Flinding (Tolkien changed the names of people and places a lot during his writings). Foster's encylopedia only has Gwindor and not Flinding. This is in keeping with Foster's goal to stick to the published and official accounts of Tolkien's work: the Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion proper (along with some other reputable sources). This is probably a good thing though, otherwise the guide would need to encompass the entirety of the 12 volume HoME series, causing its sheer size to become unwieldy. If you are anything more than a causal one-time reader of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, this book definitely belongs in your collection.
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