After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien
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Book Summary Information
Editor: Martin H. GreenbergEditor: Jane Yolen
Illustrator: Keith Parkinson
Collaborator: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Collaborator: Charles de Lint
Collaborator: Emma Bull
Collaborator: Andre Norton
Collaborator: Terry Pratchett
Collaborator: Robert Silverberg Karen Haber
Collaborator: Poul Anderson Karen Anderson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-11
ISBN: 0765302071
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Tor Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780765302076
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien
Book Review: "A sense of mystery"
Summary: 5 Stars
(This is kinda long... the short and sweet is I really enjoyed this book)
After seeing the run of negative reviews I decided to revisit 'After the King' and see if it had lost any of the charm it had the first time through... nope, it still has it. Yes it is true that some of these stories are not tales Tolkien himself would have written, yes some of them can seem out of place amidst the rest, and no they do not take place in Middle Earth, but they all are sweetly faerie and therefore I believe quite Tolkienesque. Please bear with me as I try to explain.
Tolkien was very much the grave and nostalgic author we see in the LotR but he was a lot more too. We know he was light-hearted in the 'Hobbit', but he was also silly and charming in 'Roverandom', and silly and irreverent in 'Farmer Gilies of Ham'. In 'The Smith of Wootton Major' he delighted to show us brief glimpses of a magical land while in the 'Silmarilion' he methodically, but no less wonderfully, presented the whole beautiful and tragic thing. But I think he was most like the painter in 'Leaf by Niggle' who came to find joy in his work yet at the end still yearned for more.
All of the stories in 'After the King' share some of those qualities, albeit some more than others. There are goofy tales and grave ones. Some are light-hearted and some bittersweet. Here's just a few examples: there is the hope-against-all-hope redemptive story of 'Faith', the tongue-in-cheek 'Troll Bridge' reminiscent of Tolkien's own nostalgia for bygone days, and 'Death and the Lady' which exudes that same sense of quiet determination in the presence of great loss that characterized Tolkien's epics. But when it comes to being "after the king" I think 'Gotterdammerung' speaks best for the entire collection when it opens with the following line "We are talking essentially about the need to preserve a sense of magic, of mystery." That is what Tolkien desired(don't take my word for it, read his essay 'On Fairy Stories' and see for yourself). That is what he did best. Never being too fatalistic or disingenuous, he made his worlds a little mysterious. He made them wonderful. These tales in 'After the King' have a bit of that magic in them and the best part of all is that you don't need to be some sort of LotR buff to appreciate it.
If this rambling attempt to compare a few short stories to Tolkien's body of work leaves you a bit sceptical (and my apologies for being so long winded, I felt compelled to speak out) let me encourage you to read this book if for nothing more than the introduction, or addition, to some very good authors. I had not read any of these authors beforehand (I was mostly spending my "fantasy time" rereading LotR) but after finishing many more books by McKillip, 'Fellowship of the Dragon' is still one my favorites. 'Reeve the Just' me led me directly to some of Donaldson's other works, and a friends comparison between the brave apprentice in 'Up the Side of the Air' and the proud apprentice Ged of Earthsea fame introduced me to yet another great author I had never read before. So don't be discouraged because this is not some sequel to 'Return of the King'. Even years after reading these stories and authors for the first time I still feel this is a very good collection worthy of its title.
Summary of After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien
After the King presents an outstanding collection of new fantasy stories by an extraordinary assemblage of some of the very best writers to ever continue the tradition Tolkien began with The Lord of the Rings.
Stephen R. Donaldson, Peter S. Beagle, Andrew Nortong, Terry Pratchett, Robert Silverberg, Judith Tarr, Gregory Benford, Jane Yolen, Poul and Karen Anderson, Mike Resnick, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, John Brunner, Harrr Turtledove, Dennis L. McKiernan, Karen Haber, Barry M. Malzberg, and Charles de Lint contribute to a dazzling anthology that captures the spirit and originality of Tolkien's great work.
The millions whose lives have been touched by J.R.R. Tolkien will find the same primal storytelling magic here, undiluted and running ever on.
Stephen R. Donaldson, Peter S. Beagle, Andrew Nortong, Terry Pratchett, Robert Silverberg, Judith Tarr, Gregory Benford, Jane Yolen, Poul and Karen Anderson, Mike Resnick, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, John Brunner, Harrr Turtledove, Dennis L. McKiernan, Karen Haber, Barry M. Malzberg, and Charles de Lint contribute to a dazzling anthology that captures the spirit and originality of Tolkien's great work.
The millions whose lives have been touched by J.R.R. Tolkien will find the same primal storytelling magic here, undiluted and running ever on.
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