Product Description

Packaged in a beautifully designed slip-case gift box, The Tolkien Collection gathers for the first time both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in audio format. These are the original American dramatizations as broadcast on public radio. The packaging features original art from John Howe, renowned Tolkien illustrator and conceptual artist for the Peter Jackson film trilogy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #636412 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From Amazon.com
Hobbits and wizards and Sauron--oh, my! Mild-mannered Oxford scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien had little inkling when he published The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again in 1937 that, once hobbits were unleashed upon the world, there would be no turning back. Hobbits are, of course, small, furry creatures who love nothing better than a leisurely life quite free from adventure. But in that first novel and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo and their elfish friends get swept up into a mighty conflict with the dragon Smaug, the dark lord Sauron (who owes much to proud Satan in Paradise Lost), the monstrous Gollum, the Cracks of Doom, and the awful power of the magical Ring. The four books' characters--good and evil--are recognizably human, and the realism is deepened by the magnificent detail of the vast parallel world Tolkien devised, inspired partly by his influential Anglo-Saxon scholarship and his Christian beliefs. (He disapproved of the relative sparseness of detail in the comparable allegorical fantasy his friend C.S. Lewis dreamed up in The Chronicles of Narnia, though he knew Lewis had spun a page-turning yarn.) It has been estimated that one-tenth of all paperbacks sold can trace their ancestry to J.R.R. Tolkien. But even if we had never gotten Robert Jordan's The Path of Daggers and the whole fantasy genre Tolkien inadvertently created by bringing the hobbits so richly to life, Tolkien's epic about the Ring would have left our world enhanced by enchantment. --Tim Appelo

From AudioFile
[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with THE HOBBIT.]--These mythical tales of Middle Earth were bestsellers when they appeared in the 1950s and '60s and are now enjoying a revival of interest including the popular movie LORD OF THE RINGS. These recordings are not readings of Tolkien's novels, but are adaptations of both works for full-cast radio production. If you want all of Tolkien's words, this is not the choice. If you want a full-scale production with sound effects and music, this is a very good choice. While it's difficult to say what a dwarf, an ork, or a wizard should sound like, all of the voices in this production seem entirely appropriate to the characters being portrayed. Some of the sound effects, such as horses endlessly clomping, are repetitive, but in general the sounds add to the sense of atmosphere. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
A flawless masterpiece" The Times Extraordinarily imaginative, and wholly exciting.' The Times 'The story itself is superb.' Observer 'A most remarkable feat.' Guardian 'An astonishing imaginative tour de force.' Daily Telegraph 'Tolkien was a storyteller of genius.' Literary Review 'Amongst the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century.' Sunday Telegraph