"The Last Ringbearer"

[browngirl]

Has anyone read this? From Wikipedia:

The Last Ringbearer (Russian: Последний кольценосец) is a 1999 fantasy book by Russian author Kirill Eskov. It is an alternative account of and an informal sequel to the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. The summary sounds... mindblowing.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

...that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic. The shining tower of the Barad-dûr citadel rose over the plains of Mordor almost as high as Orodruin like a monument to Man – free Man who had politely but firmly declined the guardianship of the Dwellers on High and started living by his own reason. It was a challenge to the bone-headed aggressive West, which was still picking lice in its log ‘castles’ to the monotonous chanting of scalds extolling the wonders of never-existing Númenor.

Sounds like an Ayn Rand wank fantasy.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I've read it--it's very odd, and I'm not sure how much of that is the original text and the translation (there's a free translation PDF online you can find pretty easily since the book isn't available for sale in the west). The part that always stuck with me is how after the war Eomer becomes a religious convert to something pseudo-Islamic and basically becomes a whirling dervish--with shades of critique for both the religious leanings and the specifically pseudo-Islamic leanings. The narrative itself sounds like a far better idea than the actual fiction.

[sockich.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love these types of stories, I will definitely be checking this out. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! :)

(I don't know if you already found it or not, but just in case, here (http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html) is the free English translation in various formats)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I read about a third or half of it and got bored. I really wanted to like it, and the premise is good, but it doesn't go anywhere I found interesting. He's a big Faramir fanboy and describes Eowyn with a male gaze that made me stop reading it.

But I wanted to like Mary Gentle's Grunts, too, and I didn't like it and couldn't finish that either. Published Tolkien parody has never worked for me, and though these aren't precisely parodies, they're in that vein. Even though I role played for a few years in a parodic Tolkien universe, so I'm not adverse to parodying Tolkien.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I may have to seek out the English translation...

[karadin.livejournal.com]

It does remind me of how Wicked re-interpreted the Oz books, so your icon is apt!

[dreamflower]

I've not read it myself, but it's been thoroughly discussed in several forums. It's legal in Russia because of their different copyright laws and was never approved by the Tolkien Estate--but that's not really all that important. But I think there are some free online versions.

I don't mind some revisionism, but this one sounded a little too extreme for me, so I lost interest in looking it up.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

It looks fascinating, whether elegantly or trainwreckily I'm not sure.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

... wow. I. Wow, that's a mental image. Wow.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, bb, and thank you!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Huh. *takes notes* Thank you.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

It's linked in the comments.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*beams* I'm glad my icon choice came through!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*nod* The summary made me make faces, so I see what you mean.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I'm not kidding, that's almost her exact writing style, and a close approximation of a lot of the themes in her work. I don't know whether it's because both writers' first language is Russian, or there's something else at work.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Yep. It really kind of makes it hard to take the rest of the book seriously, even though I kind of wanted to just for paper purposes.