Rating: 
Summary: All Hail to the King
Review: To many people, Tolkien's Return of the King is merely a popular movie in the third installation of Peter Jackson's LOTR theatrical trilogy. Although the movie is wicked awesome, the book is the true source of the adventure and drama that makes the series so great.
The Return of the King is the final account in which the remnants of the Fellowship battle and journey their way against the impossible odds of Sauron's malevolent forces to end their path in either victory or in the ruin of Middle Earth. Each and every one the characters know full well that they will most likely not make it through or see one another ever again. Yet despite these dubious chances, they continue to fight on for each other and for the world.
I highly recommend Return of the King for those of you who are interested in the final stage of the harrowing journey of Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf, and the other heroes and heroines of Tolkien's tale. If you have already read the first two books, you'll probably not want to quit here anyway. Although the movie covers many of the major ideas in the book, there are numerous differences, slight and profound, that are very fascinating. There is an entire tale of the Hobbits' return to the Shire that you do not want to miss out on, as well as many explanatory and plot developing instances and structures that the movie just could not cover. Actually, the discrepancies between the book and the film rather resemble two different interpretations of the same story. It almost seems as though, if the tale had been true, one legend had passed down two differing branches in oral tradition until the outcome was essentially the same, but with each telling containing slightly different story elements. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that I like both versions, movie and book, very much.
I do have one point of caution. Some of the language, names, and references to Middle Earth history and mythology are hard to understand and remember if you have not read The Silmarillion, the essential Middle Earth equivalent to the Old Testament. But even without the knowledge in that book, these elements add a flavor of authenticity and richness that only Tolkien is able to create. Toilsome? Sometimes yes. Worth reading? Definitely yes.
Rating: 
Summary: lord of the rings return of the king
Review: This book seemed much alike the movie. The author wrote the book in a way that made us feel like we were actually there while the story was being told. If you see the movie,
In this book, the sword was put back together and the king was reborn. He was able to find ghosts that the previous king cursed for fleeing from battle and he was able to make a promise to them. He promised that if they fought for him, he would free their souls. So the ghosts took over some orc ships, and pretended to be orcs. When the other orcs came to greet them, the ghosts jumped out and attacked the orcs. With out the ghosts it would not have been a victory.
In the mean time, Frodo was going to throw the ring into the mountain and destroy it. But the ring was calling to him and telling him not to. It was telling him to keep it and he could have all the power that he wanted. But Smeagle stole the ring from Frodo and fell into the lava. That was the end of the ring, after this everything was restored and every one was happy. The throne was given back to the rightful person and the hobbits went back to the shire.
But, gandalf goes back to the Shire and Brings frodo on another journey that takes you on another adventure. So another serise continues...
Rating:
Summary: Into the west...
Review: The road may go ever onward but, for us at least, the journey is done. It is difficult not to be emotional arriving at the end of Return of the King after making it through the entire trilogy. The thing about this particular book, for me, is it seems much such shorter than the other two. At least half the number of pages are devoted to the Appendices. The Two Towers had brought us so far that all that remains in Return of the King is climax after climax. Here, Frodo and Samwise's journey through Mordor is much more arduous than in the movie. It is in the third installment I think that we get the despair that Tolkien felt coming home from the Great War. He, like Frodo, must have found it impossible to pick up the threads of his old life. Like the movie, there is a very long denouement after the climax of the story. You may think it is over, but we have to find out what happens to all the characters. Peter Jackson left a lot out of the film - especially what happens to Saruman and the Shire. Now that it is over, I realize who my favorite characters are by who I will miss. Oddly, I don't miss any of the Men. Aragorn, for all we are told we are supposed to love him, falls rather flat on the page. Yeah, he is heroic, but I can't relate to him. I will miss Gandalf - he was fun. Legolas and Gimli are too thinly drawn to have any true love for them. Ultimately, Lord of the Rings is the hobbits story. They have personality. I feel for Frodo and the task that has been thrust upon him. I feel I know him and Samwise. That is the true statement the books have to make about heroism - you don't have to be a super-human like Aragorn. As Gandalf says, "you just have to do the most with the time that is given." It's sad to watch your friends sail off into the sunset, but ultimately, that is the only way the book can end.
Rating: 
Summary: UGHHHHH!
Review: This book is SLOW. The characters aren't real at all, and they each have about 50 names. Take Aragorn for example: Strider Aragorn, Estel, King Ellisar, Plain Ellisar, etc. The names are unoriginal, like Arwen and Eowyn, different by one syllable. The book is rather confusing by itself, then if you read all the appendixes, you don't know who is who. The whole book is simply fighting and killing, with an occasional appearence by Gandalf. Merry and Pippin are the only source of humor, if they ever come up in the book. Did I mention that the characters are totally fake? Their actions are random and unpredictable, even for a fantasy, their speech is ridiculous. The "Greatest Fantasy Epic of our time" is a silly name for a book this long and boring. Totally overrated, this book stinks. What's worse is that it is the best book out of the series. For once the movies are better than the books. Even if they are saturated with special effects.
Rating:
Summary: Like the Rankin-Bass Movie Minus the Songs
Review: If you're this far in the Trilogy it's unlikely you're going to give up if the third book gets a poor review. Fortunately, The Return of the King is as good as or better than its companion books. The book opens (unlike the also excellent Peter Jackson movie) with Pippin and Gandalf riding to Minas Tirith, Aragorn & Co. In Rohan pondering their next move, and Sam trying to rescue Frodo from the orcs of Cirith Ungol - granted, you don't pick up this final thread until over halfway through the main text (a synchronized version of events appears in Appendix B). If your only interest is in seeing the Ring destroyed, skip directly to Chapter 3 of Book VI. If you can stand some "irrelevant information and/or dialogue," go ahead and read Book V and see if Gondor can be saved from Sauron's minions. Don't stop reading at the end of the main text, though. The Appendices contain a wealth of information including the history, calendars, and languages of Middle-Earth. While not required reading, they really add to one's appreciation of Tolkien's masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Defeat The Book
Review: I read Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King. Written by J.R.R Tolkien it is the last in the series. I loved the book it has action that makes you keep on reading non-stop. It probably has more action than the other books.
