Rating: 
Summary: 4 stars if you were born after 1970
Review: It was in order to read and enjoy this book that I first read "The Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. One of my high school buddies, now a struggling author, was tossed out of English class for laughing out loud while reading this book during class. I read it in 1974, and remember laughing out loud frequently. [Unfortunately, LOTR and BOTR led to the Dungeons and Dragons(tm) role playing games, which cost me points off my GPA in college. ] Here it is, 25 years later, and rereading this book made me chuckle with delight. My kids want to read whatever it was that made Daddy laugh, so I have promised them that when they have finished Tolkein's books, which are good, clean heroic fantasy based on a variety of Western Literary archetypes, that they can read this short and humorous spoof.The book has not aged as well as it might have, since it has many pop culture references from the late 1960's/early 1970's. Back then, drugs were "cool," writing dirty passages was a daring/shocking assault on the perceived prudery of American society, the anti-establishment theme was still a vibrant part of American culture, and National Lampoon was becoming a very funny (albeit sohpomoric) magazine. Cultural norms change, and some contextual humor will be lost to the current generation. All that notwithstanding, BOTR is a great spoof of LOTR and an integral part of any Tolkein collection. For those of you offended by a spoof of JRR Tolkein's trilogy, including the indignant 8th grader, I challenge you to write a parody of the LOTR for Generation X. You will find that it takes great love for a work to spoof it successfully. Example: Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail movie, a spoof of the most beloved legendary figure of English culture. I suspect there are a lot of sharp wits out there who could equal, or even better, the original spoof and in so doing make a whole new generation laugh without losing their affection for the LOTR. I for one would love to see a Generation X spoof of Lord of the Rings. Laughter is good for you. . . so read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: I like a good sex/dick/fart/drug joke as much as the next guy.. but it has to be done well, and this book just isn't. Granted, it has a couple brilliant moments where you can't help but laugh, but it's not worth all the filler. If you want a good bit of rotten comedy, go watch some South Park or Beavis and Butthead because, honestly, that's more sophisticated. The humour in this is dated and just isn't very good (it's like the Air Farce is to Rick Mercer). Plus, this is a kids book we're talking about(albeit a very good one). As far as I'm concerned any book that could be read by children should be off limits for this kind of parody.
*
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious to some, sacrilege to others
Review: Personally, I think this book is hilarious, but I HIGHLY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO TOLKIEN DIE-HARDS! I read the negative reviews of it, and really, you're asking for it if you're a "purist" and read this parody. Believe me, I love "The Lord of the Rings" and I've read it God knows how many times, but I found this book irresistable. The authors brilliantly ridicule the famous series, even skewering the Shakespearean language ("dead they were and yet not so ... their eyes shone like wet mushrooms"), characters (Tom Bombadil and Goldberry=Tim Benzedrine and Hashberry the druggies), the rhymes (O skinny wraith whose fingers are hypodermic needles!), tacky clothes (Gandalf in bellbottoms, Saruman in a red leotard and Glorfindel dressed in cheesecloth) and the names (Eorache daughter of Eorlobe; Benelux son of Electrolux) There is plenty of sharp and wickedly funny wit within this book. However, about 50% of it is a lot of dirty and crude humor that's pretty gross, and sometimes it gets so wild the plot is completely incoherent. Still, I read this so much I managed to memorize the Chant of the Green Toupees and drive my family crazy by reciting it over and over again. I'd recommend this book to casual LOTR fans, people who've read and know the book because otherwise you'll think the authors wrote it in an insane asylum, but definitely not purists and die-hards. If they want to get more Tolkien, they should read the Silmarillion and all of those history of Middle-Earth books.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: I bought this book when in came out in 1969 and enjoyed it then. By then I'd already read The Lord of The Rings a couple of times and loved Tolkien's work. I thought this book funny and enjoyable and, while not high literature, I do think it worth reading if you're a true fan of the Lord of The Rings. Since then I've read LoTR probably a dozen times, but I still find this book amusing.
