Rating: 
Summary: An amazing trilogy - for everyone!
Review: First of all, I spend a lot of time writing reviews of books, computer games, and movies. I very rarely, if ever, give anything a perfect score. The Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit as well) is an exception. These books come so close to perfection it's amazing. I've heard people compare the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit to Shakespeare and the Bible. To be honest, comparisons like those probably sell Tolkien short. His ability to create a totally fictional world and then wholly and completely draw the reader in is simply amazing.If you haven't already read The Lord of the Rings then you are missing out on one of the greatest literary works ever created. These are books that everyone and anyone with any appreciation for literature can take something away from. To be completely honest, I'm shocked at the few (and they certainly are in a VAST minority) negative reviews I've seen here. There is nothing wordy, boring, or dull about any of the volumes in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's incredible sense of detail and imagery are what make the story so intense and so real. If you're still not convinced then all you need to do is stop by your local bookstore and read the first paragraph or two (past the foreward and prologue, of course) of the Fellowship of the Ring. Every sentence is so masterfully written and immersive that you'll be drawn in immediatly. Ever since I first picked Lord of the Rings up I haven't been able to put it down - and that was more than ten years ago. A NOTE ON THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION: A few people have already mentioned that the quality of the collector's edition isn't as great as would be hoped. Unfortunetly, this is more or less true. Fortunetly, that doesn't mean they're not a good buy for serious Tolkien fans. They are a bit pricey, but it's nice to have a much more durable version of a book that you'll be reading for years to come. Not to mention that they look great sitting on a bookshelf.
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Summary: The book of the Millenium
Review: Lord of the Rings is, with no doubts at all, the best epic history ever published. Wrote between the mid 30's and the beginning of the 50's, this book is a best seller since his first publication in 1954. Tolkien introduce us to a world full of fantasy which he created first with THE HOBBIT just to entertain his sons.Lord of the Rings has inspired many areas including culture,Rpg and cinema(Star Wars for example). And with the release of the movie (The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the trilogy), which takes place 19 december, you really got to have this book to feel the fantastic imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Rating:
Summary: It's Tolkien! Of course it's good!
Review: Alas, this edition is not truly leather-bound, but don't worry, that was the only flaw I could find. The paper is very nice and, like the book Sam mentions in Two Towers, the text is red and black. As for the story itself, well, we all know how well-written and imaginitive it is, and that it is a masterpiece. Long live the Fellowship!
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Summary: One Ring to rule them all....
Review: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them This is epic as it has never been done before. That one man created a world in such stunning detail, a world full of beauty and ugliness, courage and cowardice, joy and despair, good and evil is awe-inspiring. And not just a world, but a complete history - replete with folklore and legend, poetry and song, heroes and villains. 'The Lord of the Rings' is the product of a formidable imagination, a book that spawned a whole genre of writing, none of which matches this, the Bible of fantasy literature. Tolkien was clearly in love with Middle-Earth and its mythology. Every character, from Gollum to Galadriel is lovingly rendered in compelling detail. Every twist of the road to Mordor is convincingly constructed, as though the author had ridden across Middle-Earth in his mind. What Tolkien has managed to do, like the handful of other great epic writers, is take a very personal story and set it against the backdrop of great events with which it is inextricably bound (don't laugh, but in this respect the book is reminiscent of 'War and Peace'). The average reader will associate themselves much more with Frodo or Sam than Gandalf or Aragorn, but that is not to say we aren't as interested in their fates - we just get to see them through the eyes of the less elevated, which makes them seem more human. The three parts to 'The Lord of the Rings' are each quite different from each other. 'The Fellowship of the Ring' begins with Bilbo's birthday party and sees the company formed in haste as they realise that Bilbo's ring is indeed the One Ring, and that Sauron's servants, the Nazgul, are hot on its trail. 'The Two Towers' sees the narrative take three different routes, as the fellowship is broken up, while 'The Return of the King' deals with the final great events in the War of the Rings, and is the most epic of the three. The sadness at the passing of the third age of Middle-Earth is quite poignant, and the fact that Tolkien was writing at the time of the second World War should not be overlooked. 'The Lord of the Rings' is a very long book, but all the better to lose yourself in. As you may have gathered, I think it is brilliant - there aren't enough superlatives to describe it. Can't wait for the film....
Rating: 
Summary: Did i miss something?
Review: I love fantasy,realy. I just dont see though what was so great. a quarter of the way through it i was beating myself over the head with the book. all i was thinking was "this could be said in half the words" he takes to long to get to the point. Its not because i cant read well,im in the 4th grade and am doing seven page book reports on the crystal shard (R.A Salvatore, a good writer)its just a boring trilogy.the only reason i gave this a three and not a one is because it was his work that created the genre.
