The Complete Guide to Middle-earth

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A treasure trove of fascinating information - Rated
My thirteen-year-old daughter has become a solid Tolkien fan, and picked up this book for further study. Organized into dictionary form, this wonderful book contains all of the information on people, places and things found in J.R.R. Tolkien's books on Middle-Earth. Do you want to know more about Elrond or the great Wizards? What about the Grey Havens or the Rings of Power? Well, it's all here!

The information is nicely organized, including translations (where necessary) and source reference. Now, the one thing I must say is that if you have not read the Silmarillion, then a good deal of the information here will not mean much to you. If you have read it, then this book will be a great resource for you. If you haven't read the Silmarillion (like my daughter), then you will still find this a treasure trove of fascinating information. My daughter and I both highly recommend this book to you!

Good Book! - Rated
This is has to be one of the best compainiun (sp?) To the works of Tolkien. The slight hitch is that it was relised after Unfinished Tale and History of Middle Earth seris, so doesn't contain infomation from them. Still one of the best compainiun, though

A very detailed and accessible read - Rated
This book is really fabulous with its enormous detail giving very thing about the character or place with as much detail as can be found about it in texts.

Its expansive text was a must have for me and gave enormous detail about such subjects as details about the seven fathers of dwarves and the folk of durin as well details about what aragorn did in his youth against the corsairs of umbar.

It also tells about many things not even mentioned in the book- like all details concerning helm hammerhand as well as all is known about the palantiri and the hoards of easterlings that invaded gondor and nearly brought it to its knees as well as virtually all that is known about the istari and sauron.

This book has great detail(so much so that even christopher tolkien recommends it) but I found its only shortcoming was that it hardly had many details about genealogical tables which I had wanted to know about and huge gaps were found in several places in that way.

But other than that I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in middle earth with a guarantee that they will be pouring over it for hours.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Middle Earth - Rated
The book has a well thought out design in a dictionary form. You find information on every character, every place, and every thing. There is a section on how to read the sources and abbreviations in the book. There are appendixes with A Chronology of the First Age, Genealogical Tables, and Conversion of page references to Houghton Mifflin Editions.

Some may think this guide is geared towards those that already have a basic knowledge of Middle earth. But upon exam one finds it is like any other dictionary those with a large vocabulary may need an occasional glance; while others may have to look up the words that explain the words.

I find it indispensable.

The COMPLETE guide to Middle Earth - Rated
This is THE reference book to have with you if you are interested in the Lord of the Rings etc. It has an extensive cross-referencing system which is a bit confusing until you get to grips with it. Having said this, I found it an easy to use, easy to read guide, with lots of new information about places, people, languages, as well as historical details.