As another reviewer, J. D. Heise says, this book "takes Tolkien's trilogy(sic) and spins it, flambes it, purees it, folds, spindles and mutilates it", but, unlike the recent movies that did the same thing, it was intennded which makes it much easier to enjoy. If you're a diehard fan of the LoTR book, buy something totally useless (this book) and have a laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: I hope Peter Jackson has a sense of humor, because it will be impossible to watch his trilogy the same way after reading this gem. Back in print after some years, this takes Tolkien's trilogy and spins it, flambes it, purees it, folds, spindles and mutilates it. Full of outrageous puns, bad jokes and imagery that would make an Orc gag, this parody is laugh-out-loud funny, and I could not help but imagine the characters from the movie in the same roles and becoming slapstick victims. A quick read, but just damn funny!
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Ballhog and Prepare To Laugh Yourself Silly!
Review: This week I would like to review a book that hold a special place in my history. I have read this book more times than any other. When recommending it I tend to start reading it again. This slim volume manages to grasp all of the finer points of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic series and turns them on their heads. The book follows the adventures of Dildo Bugger as he journeys to destroy the ring he carries. From the opening lines of the first chapter, It's My Party and I'll Snub Who I Want To, to Goodgulf's battle with the Ballhog all the way to the final destruction of the ring this book is one of the funniest I have ever read (and that includes The Tick). BORED OF THE RINGS is currently available in a trade paperback edition. If you enjoyed Tolkien's original and have a sense of humor I highly recommend that you locate a copy of this book and read it right away. Your endorphin levels will thank you.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent piece of work
Review: Let me start off by saying that I love the Lord of the Rings and that I had always imagined the stories being made for live action. You can't imagine my surprise when these finally made into production. However, any book, song, movie, etc. can be made fun of, no matter how great or horrible the original is. Parody is just an effort to create a humorous situation. It does not intend to belittle the authors for their hard efforts, nor does it intend to criticize the work. It is there for a laugh. I think this book was vey daring; not many people would have the courage to joke about a book that so many hold in high appeal. The writing is very poetic and written by somebody with a good grasp of the English language. This is an excellent piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Parody; A Bit Dated
Review: Daring to mock one of the most beloved and popular series of all time, "Bored of the Rings" fortunately rises to the occasion. Flexing the sense of humor that would pilot "National Lampoon" into American pop culture, the authors leave nothing in Tolkein's masterpiece unmocked. Are you a fan of Gandalf? You'll cringe at the antics of Goodgulf, conjurer of long-winded dissertations and maker of surrender flags. Or are you a fan of the hobbits? Then relish in the description of Dildo's birthday party (chorus to the boggie eating song -- "Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble/ Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble") and delight in Frito's eyeing of possible exits while Goodgulf explains the mysteries of the One Ring ("Cease thy eyeing of possible exits," commands Goodgulf). Aragorn is reduced to Stomper, whose best weapon against the Dark Lord's wraiths is his hilarious inability to draw his sword. Gimli and Legolas become Gimlet and Legolam, whose legendary pursuit of the Narcs (after the kidnapping of Moxie and Pepsi) can be measured in marches of at least two hundred yards at a time. The authors have made "Bored" mercifully brief, realizing that while Tolkein fans can savor a hundred pages or so of mockery, a comprehensive send-up of the entire trilogy would have been too much. A book that can be read in an easy afternoon, "Bored" makes up for its brevity by cramming more jokes on a page than any book I can recall. Even the jokes that rely on 70's-era pop culture are witty enough to be funny even if you don't exactly get the reference. If you're a fan of the trilogy, be prepared to laugh out loud at this spot-on spoof. Slightly wicked, "Bored" is nevertheless light-hearted enough that you realize that the work is a labor of love for the authors rather than a savaging of Tolkein's majestic works.
Rating:
Summary: Dont Take It or Yourself Too Seriously
Review: An old and classic work. I read it 25 years ago, and it was showing a bit of age back then. (Which makes me laugh at some reviews claiming this is an attempt to cash in on Peter Jackson's success!) A low-brow parody aimed at males from early adolescence to college age that claims in its own forward to be a cheap rip-off with no literary merit. Not one of the great works of the western world, but I thought it was pretty funny when I was 14 and it still amuses me today. I do worry about those who take Tolkien's so seriously that a parody of it seems like a threat to them along with those who took the time to write one-star negative reviews without actually reading the book. Some people need to get out more!
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