@courtenay hahaha... I didn't want to totally dampen expectations, but there was a definite sense of "I'm sure we've been here before" when writing the story.

Still, fifth time's the charm! 😉 

Posted by: @courtenay

…although that excitement is tempered by the fact that this news article (by @icarus) ends by listing a number of earlier proposals for Tolkien-and-Lewis movies that never got off the ground...    

Still, if Angel Studios is making one picture and ‘Burns & Co’ another, between the two of them we may get at least one film. (And given Boxen and the Netflix Narnia movies are in progress too, there is a lot of potential for C.S. Lewis fans.)

Yeah, we may see an element of bandwagoning as studios try to jump on the excitement generated by the release of a new major series.

Right, I have finally had the chance to browse through The Mythmakers by John Hendrix, which soon led to me buying it and reading it in full, and now here is my review!

(Shoutout first of all to the ever-brilliant Blackwell's of Oxford, the endless labyrinth (it extends through several buildings) of books at the heart of that great university city. I had an afternoon in Oxford just the other day and it started raining, so I ducked into Blackwell's, knowing that I'd find this book there — they always carry books by and about famous Oxonians, especially Tolkien and Lewis — and I spotted it almost immediately.)

I would highly recommend The Mythmakers to anyone who loves the two authors that it centres on. In some ways there wasn't much in there that I didn't already know, from having read longer biographies of both of them, but this work focuses really deeply on their friendship, the things that drew them together, what they had in common and what they didn't agree on, and perhaps most importantly, the huge influence that they had on each other and how this one friendship pretty much kick-started the modern fantasy genre. Basically, it becomes clear that if these two men hadn't met and supported each other at a crucial point in both their careers, we wouldn't have anything like the epic fantasy books and films and games and so on that so many of us know and love today.

I was a little bit apprehensive about how a writer and illustrator from a very different country and culture, who is living so many decades after Lewis and Tolkien's era and who never met either of them, would handle the thoroughly British atmosphere that the two of them lived and moved and breathed in. I'm glad to say that I needn't have worried. Hendrix obviously has had to invent a lot of the dialogue for them and other characters, but he draws heavily on the records we have in letters and reminiscences by them and those who knew them, and virtually all the dialogue is convincing, or at least none of it ever had me groaning "Oh come on, there is no WAY they would have said THAT!!"

And Hendrix does provide extensive references and always marks lines that are direct quotes from particular sources, so it's clear that very little of it is outright made up. (Except for the scene right at the end where Tolkien and Lewis stop for one final conversation that they didn't have the chance to have in this world, before they "enter into the West", and while of course that part is definitely all invented — as the author readily admits — it does sound like the kind of things I hope they would have said to each other, and perhaps have said, wherever they are now in that Great Story.)

I was also dubious about the "very British raccoon" that @AJAiken mentions in her review above, but I was very relieved to find that he's a side character who only appears in two of the three "portals" about the history of myth and fairy tale, which are at the back of the book for readers to either go to when directed in the main story, or skip as they choose. Since he's an imaginary / fantastical character as much as the Lion and Wizard who do the narrating, I can live with that well enough, although it is a bit jarring to have a North American creature speaking in attempted Britishisms. (And his name, Gene, is definitely one I would associate more with the US than the UK — it's not at all popular over here.) Perhaps he's an American or Canadian emigre who fell in love with Britain at a young age and moved over here to become one of the keepers of the fantasy library into which we step a few times in the course of the narrative! That I can accept (especially as an Aussie who fell in love with Britain and moved over here likewise, though I try not to imitate local dialects unless I'm deliberately having a joke). I'd be a LOT more annoyed if Hendrix's version of mid-20th-century Oxford had a raccoon running around in the streets or in the grounds of Magdalen College!! But there's nothing anywhere near that jarring, so kudos to him again.

The diversions about the history of myth are really interesting, I should add, and enrich the main story without detracting from it. Hendrix also does a great job of showing Lewis's journey from atheism to faith, and what Christianity meant to both these authors; he (Hendrix) is a Christian himself, but he's careful not to lay on anything preachy (just as Tolkien and Lewis were too). So although I'm also assessing this from the position of a person of faith, I'd say that even readers who are not religious should be able to appreciate Hendrix's treatment of this essential part of both these authors' thoughts and lives.

The illustrations are really beautifully done, with a lovely restrained colour palette and a nice balance of realism and quirkiness, and the way the story is told really draws one in. I must say Hendrix doesn't hold back on the sad and tragic parts — I wouldn't recommend the Great War scenes for very young readers (they're not too graphic, but the horror isn't glossed over) — and there's a pervading note of sadness in how Lewis and Tolkien gradually grew apart over a number of factors and never rekindled their friendship in this world. But the book is beautiful and the story is very sensitively told, and there's a lot in it that I think many readers will enjoy pondering and dipping into again.

In short, a 9 out of 10 from me and a big "Go for it!!" to any other NarniaWebbers who've been considering buying and/or gifting this one!  

Thanks for the review, Courtenay! I didn't read every sentence in case of spoilers, but what I did gather was all positive enough. I've become more tempted by the novel now... a potential Christmas pressie, maybe?  

There was a classic Dr. Who story with the title The Myth Makers, but I don’t think it has anything to do with a book that has a very similar title.  It is a story where the Doctor goes back to ancient Greece and I think William Hartnell was the Doctor back then. I have the audio book on CD and it is quite enjoyable listening.  I have always liked the historical adventures of Dr. Who. Most of them are in the early years of the series (1963-1965).  The later episodes were located on other planets, although occasionally there were historical adventures.

Here is an interesting article:

https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Myth_Makers_(TV_story)