Atlas Of Middle-Earth: The Essential Guide to the Geography of the World of The Lord of the Rings

What a great book for map-loving Tolkien fans! Extensive, detailed maps, covering both large areas and smaller close-ups of places integral to the stories. All constructed using information collected from all of his books. Deeply researched & documented, nicely illustrated and explained.

This book contains descriptions, insights, and actual maps of Middle-Earth. The book covers all of the Tolkien books and events in each age.

I ordered this to accompany my readings of The Silmarillion, as turning to the small maps in the back of my copy was rather frustrating. It's far more detailed than anticipated. It covers locations described in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and of course The Lord of the Rings. But not only does it portray the locations, it details the paths traveled by various characters and groups, and even shows the movements of forces in Tolkien's many battles. For the most part, these are ordered chronologically, making it a great companion for a read-thru of any of Tolkien's works. Thematic maps, additional appendices, and indexes are included in the back. My paperback edition measures 8 inches wide and 11 high. The pages have a rougher, somewhat old-fashioned, texture, and a decent weight to them. Location labels vary in size, but are plentiful. The maps themselves are accompanied by summaries of related events and citations of Tolkien's descriptions where appropriate. My sole complaint is a lack of color- black, grey, brown and tan do look nice, but have their limits in some of the maps that attempt to describe climates and vegetation. Overall, it's clear Mrs. Fonstad put a great amount of effort and love into this atlas. A must-have for any Tolkien enthusiast.

I have read the Lord of the Rings (LotR) trilogy seven times. I have seen all the movies, good and bad, and seen many local productions. I have listened to many radio plays (the 13-CD BBC production is one of my favorites), often several times. I mention those just to say that my standards are high. Recently, I was looking for some detailed maps online. I looked many places. Most of them were disappointing and none met my needs. When I read the reviews for this book, I was very excited, but tried to keep my hopes in check. There was no need -- this book met my needs and then some. The maps are done by a professional cartographer and it shows in the excellent quality and care for detail. The two-color (black and red, with shades) maps are drawn clearly and detailed. I never had to squint to read the lettering. The summary sections are well-informed, with references for more support for the reader, and covering a wide area of time and topic. Look at the table of contents on Amazon and you will see the wide coverage. Split into sections by the different ages, the sections covering the LotR is detailed. Geographical areas are covered as are the travels of the different parties. Even tables of days and distance and speed are laid out very well. The last section has information on landforms, climate, vegetation, population and languages. Interesting reading that was totally unexpected. This truly is a work of love and worth every penny.

Rating: 7.5/10 I bought the Kindle version of this Lord of the Rings Atlas book thinking it would be a collection of detailed maps with some background on said maps. However, this book is actually a deep dive into the geography and how Tolkien created the Lord of the Rings Map along with how he went about world-building. The book does have some nice illustrations from Tolkien, but just didn't quite hit the mark with what I was hoping it would be. Aside from my own personal disappointment, the quality of the book is really good and does a great job at explaining how, and what inspired, Tolkien to create the map that fans of the series enjoy. The book also delves deep into the geographical traits of various Middle Earth locations and does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what Middle Earth would look like. Overall, I would say how much a reader would enjoy this book is dependent on 1.) Having a strong imagination, 2.) Enjoying intellectual books where you can learn about a subject, and/or 3.) Being a big fan of the LOTR/Tolkien Universe. From my perspective, I would recommend this book with a personal caveat of not expecting lots of maps.

I have been reading the works of Tolkien since the mid-'60's - this is the first really good, complete and accurate maps I have found. The content is chronologically ordered, with the Third Age by far the most complete. That makes sense because the LOTR is also the richest and most complete work by JRRT. The First and Second Age are in the book, but are less complete and detailed. Not to mention that the creation of the world itself was - almost by definition - hard to describe as the first inhabitants were spirits and the world itself was not complete. The table of distances and day-to-day tracking of the characters is very complete and I have to complete the author on her persistence.

Karen Wynn Fonstad was an amazing cartographer, who loved the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s other works, and stayed true to his style and details provided in the narrative of the books. When I began reading my favorite book, LOTR, to my boyfriend, he wanted to follow along by looking at the map that came with the book. But he found that map hard to read and not detailed enough, so Fonstad’s “The Atlas of Middle Earth” was the answer and has been a great companion for following along with the story.

The same revision of this book is printed separately in the United States and England with different covers and different quality ink and paper. The European version is by far higher quality and worth getting if you can find it. Unfortunately this is difficult to find in the United States and Amazon or Ebay appears to be the best option. Also the author is deceased so future revisions are unlikely. This book is a great reading companion to the Lord of the Rings as is arranged so that you can follow the storyline along the maps of middle earth as the story progresses. Our copy arrived in brand new condition after only a few days.

Una obra ya casi legendaria. La autora, ya fallecida, dio aún más "realidad" geográfica a los mapas de J.R.R. Tolkien, compilando, resumiendo, explicando y poniendo en relación la geografía con las obras literarias del "imaginarium" y la evolución en el tiempo de la Tierra Media. Muy recomendable si eres aficionado a Tolkien o tienes curiosidad por su mundo. Leer el Silmarillion junto a este Atlas, por ejemplo, ayuda a comprender muchas cosas. Lo único malo (o quizá es bueno) es que está en inglés.

good

He leído de otros autores qué se quieren colgar de la fama o escribir sus teorías de temas inventando o sobre interpretando las cosas (ejem: la filosofía de los hobbits, los simpsons y la filosofía, guía para leer la tierra media etc). En cambio Fonstad hace una construcción geográfica con la información expresamente tomada de lo publicado por Tolkien. No le pone de su cuchara, pero siempre con sentido riguroso el su profesión qué es la cartografía. Es muy entretenido leer la descripción de los mapas, hay mapas para prácticamente todos los eventos qué suceden en el señor de los anillos, hobbit y el silmarillion. Hubiera sido mucho más fácil leer el silmarillion por primera vez con este atlas. Los mapas son hechos a mano y se nota el trabajo, mucho mejor para los mapas del silmarillon qué el del señor de los anillos. Se sienten un poco más simples, tal vez por que estos no representaba un reto tan grande. Obviamente estamos leyendo de situaciones y lugares de ficción pero sin duda un ojo académico al construir y en este caso cartografíar los mapas, enriquece enormemente la calidad del trabajo. Se puede observar en la consistencia de las distancias y elementos cartograficos durante todo el libro. Es una lástima que no trabajen con el sistema internacional de medidas y usen millas y pies pero bueno son costumbres qué van cambiando para bien.

Very useful book. I’ve read silmarillion and lotr many times before but this time will be a different journey. I believe these wonderful books must be read in guidance with comprehensive maps to feel like a true Middle Earth’er. This excellent and meticulously prepared guide book is that all you need for this to happen. Besides, the delivery was fast and the condition of the book was perfect as i received. Recommended.

Semblait bien, mais j'ai fait un autre choix de livre finalement.