Realm of the Ring Lords

Though I have been a fan of Laurence Gardner from c2c and Dreamland I had never until recently read one of his books. I am now a "super fan." Laurence Gardner so far as I am concerned is nothing short of a genius. In "Realm of the Ring Lords" he traces grail legend, fairy lore, ring lords and so on to their original historic places, giving you history that I don't think you will find anywhere else, all in one book. As a amateur genealogist myself I can appreciate the amount of work that had to go into a book like this. It took me years to somewhat complete a family history and the furthest back I got was a couple lines of my family that I traced back to the 13th century. It is impossible to get early French church records from the Catholic Church, don't ask me why because they seem available from other countries and I am starting to think it is a conspiracy. It is one of those road blocks that genealogist come across and one of the things that make this book all the more amazing.
I was attracted to this book first rather than one of his others because I am somewhat of a fairy lore, fantasy buff. I have read many fairy lore books, I am the one with all the Froud fairy and other fairy art books. I have books of legends of Ireland, Scotland, Russia and just about anywhere else you can imagine. I did up until Mr. Gardner's book consider myself somewhat of a expert of fairy matters, but no longer. He actually had many stories I had never ever heard. That being said, this may not be a good book for someone who doesn't love fairy tales, King Arthur tales, Lord of the Rings, or at the very least is a history buff. For those who do love such things this is a must have.