The Worm Ouroboros (The Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

xxvi, 452 pp. Before Tolkien, there was E. R. Eddison."The Worm Ouroboros" is a classic heroic high fantasy novel by English writer E. R. Eddison, first published in 1922. The book describes the protracted war between the domineering King Gorice of Witchland and the Lords of Demonland in an imaginary world that appears mainly medieval and partly reminiscent of Norse sagas. E. R. Eddison weaves a compelling adventure, with a majestic, Shakespearean narrative style. His sweeping tale recounts battles between warriors and witches on fog-shrouded mountaintops and in the ocean's depths-along with romantic interludes, backroom intrigues, and episodes of direst treachery. J. R. R. Tolkien himself acknowledged this novel's influence on "The Lord of the Rings."