The Book of Lost Tales: Part 1

This was the title given by JRR Tolkien for a collection of stories he wrote in the latter half of the 1910s. His original idea was to create a mythology for England. It included elves which he sometimes called faeries and gnomes, humans, gods, and other assorted beings. He framed it in a larger story of the first human coming to Tol Eressea which is inhabited by elves. Previously, only children came in their dreams. They tell him their history and he is overcome with wanting to be an elf himself. He stays on Tol Eressea and it eventually becomes England. Tolkien abandoned the project several years later, but it was not wasted. The stories evolved into what was eventually published in "The Silmarillion". This book is a must for hard-core Tolkien fans, but it makes reading "The Silmarillion" seem like a cakewalk.

Come visit my blog for my full review...