Somebody tell Colin Duriez to read the title of his own book. Observe that the title includes the name "J. R. R. Tolkien" -- and not the name "C. S. Lewis."

This is not really a guide to the writings of Tolkien. For that, you want something like Robert Foster's Guide to Middle-Earth. It's not a biography of Tolkien; there are plenty of those, with Humphrey Carpenter's still perhaps the best. Rather, this is a sort of a hybrid: It has references to some of the items in Tolkien's universe, and some details of Tolkien's life, plus some insight into Tolkien's thought and theology.

Or, rather, what Colin Duriez thinks C. S. Lewis would have thought about Tolkien's thought and theology. I'm serious. It seems as if Duriez can't interpret Tolkien except through a C. S. Lewis filter. It is extremely obnoxious. If I wanted a book about C. S. Lewis, I'd read one. Duriez wrote one of them, for pity's sake! (One very similar in format to this one, in fact -- the same sort of overview of life and writings and thought.) I could imagine writing this book in reverse -- Tolkien's theology influenced Lewis, so you could perhaps think about Lewis as Tolkien viewed him (and disagreed with him). But Lewis's only real influence on Tolkien was to encourage him. There is very little Lewis in Tolkien's work, and there shouldn't be so much Lewis in this guide.

If you don't mind the merciless monotony of Duriez's monomania, you may well find this a useful book. It's not as complete as Foster's guide or Carpenter's biography or Tom Shippey's studies of Tolkien's sources, and if you're willing to go for a complete set, you should instead get Foster and Carpenter and Shippey's various works. But if you're only going to get one book, this might be the one you want. ( )