J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Numenor Is Up for Preorder

Here's one for fans of the Amazon Prime show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The show is set during the Second Age of J.R.R. Tolkien's world, and a new book gathers together all of the author's writings about that time period. The collection is called The Fall of Númenor, and it's coming out November 15. It’s available to preorder now with an MSRP of $40, but Amazon has it on sale for $34.99. Order it now, and it’ll arrive when it’s published.

Preorder The Fall of Númenor

So what exactly is this book? It’s the first ever collection of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings about the Second Age. That's the age when the island-kingdom of Númenor, seen in The Rings of Power show rises and falls. It’s when the physical Rings of Power are forged. It's when Sauron gathers his power and creates the iconic glowing-eyed tower Barad-dûr.

Prior to this new collection, Tolkien’s writings about the Second Age have been scattered about. He touches on it in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings (which takes place in the Third Age), and fills it out more in The Silmarillion and other writings that have been published over the years. This is the first time these Second Age texts have been collected in a single volume.

In the book, editor and Tolkien expert Brian Sibley has thoughtfully arranged these clips and pieces in chronological order. Notes from the editor tie the Tolkien pages and paragraphs together in a nicely readable format, bringing a cohesive narrative to writings that might otherwise be difficult to follow for non-Tolkien scholars.

The book is 320 pages long, and it includes new drawings and paintings by Alan Lee, who illustrated The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in the ‘90s, before being brought on as a lead concept artist for Peter Jackson’s movie versions.

Tolkien Illustrated Editions

In addition to The Fall of Númenor, other Tolkien books have come out recently. We've gotten gorgeous hardcovers of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, both featuring illustrations by Tolkien himself. Worth noting that the special edition is a pricy purchase.

The standard illustrated edition is a much less expensive alternate option.

And coming soon is a similarly illustrated edition of The Silmarillion. Between these books and The Rings of Power, it's a very good time to be a Tolkien fan.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.