Rating: 
Summary: Just too boring...
Review: Others here have said it better than I can. I won't waste your time repeating the complaints.
Rating: 
Summary: The best ever book!
Review: I love this book! I really like the part where Bilbo Baggins plays the trick on all of the Shire! There are wizards, hobbits, elves and more! And Christians dont have to worry about sorcery either! YAY!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but not sensational
Review: There are some good and bad things to say about this book. The first of which is probably this. I think it's unfair that some people call this the greatest series of books ever written. Then again, in looking at some of the reviews, calling it total garbage is also unfair as well.In all, this is a good fantasy book. However, I must caution that if you are really into fantasy, this is not going to do it for you. Why? Well, really it has mostly to do with the fact that there is no one main character that can overcome everything. When the chips are down, so to speak, hope, luck, and a little ingenious intervention must be used by the "good guys" to escape trouble. This isn't to say the book does not have it's negatives, because clearly it does. But let's start with a positive and go from there. The first is that this is a very rich story. Of course, this is part of it's downfall too. There is a lot of history that only a Lord of the Rings scholar would be interested in or would be able to follow. The lore of the ring is one thing. But every character's history is handed down to the reader. Is it rich? Yes. Is it very hard to follow? Well, if you don't want to take notes, yes. Along these lines, one of the biggest complaints I see from people is that Tolkein should have handed this story to someone else to write, and I can see that perspective. There are a lot of flowery yet empty descriptions. But for me that wasn't too much of a turnoff. In mentally building a scene, I like to have it painted before me. Still, there were times when I was edgy to get the narrative moving. There were other times when I was downright bored by the lack of action. Bringing that thought around again, however, it leads me to proclaim that this narrative is more believable in that fashion. Classic fantasy books have balls to the wall action from cover to cover. This is not the case here. As such, this is more believable as a story that does really exist somewhere and Tolkein merely related that story to our world. The action is not overly sensational. Nothing is "over" anything. Of course, this is what makes people like it less. The ending of the book is dreadfully slowr. This is something that I take issue with. Someone else mentioned that there is no character development, and I think this is true. But I also think it's true that there doesn't need to be character development in what equates to a journey of a ring with a various number of escorts. The "character developmet" is essentially what you learn about the ring and the powers that exist to get it. One thing I particularly do not like is the excessive songs and poems. I think they add little to the story and only sevre to derail the reader who genuinely wants to see the story develop, not take another detour into history or a different tangent altogether. I wouldn't mind songs entirely, I don't think. But some are 3 pages long and read very dry. Ok, so those are my complaints, which started out as what was supposed to be a positive. Well, the positives are that the book is very enjoyable if you don't want a big strong lead character to destroy every foe in his wake. You likely will not sit down and get back up again when you're done. The book doesn't read that fluidly from cover to cover. Some things take digesting. I would recommend this book for just about anyone. Of course, you should read the Hobbit first, as it is the prequel to this series. The Hobbit is a bit more enjoyable than the first read but a tad younger in its target audience, I believe. This first part of the Lord of the Rings is a solid first step, but moves a bit more slowly and contains a fair amount of info not needed to really get at the unfolding narrative in front of you.
Rating:
Summary: Falling asleep. Thanks to the hype.
Review: Book stores everywhere are hyping this LOTR thingy displaying the trilogy right at the entrances. Curious readers are flocking and flipping the book back and forth, some even calling the mobile to whoever and said "Hey is this Book One?, Look! this cover is better!, The trailer looks so good! which Book should I get?" Now I am warning this people. Leave it aside, go for the movie. Otherwise you will end up writing a review for the first time here. If you are one of these people and reading this but yet ignoring all the 1 star reviews given to this book, you will soon learn that no matter how hard you try loving the book due the hype of the movie, you cannot finish the book because you will soon fall asleep. Really. They are right when they say the journey was too detail and a tiring read. I would just want to add my point, this book sounds more like a history book of sorts (oh I heard from somewhere its suppose to be literature but I was too late) when the Council of Elrond take place. Generally the book has TOO MANY names of beings and places thrown to you very quickly without you ever recalling where they came about. Maybe I read it too fast to avoid the walking excercise in the book. Maybe I was not paying attention, ironically, its was supposed to be a book so great that I couldn't stop reading but then again I was too tired forcing myself. I am getting nowhere after 3/4 of the book. Henced I decide to drop it at page 330 and turn on pc to tell you this. I am not writing to criticise Tolkien. I am writing to warn people who were thinking to buy just because the hype tells you its good for you. Trust the 1 stars raters. Its not for you. Go back to Harry Potter or Forgotten Realms.
Rating:
Summary: A True Masterpiece to behold
Review: I have to admit hesitating when person after person told me to read The Lord of the Rings. Finally, I bought the book and just read it, and there are few books as written as well as this. I had to, however, not give it the 5 stars it surely deserves because it can be a tough read. It's an old book, so the prose is "dated." It can also be very historical at times, delving into pasts far from the present, and never to be spoken of again. But THAT'S what makes this such an engrossing tale...the histories. Everything from Bilbo's songs to the story of Strider's sword add to each beings personality and give them a life that few modern writers can achieve. And the images Tolkien can conjure span many generations and are as individual as the person reading it. He gives enough information of the Shire and Rivendale and Bree and everywhere else to form an idea, but not so much so that he corners you into seeing what the next person sees. The many interpretations of Frodo himself are testement to this. If you want something to read in two days, grab a Brooks novel, if you want something you can read again and again and get something new from it each time, I highly recommend this.