The book started in Minus Tirith. The war for the ring had started. Minus Tirith called for the aid of Rohan in battle. The battle of Middle-Earth was fought at Minus Tirith. Frodo and Sam are in Mordor for most of the book. They are clad in orc-fashion most of the way to Mount Doom. The weight of the Ring grows in Mordor. They destroy the Ring. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin head back to the Shire and find that it was ruled by a terrible person. Ruffians were sent to make sure the hobbits were paying up. At one point, a ruffian made Pippin made so he Merry and Sam drew swords and slew him.
I felt that I had to read this book because I saw all three of the movies and read the first two books. You must read the other two books first!!
Rating: 
Summary: The Return Of The Knig
Review: It was a great book!! Very detailed description of areas and people. The book got me interested in reading again. It had hardcore battles that kept me reading for hours on end. The only problem was that it needed to stay on the subject instead of giving so much information on areas that are not relevant to the story. Other than that it was great book. I recomend this book to everyone that loves Fantisy books.
Rating:
Summary: Jackson let us down with the movie.
Review: The book is great (Read it!), but personally feel Peter Jackson made two major mistakes with this movie and let his viewers down. I still think it's a great movie and probably should get the rewards it will get (and you should see it), but it is not The Return of the King that Tolkien wrote and you need to read the book to fully understand why. Here are the reasons: First, the Scouring of the Shire was completely omitted from the movie. Peter Jackson's claim that this is anticlimactic is far, far from the truth. In fact, it is climatic and that's why Tolkien put it in. There are three basic needs for a man: an adventure to go on, a battle to fight, and a pursuit (of the woman). You see all three of these in movies such as Braveheart. A young man needs to hear from his father that he has strength for the adventure, battle, and pursuit. Without this, a man is serverely wounded. Instead of being a stallion, he becomes a gelding, and one of the key problems of the church today is we have these geldings instead of stallions, and geldings cannot bear fruit. Frodo has these same needs. In the Scouring (the book), we see Frodo returning to his "Place" (Hobbiton) after it has been destroyed by Saruman. Frodo is in a massive depression. He essentially failed his mission (he didn't put the ring in the volcano) and is burdened by his guilt, failure, and physical infirmitiess. On his return to "Place", however, he takes on his masculinity and leads the hobbits in restoring their community ("Place"). Frodo leaves the story as a true hero. That's climatic, not anticlimactic. Second, the Houses of Healing incident was completely omitted from the movie. In the book story Eowyn, Faramir, and Merry lie dying in the houses of healing. Ioreth, the lady attending them, says their healing is beyond her power. "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer," she says, " And so shall the rightful king be known." It is Aragorn, the coming king, that enters and leads all three to their healing. Tolkien pulls a little psychologica trick here in the book. After the healing Ioreth repeats the sentence again, acknowledging her perception of Aragorn as the coming king because he can heal. She seems to repeat this line again and again until Aragorn is crowned as king. She tries to repeat the line again, but fails as the trumpet drowns out her voice. By this time, however, the reader is completing the line; that is, the reader is being forced to take ownership on that statement. Now Tolkien was a devout Christian (Catholic), and was the man that led C.S. Lewis to the Lord. Tolkien is not talking about any earthly king or kingdom here. When I read this in Tolkien's book I wept. I think it's the most important quote in the book, but it's not even in the movie. It is a great movie, but it is not The Return of the King if you can't see why he is king. My guess is that Peter Jackson probably didn't understand the spiritual significance of either of these parts of Tolkien's novel. That's unfortunate, as both are the highest points of Tolkien's story. In all fairness, I think Peter did a more than remarkable job with The Two Towers. I see King Theoden, as he first appears, as the majority of the Church today, captured and powerless and not even knowing what is going on. Our heroes heal him and release his bondage, and his people rejoice to have their king again. Aragorn, knowing war has already started and Theoden's son has died in a battle, tries to encourage him to get ready. Theoden: I will not risk open war. Aragorn: Open war is upon you, whether you risk it or not. That is exactly where the Church is today. Christ said he gave his followers authority and power. To do what? That is what the Gospels are all about. There is a war going on, whether we risk it or not.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, I know this will be an unpopular opinion but.....
Review: To some, Tolkien's greatest stregnth is creating a different world. To me, that is to some extent, his greatest weakness. He seemed to indulge that creativity too much in the third book. I found that the story and character development was greatly hampered by the constant description of locations. I know some love that aspect of the book, but to me, it made it unbearably slow at times. As soon as the action began, Tolkien would launch into detailed descriptions of places and their relation to other places. I could have skipped half this book and not have missed a thing. While I did enjoy the ultimate conclusion and happy ending, as well as the farewell between characters, this book largely could have been subsumed in the maps!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Ending To A Great Series
Review: This book is one that will stay with me forever. The series itself is one of the most powerful fantasy stories ever written. The Return of the King is devided into two parts the first is of Merry, Pippin, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, Gandalf the Wizard, Aragorn the Ranger, Théoden the King of Rohan, Eomer, Eowyn, and Faramir. The second is of Frodo Sam and Gollum. While Frodo and Sam are getting closer to mount doom to destroy the one ring of power, every one else is fighting off the armies of mordor. This story tells of the trials of friendship and the evils of war. An enchanting novel for the fantasy reader.
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