In Print: Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien

When this "new" Tolkien book came out, I had to get it. It's a compilation of various short stories by Mr. Tolkien written over the years and published in various forms. For the first time ever the stories are all combined under once cover and sold as this collection, TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM.

For the most part I wanted this book for the stories about Tom Bombadil. He was mentioned in the Lord of the Rings books and I was always curious as to what he was and where he came from. Since this book included some writings about Tom, I thought I would finally have my answers. Not so much. If anything, they were ambiguous at best, and at worst, left you with even more questions.

The other stories, like Leaf by Niggle, Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham, etc, are all charming tales, but nothing that you become attached to.

If you're a fan of the works of Tolkien, you will find this interesting. If you think Tolkien is stuffy and hard to read, this would be more your speed. If you don't care about Tolkien at all, you can probably pass on this tome and have no worries. It's no LOTR trilogy.