Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth
Perilous Realms is a pleasure to read. Marjorie Burns writes in a style that is literate and graceful, avoiding the stiff and stuffy prose of much of today's critical writing. With this valuable piece of work, Burns displays a thorough knowledge of both Norse and Celtic literature of the medieval period, and by focusing on the hitherto-undervalued Celtic aspect of Tolkien's fiction, fills a gap in the spectrum of Tolkien scholarship.' Verlyn Flieger, Department of English, University of Maryland