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Summary: The Fanciful land of Middle Earth
Review: "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien is an exciting and insightful read. The world which Tolkien creates, called Middle Earth, although fanciful is a place which one cherishes. The world created has clear cut lines between good and evil, leaving us whole-heartedly cheering on Frodo and the Fellowship. However, not only does Tolkien's Middle Earth capture us, we also are taken by Frodo's brave journey. He possesses the One Ring, which if surrendered to the enemy could destroy all that is good in Middle Earth. Frodo is faithfully accompanied by his innocent and vulnerable friends Sam, Pippin and Merry. Their helplessness and doomed quest capture the readers' attention and encourage the reader to complete all three parts Tolkien's spectacular trilogy.
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Summary: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Review: Frodo Baggins inherits the One Ring which his uncle stole from Gollum. He thought it was cool to have the "The One Ring". Until Gandalf (the wizard) teaches him a little bit more about the Ring and finds out it makes you grow attached to it and then corrupts you. Gandalf told Frodo to keep it secret until Gandalf returned. Gandalf returns and tells Frodo what it really meant and that it is meant to get thrown into the Cracks of Doom. Which is the only place where it can be destroyed. Out of Frodos the Cracks of Doom are in the middle of the evil kingdom Mordor where Sauron is trying to get back his power, trying to find the one Ring that Frodo has, and destroying all good. Frodo, Pippin, Merry, and Sam journey to Bree where they meet Aragorn the Ranger and eventually to Rivendell, all the while pursued by the Ringwraiths. There in Rivendell the Fellowship was more developed: Gimili the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and Borimir of Gondor joined the team. I think with this group they will be able to get the job done. J.R.R. has great writing. And once you finish the first book you want to go onto the second book. I would definitely give "The Fellowship of the Ring" 5 stars. It is fabulous.
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Summary: Classic book masked by a slow beginning
Review: This is the excellent first installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a story of Middle-Earth, where Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and all sorts of other races live. Set in a medieval-type setting, with medieval weapons and archetecture while combining fantasy and magic with realistic things. Though this book starts off a little slow, like a marble down an inclined plane it gains momentum til it reaches the suspenseful conclusion (to be continued in The Two Towers). Frodo Baggins (a Hobbit), relative of Bilbo Baggins who found the One Ring and took it from Gollum in "The Hobbit", inherits the Ring from Bilbo. He soon learns that it is a corrupting Ring, the One Ring into which Sauron the Dark Lord poured all his wrath and malice in to. Gandalf the Wizard advises him to 'keep it secret, keep it safe' until he returns. He returns to tell Frodo that the what the One Ring really meant and that it must be thrown into the Cracks of Doom, the one place where it could be destroyed. This happened to be in the middle of the evil kingdom of Mordor where Sauron was regaining power, searching for the Ring, and preparing to destroy all that was good. Frodo, along with Hobbit friends Merry, Pippin, and Sam, journeys to Bree where they meet Aragorn the Ranger and eventually reach Rivendell, all the while pursued by the Ringwraiths. There in Rivendell, the Fellowship that would take the Ring to Mordor to be destroyed was formed: Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, Aragorn the Ranger, Gandalf the Wizard, Boromir of Gondor, and Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam. They then embark on there quest: through Moria and Lorien, and many other places wonderful and terrible. Will they ever finish their quest? J.R.R. Tolkien weaves a masterful tale in "The Fellowship of the Ring", to be continued by "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". His style of writing, plus the constant surprises and happenings, make this a wonderful story, a timeless classic for generations to enjoy.
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Summary: Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the ring
Review: I believe that Lord of the Rings part one deserved 4.5 stars(out of five). It started off slow, but it leaves you wanting more. If you liked the Hobbit, this book is a must read. If you have not read the Hobbit, and you are planning on reading the Fellowship, I recomend reading the hobbit first so that you can see what the ring appears to be, and get an idea of what the main characters are like. But if your even going start to read it, you should at least be a little bit interested in fantasy types of books. And if you are even thinking about it being like Harry Potter, Ill tell you now, its not(its better).
The main characters are frodo(A hobbit), Gandalf(A wizard), Aragorn/Strider(A king and a ranger),Sam(A hobbit),Merry and Pippin(Also hobbits), Legolas(An elf),Gimli(A dwarf),and Borimir (A king of men). These individuals were banded together in Rivindel to make the Fellowship of the ring. Thier mission was to destroy the one ring. Why destroy it?
