{"product_id":"the-saga-of-the-volsungs-9780141393681","title":"The Saga of the Volsungs","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLegends from the Ancient North\u003c\/em\u003e brings together some of the magical texts that most influenced Tolkien.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'They summoned their friends, readied their horses, and prepared their helmets, shields, swords, coats of mail.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJ.R.R. Tolkien spent much of his life studying, translating, and teaching the great epic stories of northern Europe, filled with heroes, dragons, trolls, dwarves, and magic. He was hugely influential for his advocacy of \u003cem\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/em\u003e as a great work of literature and, even if he had never written \u003cem\u003eThe Hobbit\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Lord of the Rings\u003c\/em\u003e, would be recognised today as a significant figure in the rediscovery of these extraordinary tales.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLegends from the Ancient North\u003c\/em\u003e brings together from Penguin Classics five of the key works behind Tolkien's fiction. They are startling, brutal, strange pieces of writing, with an elemental power brilliantly preserved in these translations. They plunge the reader into a world of treachery, quests, chivalry, trials of strength. They are the most ancient narratives that exist from northern Europe and bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of the magical landscape of Middle-earth (Midgard) which Tolkien remade in the 20th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46533623513324,"sku":"9780141393681","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8738793482238.jpg?v=1749394407","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/products\/the-saga-of-the-volsungs-9780141393681","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}