Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set [Hardcover]

Terry Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2001

Officially licensed by Tolkien Enterprises, Inc. Like the hobbit Frodo Baggins, change your world forever by journeying through the magical land of Middle Earth! Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved trilogy The Lord of the Rings--soon to be a major motion picture--this entirely new divination system answers important questions about your future. The premise: that the kingdom of Middle Earth symbolically lives inside all of us, profoundly influencing our lives. Here are the materials you need to access that knowledge--packaged in a beautiful slipcase, designed to look like a book: a powerful runic ring; a guiding map, modeled on those in the original trilogy; one richly illustrated book to direct you as you seek answers; and 40 tarot-like cards. You'll treasure this marvelous pack for its eye-catching design and for the way it elaborates and extends upon your favorite novels!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling; Gift edition (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080692053X
• ISBN-13: 978-0806920535
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,743,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a watered-down, and highly-questionable product., April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set (Hardcover)

I bought this package with the impression that the beautiful artwork and design would be protecting a lavish tarot deck and placemat inside... this turned out to be somewhat true, but still a far cry from what I wanted. It's a 40 card deck, self-designed by one guy, with little-to-no accuracy or depth when compared to a real tarot deck, and uses a rather unbelievable "One Ring" divination idea that is basically an ouija board. Tolkien would've hated this product, and I think it's a piece of over-commericalized drivel. Also, the included map that is supposed to be used for placement of the cards, etc is so heavy in stock, and creased so severely, forget ever placing it fully flat - thus rendering it worthless!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ohh...Ick!, September 29, 2002

By 

Terrie (Little Chute, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set (Hardcover)

This oracle set is packaged so lavishly, in my opinion, to trick one into buying what is a poorly executed deck of 40 cards, a cheesy plaster of Paris "ring", a stiff and inaccurate map, and a little, awkward hardcover book. The book gives directions for using the ring on its own, the ring with the map, and the ring with the cards...kinda like a pendulum or Ouija board type of thing. Why would you want to use the very symbol of evil to ascertain the mysteries? The book also gives three different meanings for each card, Esoteric, Personal, and Reversed. The esoteric meaning for the Mirror Of Galadriel card has a few disjointed phrases about the Kabbala and some psycho-babble about unresolved personality/sexuality...... The art on the cards is just plain awful and if you love The Lord of the Rings they may actually make you wince with pain as they did me. Gollum, subtitled The Unloved Child looks vaguely like the figure in the famous painting called The Scream. The White Tree looks like a spindly birch that has been crookedly planted. Saruman looks like Sir Walter Raleigh while Gandalf looks like John Malkovich with a bad hangover. There is a card inexplicably titled The Mothers that shows two really ugly beings supposed to be Rose Gamgee and Belladonna Took holding infants. Mount Doom looks utterly unthreatening. The Black Riders look like really tired people, some quite feminine, none malefic, with the red-eyed leader sporting a huge pair of Longhorn steer horns. The elves are depicted as ladies in pastel dresses and men in cutaway coats and lacey cravats with Vandyke beards. Treating the great work and artistry of J.R.R.Tolkien in such a fashion is just bad karma. Stay away from this.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What...the...heck?, April 28, 2002

By 

Everheart "I was born in the wagon of a trave... (Sunnydale, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set (Hardcover)

Let's leave aside the question of whether the world needs yet another media tie-in divination pack, and address some of the difficulties with this particular system:

1. The One Ring as divination device. Um...the symbol of ultimate evil used as a casting stone/pendulum? Is that a good idea? Not to mention that this version of the One Ring is a small doughnut covered in what appear to be Dwarven runes.

2. The cards. The subject choices are at best arguable - Beorn the Bearman gets a card of his own, but archetypal quest hero Frodo doesn't? Art ranges from rushed, to ugly to really, really silly (often all three). The Palantiri, for example, are depicted as a pile of squishy eyeballs with gumball-colored irises.

3. The map, which we're meant to use as a mat for card layouts and Ring casting. The mapmaker is under the misapprehension that the Bridge at Khazad-Dum is an actual river-crossing bridge, that Rivendell is between Caradras (North) and the Mines of Moria (South), and that Lothlorien is next-door neighbor to Mordor.

The only person I can imagine getting any real benefit from the box, map, cards, and ring would be a collagista or altered-book artist, who will find some interesting (if pricey) fodder for cutting and pasting. Tolkien fans will be frustrated if not outright angered, while diviners and Tarot collectors will probably giggle and look for someone else to whom the set might be given away without guilt.