Rating: 
Summary: A very satisfying conclusion
Review: The Return of The King concludes the adventures of the people of middle-earth that were chronicled in The Fellowship of The Ring and then in The Two Towers. As in the previous two installments The Return of The King is divided into two books, Book 5 and Book 6. Book 5 takes place in the land of Gondor, one of the last resisting outposts to the dark forces of Sauron. New characters are introduced such as the evil king of nazgul, Dernhelm the warrior of Rohan and most notably Denethor, the steward of Gondor and father of Boromir and Faramir who is now living in his twilight years. The characters of Faramir and Eowyn are also expanded on in considerable detail. In preparation of Sauron's dark forces waging a battle against Gondor, Aragorn gathers around his armies to fight back. Pippin and Gandalf ride into Gondor and Pippin becomes part of the towerguard. Many people of Rohan also join Gondor in the fight, including Dernhelm, King Theoden and Merry, who was left behind in The Two Towers. As the forces of Sauron approach and the great battle begins, Denethor slips into madness and becomes suicidal, wanting to pull his own son Faramir down with him. It's not until halfway through the novel, in book 6, that we get to read about Sam and Frodo. After a climactic battle in the tower of Cirith Ungol against the giant spider Shelob, Frodo is captured and now a prisoner of the Orcs. Sam however has managed to escape with the ring. His first instinct tells him that he must now carry on the quest to destroy the ring by himself but as loneliness and the weight of the ring bears in on him, he decides to turn around and attempt to rescue Frodo. As Sam and Frodo continue their journey and etch closer and closer to the fires of Mount Doom, they encounter several obstacles along the way, including marching armies of Orcs and the ever-looming presence of the slinking creature Gollum. Book 5 and book 6 are quite different in tone and structure. Book 5 is admitedly very wordy and talkative. There are lots of slow passages and in-depth character development that often made me wonder whether I really was reading the conclusion to one of the greatest epics of all time. The battle sequence is only described over 20 pages or so. The author does not go into great detail attempting to describe it however, he places such vivid images in the head of the reader that we can easily picture in our minds what is going on. The reward for reading through the at-times murky first half of the novel is that when we fnally get to follow the adventures of Sam and Frodo in Book 6 the action becomes non-stop and the suspense never lets up. Tolkien is so good at describing their journey that he managed to make me feel what the charactes were feeling. As I was reading, I actually started to feel hungry, thirsty, physically drained and increasingly sympathetic towards Sam's frustration with Gollum's antics. Curiously, by the time Sam and Frodo's journey comes to an end, there is still about 100 pages to go. These first few pages start off with reunions, gatherings and farewells. As I was reading these first few pages, I started to worry about the the daunting prospect of having to read through 100 pages of farewells and sob stories but it turns out ol' Tolkien had a few more tricks up his sleeve. As the hobbits return to the Shire, they discover one last major obstacle awaiting them. These pages are easily among some of the best in the entire series. Reading The Return of The King on the eve of its theatrical release, I can barely contain my excitement and anticipation at seeing the spider Shelob, the cracks of Mount Doom and especially the battle of Gondor put to film. It is rumoured that the battle of Gondor will be the biggest battle scene in cinematic history. In an interview I read Peter Jackson mentions that the grandeur of this battle will easily eclipse the epic battlle at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers. To give an idea of just how big the battle will be consider this: At Helm's Deep there were approximately 300 middle-earthians defending the wall and 10000 Orcs trying to barge through it. Well, multiply the number of people behind the wall by 5 and the number of Orcs by 7 and that will be the battle of Gondor. Suffice to say, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I find The Return of The King to be the most satisfying part of the trilogy. And as for the slow moments, they are alleviated by Tolkien's beautiful artistic prose filled with ultra-clever metaphors. There is a difference between simply reading Tolkien and understanding Tolkien and I am quite pleased to see that other reviewers have enjoyed this book as much as I have.
Rating:
Summary: Best of all!!!!
Review: I would have to say this Lord of the Rings book is the best of all three. It is so well written and the story is just beautiful. This is the one where all of the emotion is put out and you just want to cry in some parts or just become so tense that you feel as if you're in the battle of the Pelennor fields or on the cracks of doom. Pure beauty and a must read for ages to come for all ages.
