This was discussed on usenet:rec.arts.sf.written and I thought this comment was cogent:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...&output=gplain
>Seriously though, I have read Yeskov's novel some ten years ago, when it was
>officially published in Poland. It caused a great turmoil among die-hard
>Tolkien's fans, who considered it "blasphemous" - not because of the
>copyright issue, but because the good and the evil were so thoroughly
>reverted there. Those who remember Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples" should
>understand what I mean. Personally, I liked the book, but this reversal of
>well-established stereotypes is its main merit. Without any references to
>Middle-Earth it would have been just a second-rate spy story/political
>thriller, like the many clones of Frederick Forsyth.
I'd rather read a first-rate thriller, thank you, or find the time to finish reading _The Complete History of Middle Earth_ (burnt out at Vol. 4).
To be fair, there was some interesting discussion on Slashdot of why Russians are inclined to this sort of re-write for historical reasons.
William