About twenty pages into Bored of the RingsI came to a somewhat startling revelation: I was one of those people who have an emotional attachment to the original book. I was offendedat some of what I read, as it seemed to be sacrilege! Thinking about it some more, perhaps the real reason for my offense was that this book clearly aims to have a joke at the expense of the original, but really it's not particularly funny. It might be worth taking apart a classic if the end result was actually worth the effort (and cost?), but very little of the end result is worth bothering with.
The only part that made me chuckle was Eorache, daughter of Eorlobe.
Perhaps because it is more contemporary, Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parodyseemed much more fun. The story pulls you along and the gags seem relevant and mostly amusing. After reading the first half of the book I found myself referring to Barry Trotterwhen talking about the original.
The ending came as a bit of a surprise, but that is explained therein, and is in accord with the rest of the book.
Worth reading if you can borrow a copy, probably not worth a trip to the local bookstore or any P&P costs.
