Rating: 
Summary: Very nice, but...
Review: It's true Tolkien is THE king of fantasy, but this book is too slow motion. I really liked the characters and the journey, but sometimes it seems there is nothing else to read than "they got up, ate a few, walked a lot and slept", so i found it quite boring, and i finished it within 3 months, which is quite unusual for me. Worst of all is i think the first chapter, if you don't know nothing of tolkien's world you get completly lost with the Hobbits history!!!
Rating: 
Summary: ALL HAIL TOLKIEN......
Review: When I was 12 I read J.R.R Tolkien's THE HOBBIT , LORD OF THE RINGS and SILMARILLION for the first time and I just can't seem to stop. Whenever I finish the series I just start over again because it is the greatest book ever. The series is filled with so much memorible moments that It found a place in my heart forever. I recommend this book to every single person in the world. Each time I read it I wish to enter Middle Earth and battle foul orcs and evil trolls, meet Elves and Dwarves travel to Gondor and Erebor, Travel the great river Anduin and much more.
Rating:
Summary: The Lord of the Rings (The movie never came close to this!!)
Review: Simply Amazing! I started reading fantasy a year ago and seeing all of the movies just released the book was the next step. After reading the Fellowship portion I couldn't believe how much was left out in the movie (let alone changed for pacing).The amount of detail is almost as if reading a history book (with great interest, not boring). If you are looking for a fast read this isn't for you. If you enjoy lots of detail and even enjoy reading a well-written history book I recommend this for you. Don't let the prelude scare you it's a bit much at first but once the first chapter begins be prepared to enter middle earth for a very long time!!!!
Rating:
Summary: filled with love...
Review: This was the book I grew up with...the book I had read to me twice before the age of six. I was a little surprised at how unhappy some people were with this edition and would like to say that although, like most books, there will be some defects, most copies are just lovely. If i wasn't a broke student I would buy this without hesitation.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Choice for actually reading LOTR
Review: Okay, I think we're all agreed: The Lord of the Rings is a great book, one that gets better every time you read it.
If you're like me, what you really want to know is: Which is the best edition to buy?
Paperback, hardback, three-volume, seven-volume, one volume, illustrated, movie tie-in, with collector bookends...there are so many choices! I looked at them all before deciding which edtion would be the most fun to read and to own.
They each have their advantages: The paperbacks are cheap (the new 2003 single volume edition is a bargain at $12); Three individual volumes are easy to carry; Seven volumes neatly separate each of the the epic's six books plus appendices.
But the single volume I think is the best reading experience. Completely indexed and with the appendices close at hand, you can enjoy the whole epic story as Tolkien envisioned it.
The red leatherette-bound Collector's Edition is the best designed, type set and bound of all the currently available US editions. It features the corrected 1986 text. It's neat, comfortable to hold, and easy to read. By comparison, 1993 single volume edition (with illustrations by Alan Lee) is a heavy and unwieldy book. The thick glossy pages just fall out of the flimsy binding. The newest Anniversary edition offers illustrations, but is also very pricey.
This "Collector's Edition" is printed in black type on attractive, easy-to-read cream paper with nice page headings in red. It has a fairly sturdy sewn-in binding which opens out evenly for comfortable reading. There is a fine fold-out map of Middle Earth as well as numerous maps along with the text.
At Amazon's price this terrific edition of "Lord of the Rings" is very affordable. You're going to be spending a lot of time with this book. It might as well be in an edition that you can really enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!
Review: I've read the LOTR just about yearly since I was in 7th grade, and I bought this edition because I liked the illustrations and because my older boxed set has nearly flamed out. I still love the story, but this edition is terrible. The kaolin paper is shiny which makes any book difficult to read comfortably; in this edition, the ink used varies in color from medium to dark grey--it rarely ever approaches black--and is unevenly applied, so the reduced contrast combines with the shiny paper to make this a most uncomfortable read for extended sessions. This is more of a nitpick possibly than a complaint, but the line spacing is also too wide. Finally, throughout the work there are occasionally smudges or lines of text that have smeared or slipped. On balance, I have rarely encountered any more physically awkward and aesthetically disappointing volumes, and recommend strongly to all comers that you get the separate volume of Alan Lee illustrations and find yourself a hardback edition printed on 'normal' paper for your actual reading copy. What a disappointing way to spend eighty bucks.
Rating:
Summary: classic
Review: My advise to anyone who loves this book. Buy a paperback edition you can drag around with you wherever you go. This isn't a book you read in a day or two. (unless you read a lot faster than humanly possible)
Rating:
Summary: Good idea, bad delivery: Red Leatherette Edition
Review: I bought this book new from Barnes and Noble a few days ago (over-priced). Upon opening the shrink-wrap I discovered several flaws with the quality of the book.
1. The back-top corner was bent in, leaving a tear in the leatherette covering.
2. SEVERAL pages were bent in at the corners (and since the paper is so thin, it stays bent)
3. Two pages had large creases in them, running through the text.
4. A few pages were uneven, cut too short.
5. The cover looks nice, but feels cheap.
Other than that, it's still wonderful Tolkien, but I don't recommend this edition.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I have read
Review: This book is a very interesting and is a good choice for readers who like fantasy. I read this book in 4 days and i had to reread to get the entire concept. This book would be one for advanced readers or interested readers.
Rating:
Summary: I cannot believe.. . ..
Review: some of the superficial readings of this book which produced the negative reviews. (I can't speak to the defects of the edition, as I haven't seen this edition.)
W.H. Auden said of LOTR "if anyone says that he does not like it, I will never trust his literary judgement again." When one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th C. says something like this, he should be paid attention to. Now, I'm not saying that anyone should say that he likes it if he does not; far from it. But consider: do you consider your literary judgement superior to Audens? What have you written lately? Do you not think that, when your evaluation of a work is so different from that of someone like him that perhaps, just perhaps, you may have missed something? Just because someone who is tone-deaf can't appreciate a Beethoven symphony, or someone who is color-blind can't appreciate a painting by Matisse doesn't mean that there is something wrong with either the symphony or the painting, but rather with the ears and eyes of the beholder.
The charge that JRRT is a racist falls flat as soon as it is seriously examined. The whole point of LOTR is the members of the different races--dwarf, elf, human, hobbit--uniting and overcoming their mutual distrust and dislike for one another in the face of something that will destroy them all if they do not unite. The one character who is arrogantly sure of his race's superiority, and who never thinks that he could be wrong, is Denethor, and look what happens to him!
As for the charge of the glorification of war, that, too falls flat. JRRT had been a junior officer in the British Army's infantry during WW I; he was at THE SOMME. He was one of seven good friends to enlist together; only two survived the War. How could a man like that glorify war? Read his descriptions of the Dead Marshes and the Morannon in LOTR, and of Sam's reaction to the skirmish in Ithilien; read the description of the Battle of the V Armies and the aftermath in THE HOBBIT. These are not the writings of a warmonger.
In short, for those who did not like the book, finding it 'boring, trivial or contemptable', JRRT himself said that he didn't mind, as he had similar opinions of their writings, or of the sort of writing they appear to prefer. For those of you who think he had a sinister political or social agenda, read it again, a little more carefully, and you will see that you are mistaken.
|
