`Never did [Tolkien] write a more sustained account of battle. With dragons and fiery balrogs galore, the attack on Gondolin makes Peter Jackson's souped-up cinema battles look like tabletop games.' The Times `The text is rife with references to characters and creatures that come ... Read moreto play a role in The Lord of the Rings... one passage in particular seems to set up one of the most famous scenes from the LOTR trilogy.' Time `It's a load-bearing pillar in the grander narrative that eventually came to encompass better-known works. Tolkien explicitly expressed his wish later in life that the three Great Tales of Middle-earth's early days - The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin - along with The Lord of the Rings and other writings, should be considered as one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings .' Entertainment Weekly Show Less