The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Frodo Baggins receives a powerful ring from Bilbo, and takes on the task of travelling across Middle-earth to destroy it before the Dark Lord finds it.
The Lord of the Rings is technically a single book, and the version I have contains the full story as a single book, but it was originally published as 3 separate books, and that’s how I’m going to be reading and reviewing it. So, for the first part, The Fellowship of the Rings tells the forming of the group that will assist Bilbo in his journey and the history of the ring they have set out to destroy, and I really liked it.
This isn’t an edge-of-your-seat, action-packed fantasy novel, although there is a clear conflict and a mysterious and unsettling enemy. It’s an adventure with a cast of characters from various races with full backgrounds in a world with a rich history, down to the languages they speak and songs they sing. It’s a fully fleshed out world, with characters who make active decisions, when they’re not being swayed by the subtle forces of evil.
I found the story to be compelling and the characters interesting, without it being shoved in my face how compelling and interesting everything is supposed to be. It’s an understated style of narrating, providing an abundance of information without feeling like a textbook, and I kept wanting to know what happened next.
<3D
LessthanThreeD 