Thank you ABRAMS Kids, Fanfare, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This book is a mix of narrative and comic panels, not a straight graphic novel and is a great way to explore biographies of the two prolific fantasy writers — J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. It is geared toward younger audience with a Lion representing Lewis and a Wizard representing Tolkien. However, the language used might be a bit beyond the target audience. There’s a lot of information and terminology, especially in the first half of the book, as well as notes on research and sources at the end. I can recommend this book to any C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien lover.

3.5 stars rounding up - a lovely introduction to the lives of two men to whom much is still owed in contemporary fantasy. Hendrix brings each to life and provides a small element of closure, imagining what these two once friends final conversation could have been.

I found this graphic wildly intriguing and it was such a fascinating read. The format was so easy to follow and the art added got the story. I also love how I felt as if I got a full history but it didn’t seem to drag. The ONLY thing I wish was slightly different was the extra doors that you could read up on. While I loved the idea of it reading it digitally made it SO difficult to try to read. I do think I would have enjoyed those sections as I read, going back after I had read the rest of the way through really wasn’t enjoyable. But I would have loved it if I was reading a print version.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I enjoyed the graphic novel aspect mixed in along with it reading like a regular book. I like that the main characters-a wizard and lion was a play on Tolkien and Lewis. It was nice getting a more in-depth look at the mens’ lives.

I enjoyed this. It did have bits there were more book than illustration, but everything was so informative. I learned a bunch of things I didn’t know so I loved that aspect of the research the author did. The illustrations were GORGEOUS! I loved learning but the illustrations were my favorite part of this. It took each author’s work and made it even more beautiful.

The Mythmakers is part biography, part literary study. It follows the early lives and friendship and ultimate distancing between C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien and Lewis were close friends for a good portion of their lives, and had an incredible impact on each other and the literature they are most known for. The book is 80% graphic novel but it does have some prose chapters interspersed, which I think was helpful because the book covers a lot of ground. For me, the strongest parts of the story were the biographical sections, featuring The Inklings and other friends of Tolkien and Lewis. I liked the segments with the Lion and the Wizard less, I'm not sure the information on genres and classifications of literature really added to the story. The art was very well done, even in the black and white rendering for the advanced copy. There is a decent amount of discussion of religious topics, as this was important to Lewis, Tolkien and also the author, but I don't think this would deter a reader who isn't a Christian. Overall I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of either of these authors and their works.

This is a fairly detailed biographical look at the lives of C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien, how they became writers and how their lives intertwined into a long-lasting friendship.

Not having previously known much about the authors, this was highly educational for me. Their lives during the war were particularly interesting as well as the dreamy moments they spent in front of a roaring fire having intellectual discussions with other literary figures.
I found myself completely absorbed in their stories and I was honestly a little heart broken when it came to an end. Their friendship was a beautiful one and I was sad it didn't end particularly well.

This book is marketed towards children but I really enjoyed it as an adult. I'd even go so far as to say it might be a challenging read for younger audiences. Additionally, this book is categorised as a graphic novel, but it is very text heavy. The book goes back and forth between comic panels and full pages of text.

It should be noted that Christianity and religion are both very strongly touched upon in this book, having been central points to both of these authors lives.

Thank you NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I loved the mix of narrative and graphic novel the author has used. It is an effective way of telling the story of Lewis and Tolkien’s life, friendship and writings.
I have previously read Lord of the Rings and also The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but not the others in the Narnia series. This has made me want to go and read the rest.

A wonderful biographical account of the friendship and collegial relationship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

I loved this graphic novel about my two favorite Oxonians, and the creativity shown in this goes beyond the format and is evident in the text and the imagined scenes of dialogue between the two men.

I loved the comic panels rendering our heroes as a wizard and a lion, as well as the explorations of the many sources from which these two writers drew inspiration for their work.

I read pretty much anything I can get my hands on that covers Lewis and Tolkien and if you do as well you won’t really find any new information here, but the unique presentation is so terrific that you won’t mind at all. And if you’re newer to the biographical information and lit crit on their work, this would be a lovely place to start.