Rating:
Summary: exquisite
Review: I learned what tears of joy and tears of exquisite beauty were the first time I read this book. I have relearned that those happy things in each of the 20 odd times I have read this. Truth and beauty lie here like stones on the ground just waiting for you to pick them up. Enter Middle Earth with an open heart and you will find things you never dreamt of. I just bought a ticket to watch "The Return of the King" by myself. Alone because I know those tears will flow and I don't want any silly self consciousness to get in the way of enjoying seeing with my eyes a depiction what has brought such great joy to me in reading.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Conclusion
Review: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien is the third installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The book holds the final conclusion to the magical journey the "fellowship" has undertaken. Like the second book, the Two Towers, the first half of the book is devoted to the fight between men and evil, where the second part of the story chronicles Master Samwise and Frodo's quest to destroy the ring! What I liked about the book was the vivid description of the battles in the first half as well as the look in to some of the lesser known characters backgrounds and stories (Eowyn and Faramir most notably). The buildup to this conclusion had been so great and developed in the first two books, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, that I was a little concerned it might be too much for Tolkien to unwind. However I totally underestimated him as he brilliantly concluded the storyline in a series of well described battles and undertakings. Yet he does not stop there, after the final deed is done he still leaves a little bit of story to tell about the return to the Shire for the Hobbits.
The theme of this book most undoubtedly is the rise up of smaller men (hobbits) to heroic proportions. Although this is a commonly seen theme in literature, no one has mastered it quite like Tolkien did in this trilogy of books. It is a very inspiring story to read and you can almost feel for Frodo because of the burden he has undertaken in the destruction of the ring. One can relate to Frodo when they feel like they have a burden they most get rid of and Tolkien makes it so we can confide in Frodo's story be it fantasy or not.
Not only would I recommend this book to people, I think of it as a must read for all. I do however recommend reading the trilogy from start to finish not skipping books or jumping around. This way you will see the transition of growth for each character throughout the series. "And that's the end of that," said Sam. "A nasty end, and I wish I needn't have seen it; but it's a good riddance."
Rating:
Summary: Endearing
Review: There is not much that I can say about Lord of the Rings that has not already been said. I can only say how this book has affected me, and how much love I have for it. I love this book, the story, and the characters. They are not characters so much as they are friends that I am separated from only by some great distance... I am not ashamed to say that I cried when I reached the last page of Return of the King, and realized that there was no more. I was sad because it ended, because it had to end, because this was the only way it could have ended, that all of their adventures were going to go on, and that I could no longer be a part of them. I especially miss reading about Sam, and wonder what will happen to him next. Perhaps the real reason I cried was that I finished a wonderful book, and that this experience, the year or so it took me to get through the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, that a book like this that was so real, with characterst that I still truly love and care about, was not likely to come again. Of course, there are other books I love, but for different reasons. Lord of the Rings will always hold a special place in my heart. Once you read it, it is a book that will stay with you always. It truly is as CS Lewis once wrote, "Good beyond hope."
Rating:
Summary: A Culmination
Review: The Return of the King, to me, represented the climax of the greatest trilogy of the twentieth century. It begins as in medias res as it gets. We jump in to the journeys of Gandalf (the White since The Two Towers) to the great city of Minas Tirith in Gondor, the land of men. Tolkien does a great job, as in most of his novels, of displaying the setting with such vivid words that the reader needs only to sit back and watch the world move in front of him. Gloom is foreshadowed for all races of Middle Earth as they know that their only hope lies with two little hobbits of which the whereabouts are unknown. Battle is inevitable and preparations are made for such a war that the earth has never seen. It's putting it mildly to say the people were skeptical about where they would be a year from that moment. Later, in Book 6 (chapters in the trilogy) of the series, the setting immediately jumps to Frodo an Sam and their journey to the hopeful destruction of the great Ring of power in the dark lands of Mordor, more specifically Mount Doom. Many suspenseful and thought provoking situations present themselves to the reader as they are taken along for a journey through the most evil of all places in Middle Earth. The book served as a great close to a great series in which many real life situations are symbolized in the lives of different people working together for a common cause.
Rating:
Summary: A great end to a great story!
