Rating: Summary: The Fellowship breaks up! Review: What happens when destiny breaks up the fellowship?You will find out when you read the Two Towers. In this second part, the deeds of all the members of the company after the Fellowship was broken, are told. Frodo and his inseperable Sam sneak away towards Mordor, while Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas have to change their plans when they discover that Pippin and Merry have been kidnapped by orcs. These decisions that they make, take each character on its own path and the events that take place in this book really help in developing the complete tale. The whole story really takes shape in it. Loads of things start happening, and many different characters take center stage. There is a lot more action, and the plot takes a few unexpected twists. Unlike the first part (The Fellowship of the Ring), this second book actually does have a season finale ending! so make sure you have the Return of the King (3rd part) close by, because you will want to start reading it straight away!
Rating: Summary: Confusing Review: I think if you are going to write a book about elves, do so. If you are going to write a book about dwarves, do so. But, to write a book about dwarves, elves, farries, gnomes, wizards, and dozens more creatures is a bad move. The language of this book is excellent. It is very discritve and flows wonderfully, but the differences betwen what an elf is, and what a gnome is, is confusing. The plot I think is predictable. The characters seem to make a long journey through a woods, tunnel, mountain and meet another species in every chapter.
Rating: Summary: For Fans Mostly Review: Despite its staggering length and dreary descriptions of every leaf, Fellowship of the Ring has a certain fairy-tale sheen and epic sweep that make it readable for all. The Two Towers, though, is mostly for diehard Tolkein fans. The first 200 pages or so climax with a huge battle for Helm's Deep, but for most of that time we have to endure the stupefying company of the warriors of Rohan. These beefy blonde Nordic guys have NO sense of humor, and drone on endlessly about their ancestry (who CARES?) when they're not indulging in soporfific courtesies. I always feel uneasy around these hulks--I expect to see swastikas appear on their shields at any moment. Tolkein was channeling the Viking types immortalized in coma-inducing epics like Beowulf and Lord are these fellows boring! However, hobbits to the rescue! At one point we switch to Merry and Pippin, and once they appear, the story moves again and we can enjoy characters with human foibles. These two doughty halflings endure capture and torment by orcs (goblins, who are much more entertaining than the ski-instructor types) and then wander into the world of the ents. If you thought tree-hugger Tom Bombadil was weird, these creatures will get you howling with laughter. They are tree-shepherds (I'm not making this up) and they more or less look like trees, but they go around saying things like "Hm. Hroom" and drinking lots of water. Later on, they turn out to be pretty tough, bringing down a whole walled city in minutes. Treebeard is their leader and he's right out of some Saturday morning cartoon show. The second half of the book brings us back to Frodo and Sam, and their journey to Mordor. They team up with Gollum, who was much creepier in The Hobbit. Here, he's a whiny reptilian nuisance and we must conclude that Frodo is an idiot for trusting him since anyone can tell he's up to no good. When he sells out his companions to a gigantic spider, we're not surprised. Tolkien manages some wonderful descriptions in this part, of the suffocating, foggy, wet, evil weather in Mordor (sounds like Long Island in the summer). The spider Shelob is a hoot, a creature who needed to wait for computer generated graphics. Again, most of the text is filled with dreary step by step schlepping from place to place, with tedious descriptions of EVERYTHING. There are superb moments (the orcs boiling out of their hiding places like swarms of ants, the disgusting marshes) and as anyone with half a brain knew, Gandalf returns (and he is the BEST character of all). The scene where Gandalf humiliates the evil wizard Saruman is worth the price of admission. And the slinking, cowardly Wormtongue is a great creation--if Tolkein hadn't written this in the 1940's, I'd swear he was based on Henry Kissinger. So enter at your own risk. Some exciting scenes, lots of sludge, basically a bridge from Fellowship of the Ring to The Return of the King. Not for anyone with arachnophobia.
