This book arrived very late in the afternoon and was delivered by accident to our neighbor's house, and we received her mail. After a mutual exchange of hostages I was finally able to relax; it had been out for delivery since 8:44 AM and I had made many weary journeys out to the mailbox on my game leg throughout the day. It has cost me more trouble and anxiety than many more eagerly anticipated books.
I wonder even now why I bother with these volumes by WETA, beautiful as they are. I began buying them, of course, long before I realized what a glorious dud The Hobbit Trilogy was going to be. Perhaps it is just my OCD wanting to finish what I started, perhaps it is the insight gained from these pages into what a teasing might-have-been the Trilogy turned out to be: how could so many wonderful designs and careful decisions somehow add up to ... that?
Even after many years the books are not cheap, but still I buy them when I can. I lack one more volume, titled "Cloaks and Daggers" (costume and weapon design - thrilling, no?), even more expensive than "The Art of War", and I shall probably get it when the occasion arises. Even though I can barely stand to watch the movies again. Yet. But such a fool I am.