A new book from the author of The Faithful Spy. This nonfiction books tells the story of the friendship between JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. It gives background on myths and fairy tales, in addition to their lives before they met at Oxford. Given that their relationship fractured near the end of their lives, I loved their final conversation imagined by the author. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

I think this is an excellent way to tell Tolkien and Lewis' stories. I'm not a huge biography reader, so it helped to have comic panels and art throughout to better digest the content. I also thought it was an interesting concept to explore deeper topics by way of "portals" to different pages. Part of me wished this had been a straight graphic novel, but it definitely is more along the lines of a novel written in prose with added illustrations. I recognize this book may be the perfect format for some people, and it did make the experience of reading a biographical text more enjoyable. However, I found myself to be bored and never wanting to return to the book once I put it down. That's why I ultimately decided to DNF (did not finish) this one. In spite of that, I could absolutely recommend it to people interested in Tolkien and Lewis' stories told in this format.

I absolutely loved this book and truly believe it will be a hit with children when it's published.
This book tells the history of C. S Lewis and J. R. R Tolkien, as well as giving information, in such a fun way. The pictures in this graphic novel are perfect for children to enjoy the content.
Its a massive hit for me and I'll definitely be buying a copy!

3.5 stars. I want to definitely point out that this is a mixture of prose narrative and comic panels, not a straight graphic novel. This is specified in the description, but I’m seeing a lot of general marketing just calling it a graphic novel. I think the format choices worked really well and having fantastical cartoon guides helped keep the story moving while adding a bit of enchantment which definitely fits the theme of the two authors being centered. I felt we got a bit bogged down by defining terminology in the first chunk of the book, so I was glad when we started getting “portals” where we could flip to a specific page in the back for more context/information at our leisure instead of it breaking up the narrative. I do think I learned a lot about both authors and their relationship, and it inspired me to go read or reread their works.

One personal concern was that when sexism was brought up it felt quickly brushed over/excused as a product of the time. This is not to say it was the author’s intention, but I almost felt (for my own opinion) I’d rather have not seen it brought up than have that be the treatment.

The ARC is uncorrected, so I expect issues with typos/errors will be looked into later. I’m particularly interested to see what the final product looks like in full color. The ARC was black and white illustrations and I actually really enjoyed them as such. From the cover and couple sample illustrations it looks like a heavy blue-green/purple/yellow color palette.

I appreciated the note on research and authenticity at the end, and all of the compiled source citations. I had already begun doing impromptu research based on questions that came up while I was reading, which is a definite sign the author made me care about their story.

“We write myths…because our hearts were written by a Mythmaker.”

The Mythmakers is an absolutely adorable concept that I thought suffered a bit in execution at first. Emphasis on “at first,” because this little graphic novel really grew on me. Not only was it packed with interesting information about Lewis and Tolkien, about their history shared and separate, and about the genres they helped found out of their great love for myth, this was an emotionally impactful story. I didn’t expect to find myself choked up by how Hendrix drew his tale to a close, but I was. I ended up loving this book so much that I had to preorder myself a physical copy for when it releases in September.

As the title states, this is the story of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the remarkable fellowship between the two. Theirs was a brilliant friendship that actually changed the world. Without their friendship, Lewis never would have come to Christ, and thus never would have penned any of his works. There would be no Mere Christianity, no Screwtape Letters, no Narnia. And without Lewis’s encouragement, Tolkien’s work would have never been shared with anyone outside the four walls of his home. Can you imagine a world without The Lord of the Rings? That work is singlehandedly responsible the fan culture as we know it today, and was unequivocally foundational to the fantasy genre that now so populates the literary landscape.

I’ve always adored C.S. Lewis, and consider both his fiction and nonfiction essential to the shaping of my faith. While I wasn’t always as big a fan of Tolkien, he’s always had my respect and gratitude for helping to pave the way for so many of my favorite stories. And in recent years, I’ve fallen in love with Middle-earth. The friendship between the two men, and the entire concept of the Inklings they founded, has fascinated me for as long as I’ve known of it. So, when I saw a graphic novel about that friendship, I was immediately interested. I’m so glad that I was approved for an early copy, because I loved it so much.