Rating: 
Summary: This could be the 1st time the movieWas better than the book
Review: Frodo Baggins the Hobbit hero of the Fellowship of the ring, is the main character in this fantasy book, Frodo Baggins is given a magical ring that turns the wearer invisible and slowly takes control of the wearer. The ring was lost after the war and was found by Gollum in a river. Gollum wore the ring far too much and became a hidous cave-dwelling monster, he calls the ring his "birthday present". One day Bilbo Baggins who you can read about in The Hobbit( which in my opinion is much better than this book) came upon the ring and took it away. Bilbo sensing its evil power working on him, gives the ring to Frodo Baggins in the begining of The Fellowship. This book tells of Frodo and his companions begining their quest to destroy the One Ring of Power, forge by the Master of Mordor, the land of the shadows, they must bring it to cast the ring in the cracks of doom to destroy it. Tolkien goes into paragraph upon paragraph of detail. The first few hundred pages are very boring and some chapters have nothing of importance in the story at all, like the chapter The house of Tom Bamlibado or something, this tells of how Frodo stops his quest to rest in Tom's house and listen to Tom's pointless,long, and boring stories. There are two chapters in the book that are very fun to read. The only reason you don't stop reading even when you are dieing of boredom, is the promised and hinted excitment in future chapters. The battle with the evil wolves lasts only two pages and the rest is 20 pages of how Frodo gathers fire wood and walks( oh who cares).
Too much detail, so what if their walking over mountains, it doesn't take 2 paragraphs to say they walked over a MOUNTAIN! VERY BORING BOOK! If you have got the patience to read this you can probaly get through it alive. I rank all the Lord of the Rings books I've read out of 10.
1. The Hobbit 10
2. The Two Towers 8
3. The Return of the King(haven't read it but is has to be better than the fellowship)
4.The FellowShip of the Ring 1.5
Rating:
Summary: Well, let me see...
Review: Let me see the flaws in this so-called "masterpiece", that I should call THE LORD OF BOREDOM: 1) WHy the hell all the characters must have at least two different names (in different languages)? 2) The "songs" are a joke, boring, it only serves to destroy the narrative; 3) endless repetitive descriptions of characters and environment, such as sunset, sunrise, "the air was heavy and hot", "the hobbits were tired and hungry", "the fields were green", "the sky was foggy", ... Uau, it's utterly boring!!! 4) Heavy narrative. Tolkien should have handled his ideas for someone else to write. He's totally conservative, and you just can't sense the real urgency in the plot, as modern fantasy writers can do. 5) Empty characters. The characters are lame and their dialogues worst still. 6) Terribly drawn maps.
Rating:
Summary: 3 Hours Long? Oh, My!
Review: I see many reviewers giving low ratings and was disappointed. For one, it shows how little people care for details and setting these days. The main reason the details are there in the first place is because it is a different world with a different history. The characters were fine the way they were, unless you wanted another 200 pages of "tedious" reading.
I think there are people who should stick with MTV and the WWF for entertainment and there are others who can handle something more involving. If you are the latter and love fantasy epics then you probably have already read this trilogy, if not then I recommend getting The Hobbit first and then the non-film versions of the trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Great Gnomes this was a good book.
Review: Very good. One of the best I have read.
Rating:
Summary: THE FIRST = THE WORST
Review: Uau, this is obnoxious writing. It seems Tolkien was mockering his readers. IT's not possible, to a book classified as "fantasy", to start a trilogy in such a boring manner. The description of the hobbits' breakfast, lunch and dinner are annoying, a total waste of time, it only makes some readers (like myself) want to get rid of the little fellas!!! Then comes the endless descriptions of the sun rising, wind from the west, winds from the east, the green of the ground, the waters falling in cascade, the sun rising, the sun going down...!!! Enough!! The FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING is the worst book of the three. As I see, here are the merits and flaws of Tolkien's totally overrated trilogy: * MERITS: 1- Someone willing to write such a long book must be respected by the enormous difficulty of the taske alone;
2- TOlkien was really a respected English teacher and historian, and you can sense his joy in writing the book * FLAWS: 1- The characters, all of them, are totally faceless, in the style of Frederick Forsyth's characters. We don't have any insight about heir feelings, about what's really going on inside their heads and hearts; 2- Tolkien clearly copied unashamedly so many points from other fables, like the Arturian legend, for example; 3- The endless descriptions sometimes makes one wonder that he is only gaining time (and pages), by repeating himself over and over again, like " the sun was coming down, the air was heavy, the sun was rising, the air was clean and bright........."" Irc! I really think the complete trilogy would fit in just one 500 pages book. That's all.
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