This book was an absolutely stellar analysis of Tolkien's work over time in the context of his life and of the present day. I especially enjoyed the final chapter, the epilogue on the Rings of Power. I learned a lot and would definitely recommend this one -and probably will end up rereading it at some point.

Groom's book looks at the background of Tolkien's legendarium, the way the text evolved over the years and decades, depiction of Tolkien's work in media, and the applicability of various themes as they apply today. I most enjoyed the history of the changing text. Aragorn was at one point a Hobbit named Trotter! Frodo was Bingo, Bilbo's son! It gave me insight into Tolkien's process of writing, which is to say, he wrote something, and then edited, then edited again. In this book he comes accross, not as a "grand architect", with everything planned in advance, but a tinkerer constantly changing, reworking, and rediscovering his text. Groom reveals how the process took decades, during which finances, overcommittment in work, and general life challenges made it nearly impossible to make progress on the text. I came away with a profound appreciation and wonder that Tolkien actually managed to finish "Lord of the Rings" at all. This, to me, was the most interesting and satisfying part of the book.


I was less entertained by the media explorations, but still found value in the review of the various radio dramas, movies, and game adaptations. (I'm newly inspired to listen to the BBC Radio Drama of Lord of the Rings staring Ian Holm as Frodo.) Groom waxes eloquent on Peter Jackson's interpretation of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He gives the Hobbit more credit on face value than I would, but I suppose his focus was on the choices made in adaptation and not the quality of the movies as cinema.


The exploration of Tolkien themes, was, in my opinion, the least compelling part of the book. Partly this was because Groom examines not only the books but also the movie adaptations and the things they have to say about war, environmentalism, and death. It's possible that I liked this part the least because I already have my own opinions on the themes and disagreed with Grooms interpretations. I grumbled quite a bit to my partner when the author (offhand, and perhaps as a joke) likens Faramir's resistance group in occupied Ithilien as "terrorism", or how he seemed to think that Orcs deserve sympathy because they would rebel against Sauron if they could. I was amused, more than anything, by the authors continual shots at Bilbo as "the most dishonest character" in Tolkien's legendarium. The reason I picked up the book was I was interested in reading about Tolkien's environmentalism. There is some discussion of that topic here, but it is not the principal focus.


Tolkien in the 21st Century was thought provoking, and surfaced a lot of things I didn't know about the story. It's worth a read!

I wasn’t expecting quite such a heavy focus here on the adaptation history of Tolkien’s legendarium works, but actually, it proved very interesting to assess why some adaptations work and some don’t, what different media require in terms of storytelling structure, and the enormous effects of money and changing artistic tastes. (A 1970s treatment for an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings that was mercifully never filmed is so sexual, and strays so far from the book, that at one point it has Galadriel taking Frodo’s virginity in a kind of Elf brothel. Amazon could never.) I’d have liked more sustained attention paid to contemporary readings; there are lots of ways to bring queer theory, eco-theory, and considerations of race and gender into Tolkien interpretation, and Groom only touches on these in the final chapter, really. (I’m still threatening to write an essay entitled “Ungoliant’s Hunger and Bombur’s Couch: Appetite, Gender, and Fatphobia in JRR Tolkien’s Legendarium”.) Still, this is a chunky and gorgeous book which has given me, amongst other things, a very intriguing playlist of Middle-earth-inspired music.

Interesting tidbits.