Review: I just finished reading Return of the King, and I thought it was a great book. I'll admit that it took me awhile to get going, but then it started to pick up and I couldn't put it down. I thought the second half of the book, where it follows Frodo and Sam, was more interesting then the battles between the dark forces and the forces of man.
I thought all the symbols and foreshawdowing that Tolkien used made the book very interesting. I also really enjoyed the parallels between christianity and the Lord of the Rings Series. I think that this is definantly a good book, and I think that everyone should read the series!
This book has gotten me incredibly hyped up for the release of the new movie! I am looking forward to see if Peter can pull off all the things that he needs too!
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated piece of garbage...
Review: I came into this book thinking it would be out-of-this world good, only to be disappointed. Maybe I had too high of expectations, or the fact that I had only read the Hobbit and the Two Towers, skipping the Fellowship of the Rings, might've thrown things off. Maybe it was because I knew what was going to happen(destruction of the Ring) and couldn't wait. I couldn't stand the long drawn out fluff details of the book or C.S. Lewis style writing about the "color of the landscape" for twenty pages. I would give this book .5 stars because I only enjoyed 1/10th of the book(the last part of the book that really didn't have much to do with the earlier portion), but the smallest rating a person can give is one. I would only suggest this book to people that have read the first three books in the series(people that would probably read this book as no matter what...)
Rating:
Summary: The End and The Begining
Review: Return of the King Book Review
The third book in the Lord of the Rings series is one of my personal favorites because it is an amazing and climactic adventure full of excitement and evil, love and hate. This book includes larger-than-life battles, and the looming reminder of evil in the form of Mordor: it is so close, and getting closer daily.
This adventure takes Samwise and Frodo ever closer to an unsleeping malice, constantly searching for them. They suffer the ultimate test of friendship as Frodo ceases to be Frodo.
The fellowship is broken, but they are all in the same battle, the battle for Middle Earth.
In this epic novel, Tolkien really shows his true worth. Underlying values and morals, and a strong love story, fill the story with excitement. This is a book of extremes. True devotion and malice rear their heads in this truly amazing finale to the Lord of the Rings.
Rating:
Summary: The Master
Review: This book is the third and final installment of J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Even though the forces of good have one great victories at Helm's Deep and Isengard they are not out of the woods yet. The evil armies of Mordor are coming to attack Gondor, so Gandalf, Aragon and company must hurry to its defense. At the same time Frodo and Sam draw closer to Morder and Mount Doom, but even as they do the Ring becomes more and more of burden on both of them. Will Gandalf, Merry, Pippin and Aragon have enough strength to defend Gondor and drive away the Dark Lord's Armies? Will Frodo and Sam fulfull their quest to destroy the ring? You are just going to have to read the book to find out. Tolkein's trilogy is the father of all modern fantasy series. Before Jordan, before Martin, before Eddings, before Brooks there was Tolkein. Every single fantasy author that comes along owes a debt to the work of Tolkein - because not only did Tolkein do it first, he did it better. His characters and settings seem to leap off the page and you find yourself reading with bated breath to find out what happens next. His world is in depth, colorful and unforgettable. Most important Tolkein understands the need to have a beginning, a middle and an end to his series (this is directed at you Robert Jordan). His series tells the story it set out to tell and reaches the end of its tale. So many more recent writers have their series stretching on and on for no apparent reason. (Side note: Has anyone ever noticed how the first few chapters of Robert Jordan's "Eye of the World" are almost a direct lift from Fellowship of the Ring? Boys (hobbits) living in a remote village (the shire) are visited by a mysterious Aes Sedai (Gandolf) who alerts them to a growing danger (The ring). They are then forced to flee from the Myradraal (the Ringwraiths) with the help of the Aes Sedai and her warder (Strider). I actually read Jordan first and have since read Tolkein and trust me Jordan just re-wrote the first part of Fellowship) If you want to read how great epic fantasy can be the only place to start is with Tolkein. Tolkein's work puts all of the others to shame in its story, its characters..everything. The movies that go along with the books are good too, but I always read the book before I see the movie; otherwise the movie kills what ever ideas I had in my head beforehand. Before you read Jordan, Brooks, or Martin - read Tolkein. You won't regret it.
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