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Summary: JAMES'S BOOK REVIEW
Review: The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo Baggins (he is the hobbit) and his adventure with the thirteen dwarves. The whole plot is Thorin (he is a dwarf) is the rightful king under the mountain. His mountain, the lonely mountain, is ruled by a dragon though. So they take little Bilbo hoping he he could slay the dragon.
Along the way to the mountain many things happen such as Bilbo finding the ring of power. Well you should read the book and find out for yourself what happens. You want regreit, even if you don't like hobbits or fantasy stories.
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Summary: Very Good books
Review: The Hobbit was the best book i think. They were all very good (which made me forget the next sentance when i was deciding how many stars to give it). They wern't so durable, but they are durable enough for the price. It's convenient to have it boxed. They are about 10th grade reading level. Very long and uncommon words. I'm in 8th grade and it still took me a month to read the hobbit (the shortest book).
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Summary: Love the books, read them please...
Review: I'm giving the books a 5 star.......WONDERFUL!! Tolkien is one of the best authors, probably forever. I love the story, it's a emotionally, exciting, keeps-ya-reading-till-the-end roller coaster. Just beautiful. But for the covers...well I liked those a lot, but not loved. I would of liked to see more charcters on the the back, other then Frodo, Aragorn, Legolas (even though he is VERY attractive!), Frodo, Arwen, Frodo, Aragorn....I wanted to see more, like Sam or Gandalf at least!! But all in all, I love them, the maps are great and everything is beautiful.
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Summary: From the soapbox
Review: For many readers fortunate enough to have read the Lord of the Rings books before the recent string of well-done movies, J.R.R. Tolkein's timeless masterworks are what defined fantasy, dreams, possibility. The books will always be one of the cornerstones of my literary foundation.I saw the first of the movies when it came out in 2001 and I can find only one criticism with it. The casting was good, the acting crisp, the cinematography inspired. But it was not as good as the book, and it could never be as good as the book. This, of course, speaks more to Mr. Tolkein's gifts than it does to any shortcomings of the motion picture, but it couldn't be more relevant. I'll step up on the soapbox for a moment and say that while good films like the Lord of the Rings succeed and showing viewers the limits of the directors' and screenwriters' substantial imaginations, they by definition fail at helping to stretch the limits of the viewer's. And that's what Mr. Tolkein's books did so well for me and generations of other readers. This is not a problem invented by the Lord of the Rings, and it probably would exist in substantially the same form if neither the books nor the movies had been produced. But the phenomenon -- which appears to be producing a generation that thinks in clichés and spurns originality -- seems especially acute in this case simply because the Lord of the Rings is such an important work. Mr. Tolkein's unforgettable Middle Earth can only exist in the mind: the complexities of the histories, traditions, panoramas and inhabitants go far beyond anything possible anywhere else. Yet instead of being abstract, it is full of the type of allegory that is relevant to our lives in a highly personal way. What all this means is that you should read these books. Or re-read them. Or re-re-read them. Or introduce them to someone else. And if you manage to do so before you or the reader has seen the films, then you will have succeeded in opening up a new world that could not exist without the books, and you will have done so before the Big Screen can dictate how it's all supposed to look, feel, sound and behave.
