The Legend of Lost Earth

A powerful tale of hope and reclamation in the midst, quite literally, of hell. Giles is a successful, up-and-coming civil engineer in a world where clanging Sarumanish factories rule and rain is just a rumor. He finds himself investigating a strange religion with an impossible belief -- that the people of his world originally came from another planet, called Earth. People who've never seen a tree and have no idea what animals are have been flocking to this ridiculous mythological superstition as though it actually had some validity. The authorities have deemed the Earth worshippers a cult and are determined to exterminate it... but why, if there's no such place?I read this book when I was ten years old -- it was a chance purchase, it came as the second half of an Ace Double with Leigh Brackett's "Alpha Centauri or Die", the first book I ever bought with my own money. We still own it and return to it thirty-five years later. We knew something of Norse mythology already -- but this was our introduction to Irish mythology and language. We wanted more and couldn't find any. The author cites her sources at the beginning, and we still want the books she names. Anyone who appreciates the linguistic grounding and environmental ideals behind Tolkien's work will want to read this book, published ten years after "Lord of the Rings" first appeared.

I read this beautiful book when I was in eighth grade. Legend of Lost Earth is a combination of science fiction, negative utopia, and Norse mythology in which a society known as the Earth Worshipers strives to escape from Niflhel, the eerie, futuristic, dungeon-like world in which its members must live. Although a wondrous adventure in itself, the book had another curious aspect. I began reading Islandia, Austin T. Wright's celebrated epic, shortly after I finished Legend of Lost Earth, and in my imagination, John Lang bore a striking resemblance to Giles, Hope Campbell's protagonist. Legend of Lost Earth is an inspiring tale that I continue to remember well.