Rating: 
Summary: Dragging, too long, boring, but has its moments
Review: I think I will never understand why people are venerating
JRR Tolkien like the author of the century. I mean, yes he
writes beautifully and he created a world so deep and detailed.
So I guess The Lord of the rings is a great book, in the sense
that it's a nicely crafted piece of word art and creativity.
However, I usually like more selfcontained stories where more
depth is given to less characters. This story goes left and
right into thousands of sidestories that are not all veryinteresting. The full story itself could have been contained
into one 400 pages book instead of three painful tomes. This
overdescriptive and dragging work, "masterpiece" is highly
overrated and I only recommend it to people who have a LOT of
time to kill. On the other hand, the movie was totally awesome. It grabbed
all the essential aspects of the book and bundled that into
a superb film. Leaving out all the uncessary babbling that
make this book a painful read.
Rating: 
Summary: FANDANGOYA
Review: just ordered it - saw it at a neighbors house. itz an awesome set.
Rating: 
Summary: Well...
Review: This is a wonderfully written book but I did not find it very interesting. The story seemed to be told from an outsider's perspective. As such it was epic and universal in scale, but the characters were intricate cardboard. They moved through the book without thinking much. I prefer books with more psychological and philosophical flavor. The story in and of itself means nothing. This is a grand and great story, but nothing else. When I finnished reading the book, I thought it would make an excellant screenplay, and through Peter Jackson's interpretation it did. After all the book spends just as much time explaining the characters as it does explaing the trees, mounds, and hillocks. Perfect for a movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Story so amazing you have to read it
Review: The Lord of the Rings is without a doubt my favorite book. As other reviewers have said, you either love it or you hate it. Most people enjoy it though and I think you'll be one of these as well. Some parts in The Lord of the Rings that are rather long and detailed but I guarantee that reading through these parts is well worth the effort. The book has plenty of heart stopping parts and there's a ton of excitement, you just have to hang in there through the dry patches. I think this compares well to modern works, such as Keeper Martin's Tale, and is a book that has no true equal in scope or magnificence. The story takes place in time long ago, in a place called Middle-earth. Middle-earth is inhabited by many good peoples: Hobbits, Elves, Men, Wizards, Dwarves. There are also many bad peoples: Orcs, Trolls and Dragons. The main character is a Hobbit, Frodo Baggins. He's an unlikely hero, who like Bilbo Baggins before him, sets out on a wondrous journey. Only Frodo's journey is one of necessity and not one of a desire to explore.
Bilbo leaves Frodo the magical ring he acquired from Gollum (the nasty, froglike creature living in the depths of the earth). Gandalf the Grey, a powerful wizard, tells Frodo the Ring he possesses is, in fact, the One Ring. The One Ring forged by the evil Sauron to control and destroy Middle-earth. So Frodo, along with his friends Sam, Merry, and Pippin, sets out to destroy the Ring. The only way this can be done is to go to Mordor and cast the Ring into Mount Doom. Mordor is the land of Sauron and it is hundreds of miles away. Along the way, Frodo and friends meet many others: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Galadriel, etc. You'll love and adore these as much as you love Frodo. When the book ends, you'll probably go back and reread this again and again. I can't express enough how real Middle-earth is because of Tolkien's vivid imaginatio. You have to read The Lord of the Rings. It has something in it for everyone, and the story is so amazing.
Rating:
Summary: An unparalleled masterpiece
Review: What can be said that hasn't already been said about Lord of the Rings? This is the best and highest achievement of all literature in the history of the English language, and I don't just mean fantasy literature. Tolkien was a quiet, unassuming genius who created a world of wonder, of magic, of mirth and dread, a world of ancient legend, of nearly forgotten antiquity, a world populated by a myriad of creatures and races, some obscure and some of great renown. That an unassuming, overlooked species known as hobbits would spawn one in whom the destiny of Middle-earth would depend is an amazing story for the ages. With wizards, elves, dwarves, orcs, and an unnumbered amount of other creatures populating this world, Tolkien provides the template for all fantasy storytelling (not to mention gaming) to follow. There is too much here to describe in such a short space, so I'll just say if you have not read this trilogy you are a poorer person for it. Get it, read it, don't just watch the movie series, read it! Now! What else can I say?
Rating:
Summary: The best of best
Review: Read, weap, sing, Shout and have a jolly good time.
Rating: 
Summary: A long swim, but worth it!
Review: I was first introduced to LotR by a friend when I was in High school. I read it twice over since the first time, and have always come away with the same impression. These booka are a heavy read ... but well worth it. I pits the most unlikely heroes against deep dark forces thatthreaten to overwhem to world. If you are a person who expects to understand everything you read, you will be sorely disappointed, because there are many references to a mythology upon which these stories are based that is never fully explained. In the end, good triumphs over evil, and the world is finally at peace, and you are left with a peaceful, satisfied feeling after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Rings
Review: I never realised there were so many North American readers of this book. LOTR is truly wonderful - BUT - you must take time over it and not rush it. I think that modern-day living drives people to read quick, instantly fulfilling books and magazines. With LOTR, if you look at some of the passages, they are real masterpieces. For instance, look at the passage where Gandalf is in conversation with a human riding a skeleton horse outside the gates of Mordor. It reads almost like a very intense verse from the bible: "...and he said 'I am the Mouth of Sauron'. But it was told that he was a renegade, who came from the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Saurons domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and becvause of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord's favour; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than any orc." Notice the repeated use of the word 'and', like in the Bible (I'm not religious myself)?? This is moving, timeless and great. Read it at your leisure and be absorbed. I've read it seven times or so. Although I enjoyed it more when I had all the time in the world, when I was a kid.
Rating:
Summary: Adventures & Fantasies Galore
Review: Funny thing about The Lord of the Rings; it's almost exactly what you would expect from a SciFi fantasy. Wizards, dragons, trolls, sorcerers and so forth. For that matter the book should be fairly predictable... and it is. But I really enjoy Tolkien's writing style. He seems to know how to put together the entire story well and make it coherent and easy to follow. Not a lot of complex language structure or vocabulary is used. Also to keep in mind, Tolkien is British so his language usage is different than American English. Hence, I found the poetry and songs somewhat childish but the one thing it does do is put you into the characters' shoes, so to speak. The greatest aspect of Tolkien's writing is the ability to put you at the "edge of your seat". Just when things seem to slow down and get boring, Tolkien jumps in with an ambush by the black riders or a raid by Orcs. This alone made me want to finish the book (I've read it three times up to this point in my lifetime). Main character development was good as well, but I missed reading some excerpts with Sauron directly speaking. All that the reader learns about him comes from the other characters. I suppose Tolkien had a good reason for doing this because Sauron is one of the major characters in the novel. I'm still searching for the answer. Overall, it is a good book and suitable for young people (age ~13 and up). I recommend it for anyone with an interest in fiction, not merely science fiction or fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Movie-lord of the rings
Review: I havent read the book, but I saw the movie, it is a wonderful story about a Hobbit...Frodo... who travels with 7 others, a wizard, dworf, elf, man, and 3 other Hobbit friends, they have to take the ring back into the firey mountains it was forged in, many of the others become overwhelmed by the power of the ring, only the human, wizard, and Frodo can fight its power........
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