Thanks for making a Tolkien book review where you actually talked about what is inside the book and what is written, and not just the outside of the book and thickness or whatever.
Thank you! This video was insanely helpful. I just purchased the first five volumes in a box set! I'm looking forward to reading through these stories for the first time. Thank you!
I want the whole 12 book collection but don’t like these the big volumes because I feel like I’m gonna rip them. Do you like the five book box set? Was thinking about getting them instead. Do you see any drawbacks?
Thank you so much for making this review I almost just bought the 1-5 box set. My wife LOVES Middle earth and all that goes along with it. Once get her this box set I know she will LOVE it. Thank you again.
Great review! I've just gotten into lotr this year. Read The Hobbit, fotr, ttt and just started rotk. Ofc, planning to read the other books and was also thinking of getting these volumes. So, this vid was a great help in deciding whether to buy the box set especially since its pricey!
Nice video. RIP Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 - 16 January 2020). He did his father, and all JRRT lovers, an invaluable service compiling, editing and annotating this massive amount of supporting material. I will never in a million years be able to read all this, but want to possess this "precious" work, just the same. (Well, probably in an *actual* million years I could manage it. :-))
Some twenty minutes ago I was not sure of what version of HoME I need to look for, and now... :-) So far, this is the best review I've ever seen. It answers all of my questions I've been spreading around in a form of comments under those videos, still none of them replied. Eh, probably people collect books not for reading but for putting them on their shelves :-) Thank you for your truly informative video. All the best!
Just ordered the revised Atlas of Middle Earth last night, this is my next purchase along with The Great Tales of Middle Earth.. Can't wait, thank you for making this
Excellent video! Thanks so much for going into such detail with each volume. I've been looking at getting these for a while but couldn't find any proper in depth looks at them. The period that I am most interested in reading about is the Second Age, particularly Sauron's deceit of Celebrimbor and the forging of the Rings of Power, as well as Sauron bringing about the sinking of Numenor from within, and finally about the battle of Dagorlad with the Last Alliance vs Sauron and the defeat that led to Isildur claiming the One Ring. Is any of this covered much in these books? Or is the majority still found in Unfinished Tales and the Silmarillion?
+Nirvana Rain Thanks for watching and im so glad you liked the video! You are going to see most of the stuff that concerns the second age in "the shaping of middle earth", the "lost road and other writings" (which is one of my favorites because of the depth it covers, and in that book you will find the origins of Numenor), and the "peoples of middle earth". Look through those books and you should find what you are looking for. You will see the original conceptions of what Tolkien first intended to do with those stories and you will see how the evolved into what they became in the Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales. I hope this helps!
Are there two paginations? One on the top and the other in the bottom of the page. I'm not sure if I saw well, but I deduce that they must be of original pagination and the set pagination.
Anyone who wants this box set might be interested to know that Amazon had these on sale on black Friday for £75 (brand new on prime). I think that works out to be $99 at current exchange rates. So if you are in no hurry, you might try next black Friday.
@@megaknizzle I have watched this video no fewer than 40 times and also the one on 12 volume editions. You've done an amazing job, and explained everything eloquently. Are you on Facebook? I would appreciate if you can make more videos on the Middle Earth Series.
Thank you Sir for providing this informative review; I am pondering on buying this set but I must admit I am reticent because of the all issues that have arisen due to inconsiderate postage 'handling'; it does look like a wonderful edition though, thanks again.
@@ronwatson7006 which supplier did you go with? I have found on a few occasions when ordering with Amazon that my middle Earth books have been damaged. Most of the time they only package it in a single book box with no extra protection.
@@jamiemurphy4682 Hi Jamie I eventually went with a UK local supplier on EBay they had the best price and like you I had concerns that Amazon did not always take the best care of books when packaging items up. I emailed the supplier first though and explained the importance of robust packaging for this item and they did a great job - no complaints at all. Ron
This collection is the history of Tolkien's entire writings on Middle Earth. Rather than being a narrative this is more of a history of the process of forming the narrative and an exploration of the influences. If you want the stories that the movies are based on then you can buy boxed sets that include The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.
I'm not very familiar with Tolkien's writings so please forgive me for my ignorance but would you mind clarifying why The Lord of the Rings books (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) as well as The Hobbit and The Silmarillion are not included in these books? They're supposed to be the complete history, no?
Hey it's okay. All the white books you see are actually the lord of the rings. They are titles tolkien had in mind while writing them. They are the history of how they evolved into the lord of the rings we know today. The silmarillion was tolkien's greatest/longest work. He actually never saw it completed. The first 5 books are on the elder days concerning the events of the silmarillion, and books 10 and 11 were tolkien's writings on the silmarillion after he was done with the lord of the rings. The silmarillion we have today was put together by his son using the books 1-5 and 10-11 from this series. All of these books are basically a chronology of tolkien's work on his mythology from the earliest days to his last.
@@megaknizzle Thanks, I really appreciate your comment. When you say they are the story of how they evolved, do you mean they're more of a commentary to the actual story rather than the story itself?
@@Labios_Rotos yes, the history of middle earth is largely a commentary by Christopher tolkien, but what he has a commentary on also goes along with actual writings by jrr tolkien, writings in their original form. It's very neat because you can see tolkien's original ideas and how they evolved into how we see his universe today. The book of lost tales 1 and 2 are very good reads in my opinion
If you pause the video at 6:41, it shows it as the Harper Collins 2002 edition. I don't know what differences there might be between the two editions. Perhaps there are corrections that would be valuable to have?
So, do i read this along with all the other tolkien's work (the hobbit, the lord of the rings trilogy, simarillion, etc.) Or do i just read this and not the other books?
@@kitsunemackz8130 read the whole box set. this Box set contains all 12 volumes of the history of middle earth. Read the box set volumes in order which contain the old names of LOTR Return of the shadow (Fellowship) Treason of isengard (2 towers), War of the ring (Return of the king). I think the hobbit and the silmarillion is excluded from the box set
No, definitly read the other books first! These are earlier drafts and supporting materials for Tolkiens writing process. Only reading them would be like skipping a movie and only view the Behind the Scenes, Deleted scenes and maybe some Commentary audio tracks. In film terms: this is background, not an director's cut nor a extended edition.
