A book review of Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien
Hi Steemit and dear followers!
Yesterday I finished reading the first story of the book Tales of the Perilous Realm called Roverandom. The book consists of multiple short stories written by Tolkien, some of which happen within the realm of the Lord of the Rings and some don't.
The first tale of the book is called Roverandom. The story is about a little dog called Rover. Early in the story Rover comes across a Persian wizard called Artaxerxes who puts a spell on him, making him as tiny as a toy. From there on, Rover is taken on a journey to the edge of the earth, to the moon, back down to the depths of the sea, and eventually back home. On his journey, Rover meets various gods and wizards. First, Rover meets the seagull Mew, who takes him on his back over the edge of the earth and to the moon. On the moon lives a wizard with his dog, also called Rover. The moon dog claims to be the first dog to be called Rover, so from here on our little dog will be called Roverandom by the moon wizard.
Roverandom asks the moon wizard if he can give him back his original size, but he can't. The little dog has to go back to Artaxerxes on earth and beg him to turn back the spell. At that moment, Artaxerxes happens to get married in the depths of the sea, inside a huge whale. Mew brings Roverandom back to earth, where the god of the sea, Psamathos, takes him underwater to the whale. Once they get inside the whale, there is another dog called Rover. This dog also claims to be the first to be called Rover, so our little dog will keep the name of Roverandom a little longer. They witness the wedding of the wizard Artaxerxes and after a couple of days, Roverandom finally convinces the wizard to turn him back to normal. After that Roverandom can finally return home to his owner.
Opinion
I think this story is one of the more simple stories of the book. After all, it is a childrens' story that Tolkien wrote for his son who lost his toy dog. This story explained where it went, so the boy wouldn't be as sad about it.
It's not that I didn't like the story, but it isn't the same as e.g. The Hobbit or the Children of Húrin, obviously. To me this story was one to read and forget, although I was very interested in seeing how Tolkien's writing skills were outside of the world of the Lord of the Rings.
I'm really looking forward to reading the next story: the Farmer Giles of Ham! I believe this story does happen in the LOTR realm, so it's something to look forward to.
To finish this post, I will post some of the illustrations by Alan Lee, which also appear in the book I have myself. Thereby I hope to give you a better idea about the story and what its world looks like.
Roverandom and Mew traveling through the air, on their way to the next destination
Source: blog.fortfido.com
Roverandom and the sea-god Psamathos
Source: baiaodeletras.com.br
Artaxerxes, the Persian wizard, with his wife
Source: Tumblr
There are so many amazing stories behind the pencil of this author... i read the 5 must read but also "durin sons" and have 4 more to read, never heard of the one you speaj about but wil definitely look for it- Followed you my mate
@anomadsoul His stories are fascinating indeed. Roverandom is a short story that doesn't have anything to do with the Lord of the Rings-world. This is my collection if you're interested:
Thanks for following!