Rating: 
Summary: The Definitive Reference
Review: I ought to preface this review by saying that I've had the opportunity to meet Dr. Fonstad, who until retiring recently was a cartographer in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, through a talk she gave in an introductory cartography class about her work.That having been said, if you're looking for a glitzy book of slick pictures of Bilbo, Frodo & Co.'s wanderings, don't buy this book. If you're looking for an exhaustively researched, meticulously prepared visual guide to Tolkien's world, don't look any further. Rather than detract from the Atlas, the hand-drawn plates fit in rather nicely, with a warm, old-fashioned feel, dovetailing nicely with the style of the books. However, the Atlas is not a slave to Tolkien's words. There are many instances where what is described word-for-word in print is physically impossible, even by Middle-Earth standards. Rather than shoehorn her maps into these impossibilities, Dr. Fonstad chose to preserve Tolkien's vision of a believable world, and created a geographically consistent structure throughout. Far from heresy, this serves to enhance and reinforce the vision presented in the Atlas. As exhaustive as the information in the Atlas is, it would be very difficult to come up with a perfect layout and presentation. It can be a bit difficult to use and sort through, especially when you first pick it up. But, with a little practice, and a little patience, it will serve you as faithfully as did the little map in the front of your paperback copy of The Hobbit the first time you read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs to be Reorganized
Review: Other reviewers have pointed out that the graphics are clumsy and that some of the maps are inaccurate. On top of these complaints, I would like to add that the Atlas could be organized a little better. After seeing the movie I decided to re-read LOTR for the first time in years, and I bought this Atlas to accompany me on the journey. I was disappointed in how the "Lord Of The Rings" section of the Atlas is laid out: you get, for example, a drawing of the Fellowship's "Pathway" to and through Moria somewhere around page 160, while the detailed maps of the internals of Moria are around page 128. Use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature on the Atlas' Table of Contents to see what I mean. It seems that the editors did not put enough thought into how a person reading LOTR would want to use the Atlas. I don't know why the editors chose to put the detailed views of significant locations in a separate section. These detailed views should have been mixed in with the non-detailed views using chronological order.
Rating:
Summary: Better than nothing, but very disappointing
Review: This book looks like someone's old college doctoral project. It's OK, but in consideration of the renewed interest in all things Hobbit brought about by the new movie series, this is really a very disappointing and lack-luster work. The maps are unicolor (all shades of brown or tan) and flat - no attempts at topological representation anywhere - and have the "look and feel" of maps drawns for a college project rather than professional cartography. Most of the text is reprinted from various Middle Earth stories with a few original comments from the author, but not much is added to the overall commentary of the Middle Earth. The multiple errors in the maps are discussed in other reviews of this book, so I won't repeat that. It is not a bad collection of line drawings of the geological features of the Middle Earth, but given the computer graphical imagery available to any college student today, it is far, far short of what it should be.
Rating: 
Summary: A Remarkable Labor of Love
Review: This book gives us the geography of the stories set in Tolkien's Middle Earth, from the Elder Days to the end of the Third Age. The author, a cartographer, has drawn dozens of three-colored maps, accompanying them with informative texts based on written descriptions and sketches. Her sources include Christopher Tolkien's The History as well as the Silmarillion, the Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. This is fascinating stuff, carefully done. It meets a need for Tolkien fans frustrated by the inadequate maps that have accompanied some editions of the trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: A Great work; Easy to understand
Review: All I can say is 'wow'! Fonstad has made the world of J.R.R. Tolkien understandable to almost any who pick up her book. Not only does she give maps and keys, but she gives a full explination of what is going on in the map. She shows regional maps of middle-earth, seperate maps for Gondor and Mordor, not to mention the maps from the Silmarillion, and much more.
I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I just had to read the Silmarillion after picking up this book so I could be guided through all that was happening.
Once again, Fonstad is wonderful, as a geographer and a cartographer, she has made middle-earth come alive!
Rating:
Summary: Big helper for The Hobbit and The lord of the Ring..!!
Review: I'm so glad that I bought this book. It helped me a lot to understand and get the pictures of what/when/where and how each characters did in the Lord of the Ring trilogy books. There're maps of the journeys in the Hobbit and The fellowship of the rings. Maps of many important places such as, Lonely mountain, Rivendell/ Lothorian. Also, there're pictures summary about all the battles (Helms deep..etc).. All the maps are more in detail than Tolkien maps found in the books. If you have a little hard time to imagine all of the landscape and places Tolkien described (just like me), this book is a must-have one.. Recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful For Lovers of Middle Earth
Review: Done by a cartographer, this is a wonderful gift for anyone who loves Middle Earth. A good layout of the land and major features. Wonderful! Explantions are detailed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent - accurate and good-looking
Review: This is definitely a must-have Tolkien reference. Ever find yourself reading about the seige on Isengard by the Ents, or the travels of Bilbo in Mirkwood, and been frustrated by the maps in the book being too small? Then get this book! It has tons of maps of places in all of Tolkien's books, both regional and specific maps. It also contains linguistic, vegetation, migration, and population maps, and maps that follow the great journeys of the books day by day.
There is also analysis of the rock types in Tolkien's locales, as well as descriptions of landforms that might be unfamiliar (like downs), not to mention the great index - an essential when you want just the right map of something. One more neat feature is the conversion charts, enabling you to convert the page numbers of one edition of a certain book to another.
Overall - great book, don't think it could have been done better. Buy! :)
Rating:
Summary: Concise, yet some might find troubling
Review: Karen Fonstad's acclaimed atlas of Middle Earth, to some, has done justice to the focal topography of the region. I must say from a personal perspective that as a 1st time respective viewer of Tolkien's work, I cannot fully judge this atlas for it's accuracy but for it's informational status. Many reviews have proclaimed that Fonstad's approach to Helm's Deep and countless other regions have been fondled with completely. I sure can easily say that this has not yet phased me. What have though are the quality amounts of information I have checked upon with my multiple Tolkien references and my copies of the Silmarillian and the Lost Tales. I see absolutely no difference. Not long ago I had created a very successful paper on the 2nd Battle of Beleriand and the strategically prepared maps found on pages 28-on were very helpful on approaching the work in a concise and focused manner. Among these needless facts, the book contains multiple references to each individual route from each individual book Tolkien had written; each and every migration of Elves. Basically, if you worship Illuvitar in your basement and call your friends to slay Orcs over the weekend, you have the possibility of being disappointed. For the beginners in gear for a more advanced topic, be ready to devote every blood-sucking hour to Morgoth's cruelty against the Elves of Beleriand.
Rating:
Summary: Puts Tolkein's Imagination On Paper
Review: Ok, you saw the movie and you have now picked up the same sense of excitement the rest of us had in the late 60's Lord of the Rings is an amazing epic. When you consider Tolkein was the first to pull this kind of fantasy out of his mind, it's all the more amazing. It IS hard to follow the many travels of The Fellowship, and later all the other bands and armies moving all over Middle Earth. And perhaps this book is not perfect, but I think it does an amazing job of anchoring the story. Using this as a reference while reading the Trilogy is indespensible for placing the travels in context. These books are a journey...the stories of journeys. I'm an Air Force Navigator, I need to see maps. Here they are. Cheap at twice the price. Buy this reference book.
|
