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Summary: It's was great!
Review: I am the only girl I know that has read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. But who cares? I began reading the books by trying to find out who wrote Hobbit. Then I began to read it and I loved it! I have just finished the first book and it was cool. I liked the part when the cave troll and the orcs came. That was scary! If you read Harry Potter then you like this collection. They are alot alike. Frodo and Harry are both unlikely heroes. I swear if like Harry Potter or any other type of fansty you'll love these books! These can make you scared(the orcs,Golleum) or happy and joyful. Kids if your parents read these when were little, then I suggest you read them, too. That's what got me to read them.
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Summary: Fantasy at its best, the start of it all
Review: probably the greatest series of books to ever be published. The hobbit in the begining may seem slow. but you gotta remember it was published in 1937, the story comes out to be an epic tale which started many many Fantasy realited things, such as the metal "mithral" created by tolkien himself. The hobbit shows early character devolpment of the characters Gandalf and Bilbo mostly, then comes fellowship. an epic tale. The greatest start to a series. with a suspensful Plot. and entrigin' characters such as Frodo, Gandalf, Pippin, and many more. the next 2 books, the 2 towers and the return of the king finish the greatest story ever told. see the 3 movies aswell!
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Summary: Hobbit + Lord of the Rings boxed Set Reveiw
Review: Pure GREATNESS! The books in this set are THE GREATEST I have ever read, and I read ALOT! In my 13 years of living, I have never read such detailed, action-packed, and wonderful novels. I personally reccomend being at least 10 years old, because of the vocabulary, but if you are a good reader, BUY IT! The first book is somewhat boring into the first half, BUT DONT QUIT, the second half and the rest of the books IS COMPLETE AND PURE GREATNESS! Buy the set, it is worth every penny you spend! :-)
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Summary: One Ring For Verbosity
Review: I am no great fan of fantasy, but I was moved to read the Ring series out of my affection for spiritual and religious literature. This is, of course, the archetypal "quest" story, and in that regard succeeds. Tolkien revisits ancient hero stories and spins them all into an original odyssey -- made all the more intriguing by the fact that his heroes start off as meek and uninterested in adventure. In this respect, the books inspire readers to seek greatness within themselves.However, where one word would do, Tolkien devotes entire chapters. I have read few books as needlessly verbose and rambling, and this took away from the experience. The Hobbit and Ring books are not for those with short attention spans. Indeed, some monastic hermits might even find them hard to bear.
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Summary: Parents are so funny
Review: I read the LOTR years ago and could never get my parents interested in the books. Of course they were busy working and didn't have as much time as they do now that they are retired. A few years ago I introduced my dad to the the world of Harry Potter and he loved the books. This year at Thanksgiving he asked if I still had my LOTR books because he thought he may have missed a really good story and I hadn't steered him wrong before. He's in for a treat. The LOTR is the mother and father of all these other world's that writers have invented and I know he will love them too.
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Summary: About this paperback edition...
Review: I am a huge LotR fan, and bought this particular edition about a year and a half ago. For the most part, I was very happy, but once I read through the books, I saw dropped words, words that had been left out and then copied in later, so the print of the one word is sideways on the page, and there are many places where the ink is horribly smudged. Also, I have noticed many typos, some which make the sentence difficult to understand. Because of the quality of the actual literature, I got my money's worth, but beware this edition. :)
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Summary: The Series That "Started It All" - and For Good Reason
Review: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." It was a curious but striking phrase which sprang from the mind of a bored Oxford don and splashed onto a blank page (the kind he most often preferred) of one of a seemingly endless pile of exams - and stirred visions not of runaway commercial success, but merely of private amusement. From such humble beginnings evolved a fantasy series which not only created an entire market genre, but threw out literary milestones in all directions. Over 200 million sales and seven decades later, the complex of works that J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) created for his alternate world of Middle Earth - The Hobbit (1937), the three volume Lord of the Rings (1954-56), and The Silmarillion (1974) - continue to fascinate new generations of readers - sometimes to the consternation of critics (though certainly not all). In 1997 a contest held by the British book chain Waterstone's signaled The Lord of the Rings as the "Greatest book of the century." A similar survey by the Daily Telegraph produced identical results. And if sales are anything to judge by Tolkien has been even more popular on this side of The Pond. