After putting the final dot in “The Lord of the Rings,” Professor Tolkien closed the door on the world of elves and dwarves, orcs and goblins, hobbits and men that he had created—and threw away the magic key. Only one writer—Nick Perumov—managed to find the guiding thread into the mysterious and fragile world of Middle-earth. The task proved not to be simple: every wrong step threatened to erase the path, and every inexact word could ruin the magic. But talent won. Tolkien’s world came alive, changed, played with new colors previously unknown—and turned into the world of Nick Perumov. What was conceived as a free continuation of “The Lord of the Rings” grew into a bright, thrilling epic—one of the most prominent in Russian and world science fiction.