Reviews for Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-Earth

The average rating for Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-Earth based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-01-27 00:00:00 HANITRA RADILIMANANTSOA This book is extremely useful to me while I'm writing my thesis paper for my undergraduate degree. I'm writing on the topic of Tolkien's use of Celtic mythology, and this book was one of the most helpful books I found. Burns supports her analyses very well, and presents them in an easy-to-read fashion. She discusses in this book a subject that is often dismissed out-of-hand and prematurely in the realm of scholarly works on Tolkien--his use of Celtic myths and tales of Faërie. Burns is meticulously careful with backing up her analyses with examples from almost every main text Tolkien wrote. This book is an essential for anyone who aspires to be a Tolkien scholar or even a scholar of modern fantasy literature--and it is easy enough to read that even people who are just fans of Tolkien's works will be able to enjoy it.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-04-17 00:00:00 Elena L. Bauer Horribly disappointing. Not only does the author write about rather basic understandings of Tolkien, she also seems to almost completely miss the depth of what makes his writing amazing. While the book began as a decent discussion of the roots of Tolkien's works, Perilous Realms quickly fell to become confusingly off-topic and, at some times, simply sad. I closed the book when the author began discussing the fight between Frodo, Sam and Shelob as being a "sexual encounter." Really. Why hasn't our culture outgrown psychoanalysis (i.e. childish readings about sex) yet?