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that an eagerly anticipated blockbuster $300 million+ movie trilogy based on the books is now in the offing (the only surprise is that it did not happen sooner), producing a new wave of popularity for the series. In the seventeen or so years since I first read the Lord of the Rings I've long pondered why this series enjoys an unabated popularity. It is long (though not as long as some current fantasy series), the prose is sometimes difficult, it is freighted with appendices and littered with fully developed created languages that were, ultimately, the real reason and inspiration for the work by its philologist author. What's more, the author is long dead and in no danger of penning more sequels to sustain interest (the labyrinthine drafts and fragments edited by his son Christopher notwithstanding). So why the continued popularity? In the end I believe readers are entranced by the same qualities that I am - that Tolkien weaves an alternate world so compelling, so detailed and yet so rooted in our own mythos and history that one is compelled to agree with Peter Beagle that the world Tolkien charts "was there long before him." No other fantasy or fiction Creation bears the depth, the breadth, or the vision of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Gondor seems as real as Roman Italy. Quenya seems as rich and developed as Latin. Aragorn and Frodo spring to life as vividly as Childe Rolande or Beowulf (if not more so). The Green Dragon and the Prancing Pony are as irresistible watering holes as have ever been set to ink. That quality alone would make The Lord of the Rings worth the price of admission. Yet the tale works because it is such a successful reworking of a fundamental theme of Western literature, that of the Quest. Middle Earth and its tongues and geography and history and flora and fauna merely provide a believable and compelling backdrop to the seemingly hopeless quest of Frodo the Hobbit, a beguilingly human non-human protagonist, to destroy the Ring (another popular mythological theme) of the Dark Lord Sauron in the heart of his realm. In the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo inherits the seemingly innocent magic ring of The Hobbit from his uncle Bilbo only to learn of its terrible danger from Gandalf, the mysterious wandering wizard from the earlier book which has inspired so many successors. The subsequent volumes, The Two Towers and The Return of the King chart the journey of loss and hardship and growing temptation of the Ring to corrupt Frodo and his companions against the backdrop of the re-risen Sauron's attempts to recapture the Ring to cement finally his conquest of Middle Earth and the almost as hopeless quest by Frodo's guide and companion, Aragorn, to reclaim his heritage and throne of the King of Men - the latter as a work of redemption for the failure of his ancestor Isildur's failure to destroy the Ring at the close of the last Age as much for his own hopes and obligations. Tolkien unfolds the story with sometimes difficult prose and varying characterization but repeatedly rewards with stunning descriptions and language which are matched only in the landmark works of English literature. Bits and pieces of Tolkien's Created World drop in at unexpected times but with stunning effect. Those who have read subsequent fantasy will repeatedly (and joyfully, I hope) find familiar touchstones sprinkled throughout. In the end I find it hard to improve (especially given the timing) on W.H. Auden's 1954 review: "For any one who likes the genre to which it belongs. the Heroic Quest, I cannot imagine a more wonderful Christmas present...No fiction I have read in the last fuve years has given me more joy than Fellowship of the Ring." But for those less interested in literary accolades: buy it anyway if you want a ripping-good tale. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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Summary: Mandatory Read!
Review: These books should be required reading in or out of school and the home...for the PARENTS too! Excellent at stirring the imagination and instilling moral character. Great book for non boring descriptive illustration and the struggle between good and evil. A must read!
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Summary: THE HOBBIT/COMPLETE SET
Review: I Have this complete set. I Received the set while in high school in the early 80's. For avid readers, these books will take you away. I would highly recommend these books to all readers.
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Summary: a great boxed set of a classic story
Review: These four books are easily the best I have ever read in my so far short life (12 years). Yes, im only 12, and no, im not a straight-A's high school reading geek. my dad recomended these books to me, and Im glad he did. I recently finished the story. You really dont need to read the hobitt, although I did, it doesnt have that much to do with the actual lord of the rings story. the first book in the series explains all you need to know. as a matter of fact, in the first book you can get extremely bored during the first couple chapters. there is very little fighting in the first half of the book. In the second half, from there and on, the story just takes off with non-stopping action. The first sentence in the second book is action! BUY THIS! it is worth every single penny.
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