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Summary: The lord of the rings book number 1
Review: The Lord of the Rings
Book one
J.R.R. Tolken The book that I read is called the Lord of the Rings book one. The author of this book is J.R.R. Tolken. The main character is Frodo Baggins. Other characters are Merry, Sam, Tom, Goldberry, Gandalf, Bilbo, and many others that I will not name right now because that will take too long. The antagonists are the obstacles that they have to over come to get to where they are going. If I told you every thing that is in the book it would take forever. My favorite part in the book is when frodo is walking through the woods with the ponies, Sam, Pippen, and merry. They start to feel sleepy and stop to rest. Frodo has the sudden urge to dip his feet into the cool water of the stream. So he goes over to the riverbed and sits on a tree root. Then he fell asleep. Mean while Merry and Pippen are asleep by the tree and all of the sudden the tree opens up and eats them. Sam has gone for a walk in the woods. Suddenly the tree root moves and Frodo is pushed into the water. Sam comes back and gets Frodo out of the water. Then they try to get merry (Pippen has all ready been eaten out of sight they think that he ran off) out of the tree but it is no use the tree has too tight of a grip on merry. So then they decide to burn the tree to get merry out. When the y start the fire it hurts merry more than the tree. Then they start to yell for help. Luckily along comes a man named tom he helps to get them out he says a few words to the tree and it just spits them out. Is this tom friend or foe? To find out read this book. (Recommended reading The Hobbit first) I would recommend this book to fantasy loving people. This book is 2 thumbs down.
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Summary: Please Beware of These Ratings!!!
Review: While both the books and the BBC adaption with Ian Holm are magnificent, the Mind's Eye (the version supposedly being referred to by most reviews) is absolute garbage. The voice acting is relentlessly undignified. Many characters seem to have inexplicable speech problems as their voices range from Goofie-like to Mickey Mouse-like. If you can bear to listen to the LOTR saga reduced to squeaky weirdness (I believe the smurfs analogy in a previous review was particularly apt--this is the Lord of the Rings as performed by smurfs) then by all means choose this set. However, if you want to hear a dignified work that truly conveys a sense of the grandeur, history, and nobility of the story, then the only option is the aforementioned BBC radio edition, with Ian Holm, Peter Woodthorpe (the ultimate Gollum--he must be heard to be believed), and other top notch actors. Please make yourself happy and get the BBC version.
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Summary: Review on Editions
Review: Houghton Mifflin Co published three editions of the one-volume LOTR, all of which include the complete text and the appendices: This 1991 centennial edition has largest text. It includes durable binding, smooth white pages, glossy illustrations, an illustrated cover jacket, and an red ribbon bookmark sewn into the binding. However, the book is the largest LOTR book I've ever seen in my life -- It's quite hefty. There is a red, faux-leather collector's edition published in 1974. It is slightly smaller in dimensions compared to the centennial edition and weighs considerably less. The cover is beautiful and unmatched in elegance. Chapter headings and margin headings are in orange red. The pages are slightly tinted yellow, as smooth as the centennial edition, and seem to emit a pleasant flagrance. However, there is "broken type" on nearly every page because the text is not conventionally set, but rather a photo offset from another edition. (Conventionally set text would read like a Word document printed with a laser printer. Photo offset would be as if one had scanned that laser-printed World document into a JPEG, and reprinted out that JPEG.) The binding of this edition also seems to be of lesser quality than the 1991 centennial edition. There is also the LOTR Movie Art Cover edition printed in June of 2001. Like the centennial edition's cover illustration, this edition's movie art is also on a cover jacket. I am not too familiar with this edition, but from casual browsing, I've found that the text, though smallest, looks the most "conventionally set," and the pages are of the same quality as the centennial edition. The book is smaller in height and width but thicker than the collector's edition. The binding looks solid enough, but there is no movie art in the book. My personal favorite is the centennial edition.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Story, Gorgeous Edition
Review: The story is just as beautiful as it was years ago when I read it for the first time. It needs no further review. For those who are looking for an attractive, permanent edition, this is it. The fifty Alan Lee paintings are gorgeous, and the more you look at them the more you realize how carefully Lee put them together to remain faithful to the vision and the detail of the text. It's obvious he loved the books as much as the rest of us do. A keeper.
Rating:
Summary: What can I say?
Review: What can I say? This is by far the best Literary work of the 20th century. If you haven't read it yet, take advantage of all of the current Tolkien excitement and pick up a copy.
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