Well,the Dark Lord Sauron forged a ring that he invested all his powers into wich made him powerful enough to destroy Middle Earth. But only was it powerfull when he wore it. It was in the last attempt to fight against the armies of Sauron that Isuldir the king at that time, cut the ring from Saurons hand and took it for himself. Although the ring when in possetion of someone other than Sauron had a way of persuading the barer to wear it,for when they put it on it reveals to Sauron were the ring is. Isildir was ambushed and the ring was lost at the bottom of a lake for thousands of years until a creature named gollum or smeagol found it and hid far under the mountains under its influence. It wasnt untill Bilbo Bagins found the ring and brought it back to the shire(His home),that the ring was in good hands. Although the ring can only be destroyed in the fires of MT. Doom were it was forged, and is also were the armies and the stronghold of Sauron lay. Therefore the book is about the struggle to destroy the one ring and what the Fellowship has to do to get the ring to MT. Doom. Many battles will be fauhgt to rid the world of something so small.
So if that plot doesnt interest you, I dont know what will. So I encourage you all to read The Fellowship of the Ring and all its sequals.
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Summary: The One Ring
Review: The Fellowship of The Ring is the first volume in the Lord of the Rings trilogy written by J.R.R Tolkien. This is one of the greatest epic fantasy books of all time! We are introduced to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins who has just discovered this one ring is no ordinary ring but a very powerful dark force. This ring was forged long ago by a very dark and powerful lord, who lost the ring and will stop at nothing to once again claim its great power and rule all of Middle Earth.
I really enjoyed this book partly because Tolkien uses such vivid and lifelike detail to describe the settings and the characters. It was hard to get used to the strange names and the places, but after the first couple chapters you knew exactly what he was referring too. Then it was so easy to put yourself in the same places and feel as though you were part of the story. I especially liked the way he describes the elves and Rivendale. When he describes the Dark Riders, you can almost smell the cold, stale air coming from the nostrils of the evil horses.
Also his characters were very interesting and intriguing especially Frodo because everything revolves around him and the decisions he must make. I feel as though he could have focused some more on Gandalf because he is the one who convinced Frodo to take on this task.
Overall, this is one of the greatest books I have ever read, I could not put it down. I really recommend that if you have seen the movies to also read the books because they are even better than the movies.
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Summary: The Fellowship of the Ring
Review: One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bid them. These were the words inscribed on the one ring in the black language of Mordor, the one ring that was forged by the dark lord Sauron; the ring of power is all Sauron needs to cover all of Middle Earth in eternal darkness. All that prevents Sauron from spreading his dark dominion is Frodo and his companions. Frodo was chosen to be the ring bearer and to carry the ring to the one place where it could be destroyed-Mount Doom, the very heart of Sauron's kingdom.
This is the setting of the great trilogy of the Lord of the Rings written by J.R.R. Tolkien-the man who is widely acknowledged by many as the father of modern day fantasy. The first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, begins on Bilbo Baggins' 111th birthday. Bilbo, weary of his life in the Shire, desires to have adventures like he's had before. Before Bilbo's departure he leaves his possessions to his nephew Frodo Baggins but he is reluctant to part with his precious ring. Bilbo finally parts with the ring after the wizard Gandalf the Grey convinces him to. Several years pass and Gandalf returns to Frodo in the Shire and reveals the truth about the ring. This is when Frodo's great journey began. When Frodo eventually reaches Rivendale a counsel is called and The Fellowship is formed. Its members include Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimly, Boromir, and Gandalf. The hobbits had many powerful people to aid them but these powerful people weren't the true heroes in the story.
The "great heroes" in this novel are people who are arguably least suitable for the job. The hero wasn't Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the heir to the throne of Gondor, nor was it the great wizard Gandalf the Grey, the great heroes were Hobbits. Hobbits aren't known for their greatness; they are content with their life in the Shire and care very little about the outside world. Yet, hobbits were the ones who had the fate of Middle Earth placed in their hands. Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin (Pippin) Took, and Meriodic (Merry) Brandybuck were the greatest heroes. They are by no means powerful. They don't wield magic or swords with great skill; they are just ordinary people, but their ordinary qualities are what make them great.
Although Tolkien's characters are very interesting I think they could've been developed in greater detail. Much of Tolkien's rich descriptions were focused on the appearance of the landscape or the history which was involved. Very rarely, if ever, does Tolkien describe the thoughts of his characters; Tolkien writes in an omnipresent viewpoint-the reader sees the events but they don't see into the character's psychology or reasoning. The reader doesn't get to know the character on a personal level through interpreting their feelings, the motivations of a character must be interpreted through dialogue or their actions.