Rating: Summary: The second part of Tolkien's epic adventure Review: The Two Towers is the second part to the Lord of the Rings and contains book three and four. Without reading Fellowship of the Ring, the part of the novel which takes place before The Two Towers, this book would not make any sense at all. However, for those who have read the first part, The Two Towers extends the story for another 400 pages or so of pure pleasure. The story begins where Fellowship of the Ring left off- orcs attacking the fellowship which has been scattered, and Frodo and his servant Sam leaving by boat on their own path to Mount Doom. As one might come to realize, The Two Towers is just as good if not better than Fellowship of the Ring. This book contains a lot of fighting, even right from the first several pages. Much like Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers leaves the reader in a very serious cliff hanger. When I read the end, I couldn't wait any longer than it took to obtain the third book; as soon as I finished the last page, I got into my car, drove to the nearest book store and picked up the third part to the series. Anyone who is a fan of the first book would be committing a crime if they didn't read the second. The Two Towers is a great book. Not at any point does this part become boring and is magnicifently composed just as Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King are.
Rating: Summary: Two Problems with the Two Towers Review: THE TWO TOWERS was more enjoyable than I remember THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING being. There's more action and intrigue, and the thickening of the plot was enough to want me to read THE RETURN OF THE KING as soon as I was finished. There's much good to say about this book, but its two flaws are more interesting. The first flaw is endemic to Tolkien. Its what I think of as the "eagles drop out of the sky" problem. Too often, Tolkien paints his characters into seemingly inescapable situations, only to be rescued by some new, external force. I was most annoyed by this by rescuing eagles in THE HOBBIT, but the problem re-occurs, albeit to a lesser extent, in THE TWO TOWERS. The problem here is that the characters rely on un-foreshadowed luck rather than their wits, or some element introduced earlier in the book (or series). This problem is especially acute near the end of the book, where a hobbit humbles a giant spider that apparently has been so formidable for years than even armies of orcs had been at its mercy. But the ending has other problems as well, not the least of which being the missed chance for Tolkien to fool the reader into thinking that Frodo, one of the main characters, is dead (until the next book). We think that for a few pages, but the book ends, serial-like, with Frodo's friend Sam realizing that he's alive. Not only do we miss the suspense generated by Gandalf's apparent death at the end of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, but the ending seems too unresolved, even for a middle book.
Rating: Summary: Simply the best Review: Without a doubt, the best fantasy series of all time.
Rating: Summary: Word for Word a True Delight Review: By all means, choose this unabridged cassette version whether you are "reading" LOTR for the first time or for the umpteenth time! I debated whether to go with this cassette version of LOTR or the newly-released BBC CD set with Sir Ian Holm. Thank goodness for Amazon reviews because after reading that the CD set was NOT truly unabridged (how could they leave out Tom Bombadil?!), it simplified my decision. Rob Inglis is outstanding reader and does a fine job selecting an appropriate voice for each of the characters. I personally find it much more pleasing than a host of voices (of course if Sir Ian had done the entire CD version, I'd be back to a difficult decision). The point for me when listening to a book is to hear the story and use my imagination; too many voices or sound effects can be distracting.
Rating: Summary: It's Great Review: I think its a great book because it set the stage for more fantasy books and classics.Most of the characters you can love and get along with.
Rating: Summary: Boring Review: I did not like this book, it seems as though Tolkien ran out of words, so he started describing things that didn't need describing. The whole boook was good till the middle, it started slowing down, till it became boring. I read the first book in the Lord of the Rings series, and I liked it. But it seems as if Tolkien lost all sense of anything interesting. Don't bother to read this book.
Rating: Summary: IT IS AS THOUGH I AM THERE! Review: J.R.R Tolkien's writing is full of life. I have always felt as though I was watching the exiting events rather then reading them. In the continuing saga of The Fellowship of the Ring, the bond of the "Nine" characters proves their loyalty and unselfishness to the Ring and it's bearer. Though they are torn apart, the "Nine" do not break their friendship. All still play a great part in the threatening mission of the destroying the Ring. I can feel the heavy oppression all around them as they must face nightmarish reality and go where Elves fear to tread. Each characters' action determines whether all is lost or won. My only regret is that I can't read as fast as I've got to know what will happen next. Tolkien's Middle Earth is so full of unexpected creatures, humor and sorrow. He makes me want to know the intriguing stories of the Elves better, and hate the evil Orcs and Goblins with a vengeance. All the songs and poetry he writes in his books seem as though he were only translating them from the real Middle Earth itself. He puts such feeling into all the corners of his writing that it makes it seem as believable as our own history. If you have already read the Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers will take you to places you've never been, into doom or glory. Will the bond of the Fellowship save Middle Earth from destruction? Find out! Read this book of mystery, magic, love and sacrifice.
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