Saturday, January 25, 2014

Exciting story with historical figures.

I found it interesting to read this thriller which includes the characters of J.R.R. Tolkien and Ian Fleming.

They are in Nazi Germany in 1938 and witness the oppression against the Jews. Fleming is a reporter for "Reuters," while Tolkien is a professor of Nordic studies at Oxford and recently published "The Hobbit."

There is an elderly, retired professor from Oxford who is in possession of a secret device that Henrich Himmler wants. From the opening lines, the reader is brought in to the suspense and intrigue that is taking place in the story. As a reporter, Fleming is very thorough and is able to analyze what is happening and view the consequences.

We see excellent character build up and are fascinated when Fleming falls in love with the professor's daughter.

The authors work well together and the story takes some of the concept of "The Hobbit" 'as the men are aided by a number of ageless dwarfs and have to find a secret cave. They all want to keep this secret device from the Nazi's which could make them even more powerful. The book has good literary association and as in "The Lord of the Rings," the professor wants to keep this device from the Nazis and if he wants to deprive them of it, he must destroy it himself.

The plot moves swiftly and I enjoyed the characters and found it entertaining to think of them in history and to follow their actions. I could easily see this story being made into a film.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

This sounds like it has some really interesting twists to it. I like when fictional stories include "real" characters, too.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Kelly. I had fun reading about characters who were authors of whom I've read their novels.

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