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Summary: A stunning feat of endurance ... and that's just reading it
Review: Harassed by the faithful for my ambivalent views of the movie instalments, the main allegation levelled at me was "you can't understand it unless you've read the books". Notwithstanding that this by itself is a pretty damning criticism of a film, I thought, all right, I'll do it. Two months later, I'm finally done. The good parts: The Lord of the Rings is a collossal feat of imagination, no doubt about it. Tolkien indeed has
constructed an entire world, a history and a mythology, invented a language (though what the point of that was, for the purposes of writing a novel, I'm not really sure) and devised some pretty authentic sounding epic poetry, although the main pleasure I took from these frequent songs, poems and ditties was skipping them completely and thereby moving a step closer to my quest (viz., getting to the end of this monstrous ordeal). And - though I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing - Tolkien definitely founded a new literary genre: the sword and sorcery corner of your bookshop owes its existence to this mammoth tome. But for all that, getting through Lord of the Rings was VERY HARD WORK. Mostly responsible is Tolkien's dreadful, dreadful prose. Tolkien's voice is throughout peppered with hithers, thithers and whithers, yonder this and lo! that. The dialogue is similarly cod heroic in a way which you either go for, or you find laughable, for a while, and then sapping of your very will to go on. This also creates an impression of general humourlessness - for a story about elves, gnomes, trolls and wizards, it's all taken rather too seriously. And it is not sub-edited nearly vigourously enough, to the point where the sense of the story (as opposed to the "quest") pretty much dies on the vine. Tolkien will take pages to describe fairly simple mechanical details: four pages, in one case, to describe how Sam and Frodo descended from a rock ledge to the ground. The story is forced this way to become episodic, and a thousand page yarn can't afford to be just a string of otherwise unconnected events. And having slogged through nearly a thousand pages for it, I was dismayed to hit the main climax of the quest with a good 60 pages still to go. Bizarrely a completely unrelated sub-story was then tacked on to the end. A decent sub-editor would have simply dropped the "Scouring of the Shire" into the waste paper basket. So much for execution. Given the elaborate historical and social context that Tolkien has devised, what is most surprising about the content is how extraorinarily simple - naive, really - Tolkien's moral universe is. There are two forces: good and evil, and you're either one or the other. This seemed to me to rob the story of any intellectual sophistication beyond that of an elaborate fairytale. Not only is the moral scheme naive but it isn't properly prepared. Nothing is ever done (and it's not like a lack of space prevented it!) to explain who or what Sauron is, and why he is evil. Similarly, except for the merest hint at the gates of Gondor, barely a thought is expounded on whether Gandalf (undoubtedly a powerful and persuasive figure, and one with a great deal to gain from the downfall of Saruman and Sauron) might have alterior motives. Those characters who do make this suggestion turn out to be enchanted by the Evil One themselves. For all that, though, the complexity and sophistication of the physical universe that Tolkien has created is the impression that lasts, and I suspect that Tolkien's story will continue to sell long after the special edition DVDs have been remaindered.
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Summary: A very good series, and great movies too!
Review: This is the only time I would ever say that the book and the movie are equally good. The story itself is excellent, and you have to admire the style of Tolkien's writing and the effort he puts in writing this book. It took him more than 10 years and this is a masterpiece. The movie is a must-watch. The story has been modified, but it has only made it better because some parts of the story are not suitable to film and may even ruin the movie. I'd recommend all of you to read and watch the book and movie.
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Summary: Incredibely Wonderful
Review: This books are the most incredible things I have read im my life.
I recommend them to anybody who loves epic, fantasy and mystery stories. When I started to read them, I started to love them instantanly. You will love them if you buy'em and also you will remember this incerdible story all your life. They wil change your life.
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Summary: Good lookes, Good bookes
Review: Ok... First the books are great and whoever does'nt belive me should go see the movies - the Hobbit is in a simple fun type of word selection the Lord OF The Rings is more complicated but that's what it is famous for. Second - the style is cool, and if you are going to buy one, why not buy all of them together and for cheaper?!
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Summary: Great Series but not the best
Review: I think rarely does one say that the movies are better than the books. However, I think this is the case. If this is the first time reading these type series I strongly suggest reading George RR Martin or Terry Goodkind. These are much easier reads. Don't get me wrong I like these books but there really kinda slow compaired to the other authors out there. I am fortunate enough to have all six books bound individually. You do want to make this part of your library.
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Summary: The Hobbit
Review: "The Hobbit" is a book about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins going on a quest to kill the dragon Smaug through Middle Earth. He faces giant spiders, trolls, and orcs along with 13 dwarves. In the end the humans, elves, eagles, and dwarves fight in a terrific battle against goblins and wargs. "The Hobbit" is a wonderful book for people who enjoy such features as fantasy and medieval times. I liked the fact that everything was explained and you knew the origins of all the beings in Middle Earth. The book tells you to bring out your inner courage and to step out of your everyday life. If you like "The Hobbit" you can also read the trilogy "The Lord Of The Rings."
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