Rating: 
Summary: Tempests in Teapots
Review: Wow, just finished this one. Interesting read, but not for new Tolkien fans. I say that because the author misrepresents some things and makes other claims that need to be taken with grains of salt. But still, if you know something of Tolkien, and know something of Tolkien commentary, then this might be an interesting read because of the speculations the author engages in. What I do find interesting is the reviewers note here is the previous reviewers comments about those not liking the book being Martinez bashers? That strikes me as a funny comment to make. Why would anyone want to "bash" the author? He wrote a book. Some people will like it, some won't, so bloody what? I also find interesting the claim that the author delved into unpublished Tolkien material. Now just having finished the book, I don't recall Martinez the author making any mention of having special access to the Oxford sources or the Wheaton and Marquette archives in the US to see unpublished material. Perhaps he did, but if he did I don't recall seeing anything in this book that I have not seen published previously. Perhaps that reviewer would be kind enough to politely correct me. Finally, I'll also note that the previous reviewer praising this book was surprised to learn of the influence of Greek myth on Tolkien in the Simarillion. Well, ok, fair enough, but it isn't fair for the reviewer, the publisher, or the author to claim that other commentators have overlooked this. Read Carpenter's biography and discover that very thing for yourself, since Greek and Latin myth formed so large a part of Tolkien's education as a young boy and into manhood. And then read Shippey or Lin Carter or a dozen articles in various journals on aspects of myth in Tolkien to discover, that wow, a LOT of commentators know about the influence of Greek and Roman myth on Tolkien's work. No news here. Yet, this shows the very problem of the book....which is why I find it (the book, not the author whom I don't know) disappointing. It claims to deliver so much, and yet it really doesn't deliver. The only interesting material is where Martinez speculates, and yet that speculation is not something I would say that a new Tolkien fan would understand or appreciate, but would take as gospel. And that would in my view be wrong. My .05, folks!
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