 The world and many of the characters of the novels are similar to those found in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", as Carey presents a similar story as a tragedy told from the "dark" side's perspective.Though one side can be considered light, consisting of Elf-like creatures, Men, and Dwarves, and the other dark, with an army of Trolls, neither can be considered solely "good" or "evil".The Sundering consists of the following novels (with release dates).