pERIC BRIGHTEYES - A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN. With original illustrations.ppRider Haggard is among a small selection of Victorian and Edwardian writers whom Professor J.R.R. Tolkien author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit acknowledged by name. In her introduction to this new edition Cecilia Dart-Thornton says, 'Haggard's classic is an action-packed adventure filled with Viking feasts duels, battles on land and sea, romance, treachery, magic, beautiful women and brave heroes. In a description that could be straight out of The Lord of the Rings, Haggard writes that Eric was strong and great of stature, his hair was yellow as gold, and his grey eyes shone with the light of swords.' 'For both authors, landscape plays as important a part as any character, and is described in concise yet evocative language. Haggard plunges his readers among the dizzying precipices, waterfalls, fast flowing rivers, icy winters and stormy seas of his fantastic Iceland, much as Tolkien sweeps us into