Just like TheOneRing.net’s motto says, Middle-earth Madness is actually “Forged by and for fans of JRR Tolkien”. The description “scene-by-scene analysis and behind-the-scenes stories” already interested me, but this book is much more than that. First of all it has a neat structure that helps you to go through the (virtual or not) pages knowing what is going to come next, but also discovering nice tidbits along your reading process.
Middle-earth Madness analyzes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with the eyes of life-long fans of JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson. Both the movies are reviewed in two different ways: one positive and one negative, just to represent the different opinions of the audience. And it doesn’t matter if you like the movies at 100%, because the negative reviews are interesting to be read even by the hardcore fans, bringing good points to ponder about Peter Jackson’s portrayal.
As already said, each movie is analyzed chapter by chapter, or better, scene by scene, including both geeky observations (I wasn’t the only one who spotted Robert Kazinsky in some frames at Bag End, ha!) and mistakes spotted by the sharp look of the TORn staff. But that’s not all! In addition to all the information and curiosities, you can read exclusive interviews with some of the cast and crew members, like Graham McTavish, Jed Brophy, Richard Taylor. You can also find a chapter entitled Hobbitception and written by Kellie Rice, aka Kili of the “Happy Hobbit” webseries, who tells about how her and her sister’s fangirling reaction video to The Desolation of Smaug was watched by Peter Jackson himself and some members of the cast. They made history among the fans all over the world.
So, you should read Middle-earth Madness if…
- You like/love The Hobbit movies, or you just want to know why people love them.
- You love watching the Extended Editions of the Hobbit movies endless numbers of times, spotting new things every time.
- You like to read what the other fans think about the trilogy (and maybe discovering like-minded people).
- You want to know more about the cast and crew’s lives and professional backgrounds.
- Reading something that lets you think “OMG, I’m just like you!”
You can get a digital or paperback copy of Middle-earth Madness by TheOneRing.net Staff from: Amazon.com ($3.36 – $12.92 USD).
