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It was OK. Too much Stross, too little Doctorow? Can't tell for sure if that's why it was only OK.

I can read only so much Stross at a time. His vaunted inventiveness always seems shallow. (And plotwise, this book seems repetitive to me.) I would read this book a while, then say, "I've had enough of this buggery," and put it down. Several times over a couple of weeks, I didn't pick it up to continue reading. (I usually read a book over the space of a few days.)

So what does that say about this book, or me? Make of it what you will. If you like Doctorow and/or Stross, you might like this one. If you like the Doctorow-Stross combo, I think you'll like this.

Interesting world, opens with a big event (sudden destruction of the most powerful city in the world) and explores the consequences with interesting characters. The post-apocalyptic world mixes magic and pre-apocalyptic technology, political intrigue, religion and is clearly intended to be the first of a longer series. The ending is different and not something I expected.

Sadly, I didn't much find myself caring about any of the human characters. I don't know why this was so, but it was. One of the mechanical men, Issak (who was programmed unknowingly to recite the spell that destroyed the city at the beginning of the story), is interesting enough that I'll read [b:Canticle|6435253|Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak)|Ken Scholes|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UfTiTg5zL.SL75.jpg|6624796] to see what happens with him.

Greatly enjoyed it.

His kids were so lucky! Funny stories and Tolkien's own drawings ...

Fascinating, and even inspired me to use Elvish in some of my art projects and to track down Elvish fonts for computers ...

Tom Bombadil was one of my favorite characters in the Trilogy. The book also has fuller versions of some of the funnier poems/songs that the hobbits sing in the Trilogy.

Tolkien - lighter, shorter, wicked sense of humor, plus his excellent illustrations. If you think Tolkien is only the thick richness of The Lord of the Rings, you need to read Roverrandom. And Farmer Giles of Ham.

I'm a musician, so I was interested in what some of the many songs Tolkien has in the Trilogy might be like as real songs.

Unfortunately, the composer was one of those modern types who wrote very modern (as in unusual harmonies and intervals, etc) melodies that wouldn't have been sung by anyone in Middle Earth ...