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.