Very likable ... It’s one thing for a biographer to override his subject’s objections, another to deny him any authority as a reader of his own work. Tolkien, Taylor claims, 'is the worst person in the world to tell us what his books are about.' This needs some pulling back ... This isn’t the only occasion when a valid argument is undermined by overstatement.
If there were to be a new biography of Tolkien, DJ Taylor would be an excellent candidate to write it. An award-winning biographer of George Orwell, he also has impeccable nerd credentials ... reed from the obligations of biography, Taylor offers instead a wittier, shorter and more irreverent book that traces Tolkien’s life, while grappling with the mysteries and contradictions of his personality and his achievements ... Thorough, insightful and deeply researched, The King Under The Mountain manages to smile at Tolkien’s quirks and absurdities while paying tribute to his mysterious and undoubted gift.
Biographers have often struggled, which makes DJ Taylor the right man for the job. A polymathic critic and serious novelist, he knows as much about inter and postwar literature as anyone alive. He also has deep Tolkien background ... He is an indefatigable researcher, but sometimes forgets to consider what the reader will find most interesting ... Much surer-handed on Tolkien’s professional life ... Ultimately the book to read on Tolkien remains The Lord of the Rings.
This is by far the most entertaining study of Tolkien I’ve ever read ... As estate continues to refuse access to the writer’s private papers, DJ Taylor tackles his biography from unexpected angles to great effect.
He approaches Tolkien as an enigmatic architectural puzzle, uncovering the often contradictory man beneath the reverent myth ... The result is a masterful, deeply humanizing life that uncovers the mortal heart beating beneath the mountain of legend, revealing the twentieth century’s premier mythmaker in all his complexity.
Extensive research is folded unobtrusively into the text, presenting evidence clearly and adroitly. Short chapters of sparkling reflection illuminate the terrain of the mountainous eminence. Neither iconoclastic nor hagiographic.
