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Summary: No "PC" complaints accepted
Review: Tolkien was a great man. He was not James Joyce or even JamesEllroy. His characters are limited, in that they have definingcharacteristics, not fully fleshed personalities, like Ebeneezer Scrooge. Tolkien's great achievement, the one that merits 5 stars for any of his middle earth works, is the creation in and of itself. Middle Earth has over 37,000 years of history. Read The Silmarillion. It is amazing. He spent his life trying to complete a supernatural land with a nearly thoroughly documented history. The fact that he pulled it off (though never to his own satisfaction) surely ranks him among the greatest creative geniuses on the 20th century. As to the assertion that the mystical elements of Middle Earth (The remaining Istari and Elves) left middle earth (Europe) for the west (America)...this is all wrong. Middle Earth as europe is correct. Tolkien said that he wanted to create a mythological past for England, like unto that of Greece and Rome. But the claim that the west is America is laughable. The Elves and all the "magical" elements of the world left at the end of the third age for Valinor. These were the Undying Lands, Eden, if you will, where the Elves first awoke, then forsook. Eru Illuvatar ("God"), at the end of the Second Age, sank the Island Kingdom of Numenor ("Atlantis") into the sea and changed the fashion of the world from a flat plate to the globe we now know. Valinor was removed from the circles of the world and out of mortal comprehension. It can be compared to heaven. People believe it exists as a place, but cannot tell you where it is, as it it out of our plane of existence. The Istari and Elves did not go to "america." They went back to the beginning. Enough, already. Don't expect maodern gender/culture neutral speech from someone born in South Africa in the last years of the 19th century. Also, read Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle." It can be found in "The Tolkien Reader." It is a story about an artist painting a forever-growing picture of a tree. It parallels Tolkin's own life's work.
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Summary: I"ts THE LORD OF THE RINGS for gosh sake........nuff said...
Review: The only bad thing about Tolkien's masterpiece, is finding something to read afterwards.
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Summary: The greatest literary gift of all time.
Review: Before you get your backs up please read on. The Bible is more important, but The Bible is more than simple literature, and therefore I think it unfair to compare a mortals writing skills with those of almighty God himself. Shakespeare's works are wonderfull too and I have enjoyed them immensely, but they could not come close to the sheer ecstacy of climbing Mount Doom with Frodo and Sam for the first time, of being there when Gandalf returns from death itself to aid in the overthrow of Sauron. What Tolkien has done is to reveal a world to us that has no equal. In terms of pure enjoyment, reading Tolkien for the first time is akin to one's first taste of fine chocolate (maybe even sex if you REALLY enjoy reading). For those of you with children, read the Hobbit to them when they are little and when they get older, buy them Lord of the Rings. If you are going to read one book in your life just for entertainment, this should be it. In a time where quick fixes and simple fare are the rule, indulge yourself with this book. You will never regret it.
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Summary: Just Amazing...
Review: Back in 4th grade a friend of mine told me about The Hobbit. Two years later I came across the book and read it and it is now my favorite book. Then I read The Lord of the Rings and fell in love with it. Right now I'm 15 and even though I've read other fantasy I just haven't found anything like this book. I keep telling my friends that they should read it... Anyway so I give it 5 stars because it deserves it.
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Summary: Tolkien is THE greatest artist of the 20th century
Review: I myself have read many fantasy books,especially Tolkien, and someplace in those books I might find any resemblances to LOTR, and I think that is just fine ;) My Children will read this book as soon they will be able ..hm..well..read!
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Summary: I love the books but this recorded version sucks
Review: I was very disappointed with the acting and production of the 9 CD boxed set. It seems to have been produced for children. The voices of the actors are more suited for Disney fairy tales than for Tolkien's Mastepiece. The actors use goofy Cokney English accents - Elves sound like Munchkins - terrible. Do not waste your money on this. I listened to the first CD and boxed the whole thing back up for a refund.
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Summary: Kind of like a stubborn engine, but DEFINITELY worth it.
Review: LotR gets 4 stars from me for only two reasons: 1) It's slow to get started. Like a stubborn engine, it'll show promises of starting, sputter a few times, then die out on you. But once it goes, it *goes*. Like a freight train without brakes on a steep mountain, it doesn't stop. Not by a long shot. And 2) Like Tolkien himself wrote, it's too short! I guess my next stop is 'The Silmarillion' and maybe afterwards a bit of history. So, on to some review of direct concern to the book. All in all, I would say, my favorite parts of the book were the battles of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith. The sheer volumes that are described therein gives you a sense of the utter helplessness that the defenders must feel and the trials that they must face before they can move on. Another favorite part occurs a bit later on, that being the ensuing conflicts after the hobbits return to the Shire. It's obvious that the Hobbits have grown beyond themselves, have unlocked and cultivated the courage in the hearts of their people. Forgive me; I'm a sucker for good over evil anyday. And as for my favorite character...well, it's a bit of a tough call. Gimli is a candidate, as are Sam and Aragorn, but each of them are unique and wholly fascinating. Oh, before I forget... No, I don't care at all about any imagined racist, homoerotic or sexist theme that someone claims to have picked up on. I find that to be just a bit shallow, to forsake a great tale just because it disagrees with the general consensus of society, to find stereotypes and loaded language where it does not exist. Don't get caught in nitpicking the 'non-PC' passages... just go with the flow. On a side note...this actually refers to the softcover three-in-one edition. There is a little bit of broken type here and there, but it may have just been a fluke in my book. So, as I finally end my tirade, I must say be warned: it'll drag a bit until Rivendell. But once there... Buckle up...it's gonna be a wild ride.
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Summary: Millenium Edition -- bad, bad, bad.
Review: I just received my copy of the just-released Millenium Edition of Lord of the Rings (came out October 99) -- I was extremely disappointed. It is essentially 7 little paperback-type books with hard covers on them. The print is small, of course, but worst of all is the sorry excuse for "binding" used by the publishers (done by just glueing a bunch of single pages together). I kid you not, upon opening the first book, a page was already in the process of falling out! If you want a decent hardcopy addition of this outstanding work of literature, go with the 3 volume set from Houghton Mifflin .
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Summary: Just read it!
Review: Lord of the rings is really the nicest book I have ever read. Mabey it's not literature like James Joyce or Shakespeare, but who cares? Its a very good book and most important it's nice. What more do you want. Tolkien used his imagination an knowledge to create his own world with its own history. And he did a great job.
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Summary: Is good.
Review: Quite simply, Lord of the Rings is the standard by which all other fantasy books should be compared to. It's enduring ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of new generations is proof of that.
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