Boromir's desire to use the ring to defeat Sauron shows how he is greedy and impulsive. He has the same traits that the Nazgul, the undead servants of Sauron, had while they were human. They desired power so they were easily deceived and corrupted.
Other information can be inferred though a character's dialogue. It is evident that Gandalf has great power but the magnitude of his power is never completely apparent. A glimpse of Gandalf's true power is shown at the bridge of Khazad-dum. While the fellowship journeyed through the dark mines of Moria they encounter a Balrog-a demon of the underworld. Once they reach the bridge Gandalf confronts this demon directly and makes a definite statement, "You shall not pass." No fear is evident in Gandalf and it was obvious that he is facing a creature of immense power, a creature powerful enough to cause hordes of orcs and goblins to flee like cowards. In spite of this Gandalf confidently stated, "Dark fire shall not avail you here..." This was a further display of his lack of fear. Gandalf's confidience gives us a glimpse of his true power. People are usually afraid of things that are greater than them; Gandalf's confidence implies that he knows that his power is on the same level if not higher than the Balrog's. It was only because Gandalf dropped his guard that the Balrog was able to pull him down as he fell.
After losing Gandalf the fellowship was forced to continue on. Even after losing his great friend and mentor Frodo and the other hobbits still continued this journey while carrying his heavy burden. Through their actions Tolkien demonstrates the bond of friendship that existed between the hobbits. This is what made the hobbits great; in spite of adversity their friendship stayed true and they stayed by each other's side. Through Frodo's journey he was never truly alone; Sam had vowed to stay by his side. To me, one of the most interesting aspects of the hobbits is where their strength lied, in their friendship.
Tolkien's interesting characters and intriguing story combined to make an excellent novel. My only complaint is that I wish he would've wrote about some of the other characters like Gandalf and Aragorn in greater detail but that wasn't something that Tolkien wanted to focus on. The main focus of his novel was the hobbits and the extraordinary accomplishments that came from these very ordinary people. Even though I wished that Tolkien would have given more exposure to some of his other characters, I agree that Lord of the Rings definitely deserves to be known as a classic.
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Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is the biggining of an epic so great!!! It is the start of an encridible adventure - trully splendid. One of the best books of all time! The Felloship of the Ring is lika a legend, it's like a part of history. An apic that wont probably ever meet it's match.
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Summary: A grand beginning to the supreme fantasy of our time
Review: There is, as Simon Cowell says, "no question or doubt" (or "no question a doubt", danged if I know from his accent) that this is one of the greatest works of Western literature the world has yet seen. That was beautifully proven with the movies. Now, after reading the tedious "The Hobbit" and witnessing Peter Jackson's timeless adaptation, I was finally ready to pick up Part One of LOTR. I'm glad I didn't wait another second. Tolkien's first brainchild is timeless, a flawless blend of rousing adventure, memorable (and often quirky) characters, hypnotic fantasy, good vs. evil, and social commentary. If you are willing enough to read the lenghtly introduction, don't be fooled by Tolkien's explanation that this is just a book for your basic reading pleasure. It can be read on so many thematic levels it's unbelievable. There is a chapter in the book that was cut from the movie. The chapter "In The House of Tom Bombadil" provides a pause in the increasing tension of the novel (the hobbits have had a close encounter with death from a terrible enemy) and introduces us to Tom Bombadil and his lovely wife. In the book, the pause works, but it was best left out of the movie, where the pace was much quicker. That brings me to another point of the book: the pace. Tolkien did not write this to satisfy children. This is fantasy for those with very long attention spans. He goes into long, at times tedious, detail of what the Fellowship had for breakfast, if one of them ate more than the other, etc. And the romance between Aragorn and Arwen is not present in the book as it is in the movie. No matter. Both the movie and book are excellent and stand as perfection in their genre. Buy both immediately.
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Summary: This book is tedious
Review: I saw the movie first and was in awe of it. The story on the screen is captivating and the special affects were astounding. The book though was tedious. It was just a boring discription of history and observations about the nature in the journey. I could hardly connect with any of the characters on an emotional level and I really coundn't get into the story and missed some of the important plot point because i just wanted to finish it. I do like the story and plot so that is why my rating is this high.
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Summary: I remember this one being long
Review: and kinda boring. I didn't have the strength to read the last two when I was younger. I think after War and Peace and Brothers Karamazov, that won't seem quite as daunting anymore. I will say that Tolkien is probably my second favorite catholic author behind Alessandro Manzoni. Thats pretty understandable though. Not even Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky can outdo I Promessi Sposi.
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