Tom Merritt

This tale is very slow to get into. It bears a lot of similarity to the version included in previous partial publications. The opening chapter is very dry like the Silmarillion. I like this part of Tolkien's work but I felt like I'd read it, and was expecting his son had worked it into more of a story.

After the first few chapters, it does get into more of a tale, and less of a historical record, however it only occasionally gains the personal presence of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

All in all I found myself compelled to pick it up each night by the end, and so feel as if it was worthwhile. The magic of Tolkien is preserved by his son, and I give it a 4.

Well, I wrote it, so I'm certainly biased. I like the overriding concept a lot. The breakup of the Soviet Union still fascinated me when I began writing it in 1993. The idea of what would happen if the US suffered a similar fate, I still find very compelling.

I broke the story up into several storylines all told from a different character's point of view. This can be confusing sometimes and I could probably do a better job differentiating the voices, but overall, I liked the way it gave you different windows on the crises.

Some weird parallels have occurred since I first wrote it. I referenced a disaster in New Orleans long before Katrina happened. And now most recently the Lakota have begun a serious push for independence.

So if you're into speculative future type political fiction, I think you;ll get a kick out of it.