Rating: 
Summary: Parents make the best visual companions!
Review: I've seen the movie twice in the first week it was released and have read LOTR several times including once aloud to my teenage sons. Pick this book up along with your own copy of LOTR and begin reading Tolkein aloud to your children. Parents make the best visual companions! Turn off the TV this week and read aloud to your kids. If you've taken them to see "The Fellowship of the Rings" (I would advise children over the age of 10), then read Tolkein to them. Keep Fisher's resource handy as an occasional companion as you read. Most volumes of Tolkein come with maps. This Tolkein visual companion is no different, with the map keyed to the movie. There is a danger in all this though. Your children's imagination sparked by Tolkein's genius descriptive writing will create an even more detailed and wonderful Middle Earth than the blockbuster movie was able to create. Use this visual companion sparingly with your children. Encourage their imagination to fill the big screen of their minds with Tolkein's epic tale. Parents play a key role in all this. For two books with many more creative ideas for parents, look into "The Family Cloister" and "The Christian Family Toolbox", both by David Robinson and available on Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: This amazing
Review: If you loved the books or the movie you will love this book. It tells you all you need to know about the hobbits, elves, drawfs, men, wizards, and the Nazgul (Ringwraiths). this is a cool book. When the next Visual Companion books come out I will rush o ut to buy them.
Rating:
Summary: A "must" for all Tolkien buffs!
Review: Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring Visual Companion is the official authorized companion to the movie, published to coincide with its release, and provides an excellent encyclopedic guide to the characters, plot, and setting of Middle-earth. A center fold-out page may not lend to library lending longevity but movie fans will find this a fitting tribute, explaining and exploring the complex setting and plot. Don't miss Brian Sibley's Official Movie Guide either: it provides a souvenir celebration of the film with background scenes, interviews, and insights into the film's making.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent photographic guide to Middle-Earth
Review: Normally these sorts of books haven't really appealed to me since I was a child, seeing the first two Star Wars movies as they were released. This visual guide, though, is a cut above: It's an abridged (intended as the first of three, naturally) visual encyclopedia of the films' version of Middle-Earth, and explains, in brief, everything that one would need to know about the people, places and things in the first movie. I was surprised by the level of detail: There were facts about wizards that are only known to readers who go beyond the trilogy to the Silmarillion. Pretty impressive! It should be noted that not everyone in the movie is in here: Gollum is notably absent, as his appearance in the film is being kept as a surprise for film-goers. Definitely worth buying for anyone who enjoys the books or the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit late for the feeding frenzy
Review: Now that the frenzy of LotR gottahaveit buying is over, at least for a few months, one wonders what will happen to the backstock of stuff like this. I was in a bookstore yesterday, and there were three bookcase loads of LotR dreck, but they didn't have a copy of *The Wind in the Willows*, even in the childrens' area. Buy *The Lord of the Rings.* Read it. Skip the popcorn books trying to cash in on greatness.
Rating:
Summary: Could include more information
Review: Over all,I think this is
a very great book. It is telling details that I did not even knew afte reading the books,about the characters - what`s their real names (if they`re called something else),their personality,their origin,etc.
It is also a great information resource on the different cultures of Tolkien`s Middle Earth (the hobbits,the elves,the dwarfs,etc),and what makes them different from each other.
With lots of good photographs from the film,as well as citations that describes the characters,it becomes an interesting and entertaining read.
But is it complete?
The answer is NO!
Where are Gollum,Balrog,King Celeborn,the Misty Mountains,and the mines of Moria?
They`re not here,anyway!At least not much info about them. The two first guys are not included at all. And more info about them would have been very nice.
Let`s hope Gollum is included in the companion volume of "The Two Towers". Balrog is still left forever. A pity!
Therefore,my rate on this book is four stars and not more. Still,it is the best visual guide to Peter Jackson`s film available.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as it gets
Review: The "Lord of the Rings" movie recently was probably the best movie I've seen, and Jude Fisher's accompanying visual companion is a good piece of work. It gives a concise, good summary of people, places and different races in Middle-Earth. It'll tell moviegoers background tidbits not in the movie: why Sam is fascinated by Elves, what happened to Frodo's parents, that Legolas is a prince, what Elrond's ancestry is, and Gandalf's true nature. We are filled in less so on places: Lothlorien itself gets only four paragraphs. Individual species get more space: We hear about the history of the human Men of Middle-Earth, about the habits of the hobbits, and the "leaving these shores" comment about the Elves. I would like to remind some of the other reviewers that many people -- adults and children -- have not read the books and this book is probably for them. So to give away massive spoilers concerning Moria would be very bad news. (Just as this book doesn't let us know what happens to certain characters) So it's inevitable that some parts of the plot, especially those that hinge the plot, will not be revealed. Some clues about events in "Two Towers" are given -- look carefully. The pictures are very good, very well chosen -- the ones of Frodo and Sam in particular. Overall, if you have never read the LOTR trilogy (or "Hobbit") then this is definitely the book to pick up. It won't clue you in on every exquisite detail, but it will get rid of much of your confusion.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as it gets
Review: The "Lord of the Rings" movie recently was probably the best movie I've seen, and Jude Fisher's accompanying visual companion is a good piece of work. It gives a concise, good summary of people, places and different races in Middle-Earth. It'll tell moviegoers background tidbits not in the movie: why Sam is fascinated by Elves, what happened to Frodo's parents, that Legolas is a prince, what Elrond's ancestry is, and Gandalf's true nature. We are filled in less so on places: Lothlorien itself gets only four paragraphs. Individual species get more space: We hear about the history of the human Men of Middle-Earth, about the habits of the hobbits, and the "leaving these shores" comment about the Elves. I would like to remind some of the other reviewers that many people -- adults and children -- have not read the books and this book is probably for them. So to give away massive spoilers concerning Moria would be very bad news. (Just as this book doesn't let us know what happens to certain characters) So it's inevitable that some parts of the plot, especially those that hinge the plot, will not be revealed. Some clues about events in "Two Towers" are given -- look carefully. The pictures are very good, very well chosen -- the ones of Frodo and Sam in particular. Overall, if you have never read the LOTR trilogy (or "Hobbit") then this is definitely the book to pick up. It won't clue you in on every exquisite detail, but it will get rid of much of your confusion.
Rating:
Summary: The official authorized companion book.
Review: THE VISUAL COMPANION includes a fold-out map of Middle Earth along with some breathtakingly scary and some truly beautiful still shots from the film, with a running narrative throughout. But this is a very short mini-history summation of the plot, and in NO WAY should you miss the splendor of the original books. But if you're a fan of the movie and you want to re-live it, or if you want a quick review of the story before you see the movie, do take a look at this beautiful book. Also check out the official movie guide for background info on the making of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A nice movie companion
Review: This book is full of great pictures, and that's the obvious reason to buy it. For the fan of the movie, this is a must-have. For a fan of Tolkien in general, this is a must-have. Our house has two whole shelves dedicate to books by, about, or inspired by, Tolkien. Purists will note that where the movie departs from the book, this visual guide follows the movie (ie the visual guide furthers the myth that Saruman creates the Uruk-hai, names Arwen's jewel the Evenstar instead of Arwen herself, etc). Purists will also note that there appears to be a great deal of dialogue here that was cut from the theatre release (including Boromir's Dream & Galadriel's presenting of the gifts)--one can only hope they will be reinserted for the Director's Cut version on a DVD! The book is divided into sections: History, The Free Peoples of Middle-Earth (Hobbits, Men, Elves, Dwarves) The Istari, and The Dark Powers. All in all, a wonderful visual companion for a visually stunning movie!
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