Expertly written, a great analysis of many of Tolkien's works.

Some of the conclusions in this book are so weird and evidently wrong, perhaps due to the early date of the book. Still, some of the author's thoughts and perspectives were quite interesting and I'll most likely use them.

This is the second book Of Tolkien commentary that I’ve read in the last year, or at least the second book which digs into the Lord of the Rings in order to understand the epic critically. Unlike Tom Shippey, who’s "Author of the Century" made a foundational criticism from which later Tolkien scholars and fans would begin their defense and validation of the “old professor’s” work, Kocher it seems has not had the same level of success. And I’m not sure why this is.

Kocher’s book is a marvelous companion material to The Lord of the Rings, because of the way the man manages to dig into the material of the novels and try to gleam some lovel of serious critical insight. Rather than look at the inividual books however Kocher looks at elements of the texts dedicating chapters to the various races and organisms, Sauron and the very quality of evil which exists in the novels, the character of Aragorn, and the precursor novel The Hobbit. Each of these chapters provides a general body of material before it digs into the analyses, and it’s to Korcher’s benefit that I never got tired of hours writing.

Unlike some commentary books, where authors become wrapped up and overly immersed in their criticism and analysis, Kocher keeps his writing approachable. Anyone who has read the books, or even just heard of The Lord of the Rings could pick this up and understand his work. For this reason alone Korcher’s text is a valuable addition to Lord of the Ring studies.

I should note that I gave the book four stars however because the last chapter ends on an analysis of the poems associated with Tolkien’s character Niggle rather than another element of the trilogy. The last chapter isn’t terrible, but it distracts from what had been an amazing book up to that time.

Korcher, much like Michael D.C. Drout and Tom Shippey before him gave me a new perspective in which to observe Middle Earth and the characters I’ve spent my entire life immersed in. This book was marvelous.

Very interesting essays on "Sauron and the Nature of Evil", "Aragon" and "Cosmic Order" in Tolkien's works. A lot of things I had not thought of previously in the epic.

This is very old - it predates the publication of The Silmarillion - but still very well worth reading. Lots of interesting insights, especially on some of Tolkien's shorter works that are not often much talked about.