Crawford, Brian: Isildur. 20 May 2007

[Roy White]

I was looking for LOTR to download for Sony Reader the other day and ran across this book. Isildur.

http://home.comcast.net/~crawford.b/...r/isildur.html

The Prequel to LOTR. Excellent writing! I e-mailed the Author and he agreed to let me format the book for Sony Reader and post it here..
Give it a whirl. Its good stuff... Very true to Tolkiens vision...

And I've read LOTR maybe 15 times...
Heres his description of the book...


"If you really got into Professor J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, you have to read Isildur. Just as Lord of the Rings told the story of the war that ended the Third Age, Isildur tells of the even greater conflict that brought to an end the Second Age.



Synopsis
The time is over three thousand years before the birth of Frodo Nine-Finger the Ringbearer. The Elves are much more active in the affairs of the world and the hobbits and wizards have not yet appeared. The mighty empires of the exiled Men of Numenor are just rising to the height of their glory. The high king Elendil rules in Arnor in the north and has entrusted the southern realm of Gondor to his sons Isildur and Anarion. The great cities of Annuminas and Minas Anor and Minas Ithil are still under construction. But there is a shadow of evil on the world, a remnant of an ancient folly.

Eighteen centuries earlier, the Elvensmiths of Eregion, led by their master Celebrimbor, learned how to forge the great rings of power, giving their bearers powers that the unlearned might call magic. A mysterious foreign mage appeared and assisted them, teaching and learning with the Elves. Then, disaster. The stranger was revealed to be none other than Sauron, servant of Morgoth the Enemy, whom all thought lost, and he had created the One Ring, with the power to rule those who wield the other rings. His hordes swept out of the east and overran Eregion. Only when the Men of Numenor came to their aid were the Elves and their allies able to drive Sauron back to his land of Mordor.

There was peace for a millenium and a half, but then Sauron attacked anew. But he struck before his power was sufficient, and the Numenoreans took him prisoner. He soon rose from prisoner to courtier, and finally advisor to the king, and through his lies and treachery he brought about the destruction of Numenor, and very nearly himself. Sauron fled back to Mordor. The Men of the West, refugees of the downfall of Numenor, settled in Middle-earth and founded the Realms in Exile, Gondor and Arnor. They brought peace and order to the Men of the Twilight, those Men who had remained in Middle-earth.

Now Sauron is striking yet again, sweeping across Gondor with flame and sword. The Elves and Men joined together in the mighty Last Alliance and pressed Sauron's forces back within Mordor and have besieged him there in the Barad-dur, his Black Tower. But they are unable to break the Tower and are forced to remain in siege, not daring to turn their backs. The uneasy stalemate continues for over seven years, until the Lords of the West determine on a desperate course.

Isildur is sent throughout the West to gather another army to launch a surprise attack on his own city of Minas Ithil, still under the control of the dreaded Nazgul, Sauron's most feared lieutenants. This time, the allies will use their greatest weapons and their greatest danger: the Great Rings of Power. But this is exactly what Sauron has been waiting for so long.



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See:
The White Fleet of Lindon battle the Corsairs of Umbar in a mighty naval battle!
An entire nation doomed to continue as undead until their oath is fulfilled!
The origin of The Mouth of Sauron, the Dark Lord's eldritch spokesman!
The great Council of the West, held under the majestic Dome of Stars in Osgiliath!
The Three Rings battle with the Nine as the Elves attack the Nazgul in Minas Ithil!
The final battle on the slopes of Orodruin when Sauron emerges at last!
Isildur's fateful decision to take the One Ring for himself!
How the Ring came to be lost so that it would be found again by Gollum!



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Isildur is:
Consistent in major details with Tolkien's history of Middle-earth.
Written in Tolkien's exciting, uplifting style and high language.
A complete novel, with thirteen chapters, 326 pages, over 144,000 words.
Complete with an introduction to establish the historical perspective.
Supplied with a preface explaining how this ancient text has been brought to light.
Enhanced with a day-by-day chronology of the events of the war.
Packaged with a glossary of the people, places, and things that inhabit it.