Rating: 
Summary: Funny, but not as good as "Doon"
Review: I read "The Lord of the Rings" and loved it as a great work. I also read "Bored of the Rings" and enjoyed it as a parody of that great work. Some people seem to think that the two are mutually exclusive. You can't love LOTR and enjoy BOTR, and if you laughed at BOTR, you must not really understand Tolkien. I think that's silly -- if you know LOTR, you will appreciate the jokes more, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously.Even great works such as "The Lord of the Rings" are not above parody. Yes, even sophomoric parodies such as this one. Yes, even parodies with jokes about (gasp) sex. (How tame its toilet jokes seem now, when compared to the stuff you can hear on the radio today.) Sure, it would be great if there were a more subtle parody of Tolkien out there. But until that time... "Doon" is a much better parody. Now why don't they put that one back into print?
Rating:
Summary: satire that has stood the test of time
Review: i saw and purchased Bored of the Rings in 1969. It was truely a wonderful conclusion to Lord of the Rings. Beard, and Kenny could have shown no greater honor to the master Tolkien than by their amazing parody of his wonderful trilogy. As a home schooling mom the trilogy has been required reading for my children and Bored of the Rings was required to demonstrate the art of satire. And artfully written it was! Even after all these years Bored of the Rings is well worn and well loved in our house...
Rating: 
Summary: easy to appreciate
Review: as far as i'm concerned, tolkien was a genius and "lord of the rings" is the high point for literature in the 20th century... my apologies to f. scott fitzgerald, langston hughes, and john steinbeck... that's why i loved this book so much... for someone who knows the books as well as i do, this parody hits right on the money every time... the humor is pythonesque and absolutely side-splitting... to all the fellow tolkien junkies out there who are indignant rather than amused at this work, lighten up and laugh a bit...
Rating:
Summary: A great parody
Review: I first read this book when it first came out 30 years ago and have read it many times since. It still is one of the funniest things I have read. Although it has been a few years since the last reading, just little tidbits of the text can break me up. I do feel that it is a bit dated in its political references but that is a minor point. It is too bad that some readers take the parody so seriously. Lighten up folks, it is just a spoof.
Rating:
Summary: Either Arglebargle III or someone else...
Review: All right, let's get one thing straight: This is a damn funny book. It appealed mightily to my middle-school appreciation for crude humor, back when I read it in the original edition. It still makes me laugh when I pick it up for a pick-me-up. It's worth reading if you have a Pythonesque and South Park kind of sense of humor, and being familiar with Tolkien's original, including his faux-scholarly "notes," will enhance your appreciation of the parody all the more. That being said, I must also submit my humble opinoin that this is NOT "the most brilliant parody ever written," nor is it "the best book ever written." Then again, neither was Lord of the Rings, which BOTR satirizes, "the best book ever written." AIEEEE! BLASPHEMY! Almighty Lord Tolkien, save us from these Heretics who dare to suggest your Most Sacred Work is anything less than Inerrant Holy Scripture for us all! In other words, those of you who name your children after LOTR characters and begin reviews with such inanities as "IN THE NAME OF ELBERETH!" need to get a freaking life. Or therapy. Maybe there's a 12-step group to help Tolkien addicts detox from their excessive immersion in Middle-earth. If not, somebody please form one, and make Bored of the Rings required reading!
Rating:
Summary: You May Need to Change Underwear
Review: This book is NOT high art. It's not even polished satire. Assomeone else observed, it's just a spoof, though one done by authorswho knew and loved the subject of the spoof. What it IS is wet-your-pants funny in the many parts that work. But you need to be able to appreciate a certain type of over-the-top, black humor to like this book. If you can laugh at the best South Park episodes, you'll laugh at this. If you like Dan Jenkins, you'll like this. If you considered "A Fish Called Wanda" funny, you'll think this is too. But if you want political correctness, or reverence for Tolkien (heck, reverence for ANYTHING), stay away from this book. END
Rating:
Summary: TOOO Serious
Review: I was not surprised that so many people were offended by a parody of Tolkien's work. JRR wrote a good trilogy-still read it on occasion. What surprised me is how sanctimonious some of negative reviews got. You would think, if you were from another planet, that LOTR was a sacred text. Some of the reviewers wrote as if they believed that LOTR was original and sprang out of the head of JRRT. It has it's basis in "Beowulf" and draws from Arthurian legend among other sources. In spite of this, there was even someone who found a messianic theme in the work. Furthermore, by today's standards some of the material is racist and highlights Tolkien's bias' on class distinction. "It's best the simple folk don't know the deeds of the great". That quote is a paraphrase, but you get the idea. You reviewers that hold JRRT above criticism may want re-think that position. If you didn't want to see a favorite author satirized, why would you read it? Next thing we know, people will think "Star Wars" is some kind of heroic epic instead of the marketing money machine it is.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best!
Review: This will sound redundant after all the things people have said, but BOTR is one of the best books ever. Ever. This book is Funny. After all the years since I first read it, passages of it are still seared onto my brain: "This ring, and no other, was made by the elves who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves..." "Suffering total amnesia of the fact that the dwarves were being made into chuntney outside, he challenged the creature to a riddle game." "Couldn't we just drop it down the storm drain or pawn it, and swallow the ticket or something?" Tolkeiners, PLEASE, do yourselves a favor and get a life. Like a reviewer said before: You are the type of people who actively (and seriously) discuss whether Kirk's Enterprise can beat Picard's Enterprise. Icky. Double icky. Do you remember when William Shatner came on Saturday Night Live and told the Trekkies to get a life? Please, do yourself a favor and buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Great book; totally irreverent
Review: I read this book 23 years ago, and a couple of times since. Personally, I love it! It's a no holds barred book, full of irreverence for everything. The point of the book is to make fun of "Lord of the Rings," and they hold back on nothing. (Don't say you weren't warned.) If you're all about political correctness, don't even think about reading this book. On the other hand, if you think the world sometimes takes the original series way too seriously (even though you like them too,) you'll probably like this book.
Rating:
Summary: well, i'm buying my 8th copy of this since 1969
Review: why do i think anyone will ever give me the book back when i am falling on the floor laughing when i describe it to them? Now, i have read the Hobbit and LotR every year, starting September 22 since 1968 and can write my name in High Elven runes, but that doesn't mean I have completely lost my sense of humor. I have to agree with many of the reviewers who noted that you have to know Tolkien's works in great depth to parody them like this. great fun. other lol authors i have just discovered: christopher buckley and christopher moore.
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