There were a handful of typos but, as this was an advance galley, those will likely be corrected before publication. These were mostly punctuation errors: parentheses (frequently) facing the wrong direction, quotation marks where there was no quotation, and a lack of spacing between words. There were also a few split lines of text that didn’t properly align, the end of a sentence preceding its beginning, for example. These were distracting as I read but, again, I have hopes that all of those things will be addressed before publication day rolls around.

The art style, idea, and story being told were geared toward a younger audience, but there was a good deal of pretty advanced vocabulary that I think might be off-putting to those same younger readers. I’m not saying that kids aren’t capable of looking up a word they don’t know, because they absolutely are, but these words were very prevalent, very early on in the book. I’m just not positive that the tone matched the erudite writing. I very much enjoyed both, but I’m not sure how well they’ll work for younger readers. I can see a twelve year old reading this, no problem. But an eight year old? I think they might get frustrated and put it down.

Those two qualms were the only things that kept this book from being absolutely perfect, in my opinion. I loved everything about this. I love that our guides were Wizard and Mr. Lion, and I love how well Hendrix modeled them after Tolkien and Lewis, respectively. I loved the deep dives into topics like what makes a myth, the evolution of the the novel, the foundations of genre fiction, and the theology of creation. These were beautifully balanced against the historical story of Lewis and Tolkien we were also getting. I just adored this, and can see myself revisiting it often. If you have any interest in Lewis or Tolkien or the Inklings or all of the above, I highly recommend this.

“Great myths allow us to slip through the clouds of everyday life and glimpse something divine.”

John Hendrix’s The Mythmakers blends prose, images, and narrative comics as it chronicles the lives of two literary greats, C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien. It not only focuses on their Fellowship but also goes into details about their early lives, inspirations, how they were affected by fighting in WWI, their friendship, and many other aspects of their lives. I knew I had to pick up this beauty as soon as I saw it on NetGalley because of my great love for both authors. Hendrix does a wonderful job using this medium to tell his story and I loved the use of Mr. Lion and The Wizard, who are takes on Aslan and Gandalf.

Along with the information on both authors, Hendrix also has what he calls Portals, which discuss other information such as myth and fairy tales. These sections were great extras that added to the overall experience of the book. I did not read them until the end but they can also be read during your reading experience because of the pages numbers telling you where to go (similar to a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story).

I highly recommend this book to fans of both authors. It was an incredible read that was informative, enjoyable, and heartwarming at times. I know I would have loved this book when I was younger and first reading from both of their fantasy worlds. Definitely, would love to see more books like this for other fantasy authors, such as L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, etc. The Mythmakers will be joining my collection along with my Narnia and The Lord of the Rings series. Cannot wait to see the beautiful illustrations in color.

A graphic novel that explores the lives of two of the most influential fantasy writers? Sign me up!

The Wizard (a version of Gandalf) and Mr. Lion (a version of Aslan) come across as very pedantic which drew me out of the experience at times, but the book on the whole is wonderfully informative. This is an approachable introduction to Lewis and Tolkien, and humanises them in a way most biographies fail to do.

The section on the war was especially powerful and gives an important backdrop to the serious trauma both writers went through as young men. Paired with the painful losses both experienced at a young age, it's incredible how the pair managed to maintain their creative spirits.

I also really enjoyed the Portals. The first one had me worried that these extra scenes would be pitched at too high a level for many readers, but they provide a concise history of genre that adds important context to the spheres in which Tolkien and Lewis were writing. These are especially useful for thinking about their influence and innovation as well as their long term impact. The literary examples also double as a bibliography of sorts, making the Portals helpful for those wanting to read core texts in the field.

The Mythmakers is a great academic introduction to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as it is accessible, clearly presented, and supplemented by unique artwork. It's factual (aside from the heartbreaking ending), but the tone isn't dry (there are even some hilarious and memorable fun facts like the time the writers dressed as polar bears to a get together that wasn't even a fancy dress party!), and would be a great source for older school students or early university students in particular.

John Hendrix does a superb job of combining text and picture to showcase the lives of these men. I love the way that he not only wrote about Lewis and Tolkien's experiences, but he also took time to speak on their beliefs and motivations. This is one of those books that if I had read it as a kid it would have been my very favorite!