Rating: 
Summary: The Lord of All Books
Review: If you are interested in science-fiction or medievel lore, I suggest you read this trilogy. It is most likely one of the best books I've ever read. It begins about a hobbit, or halfling, who must venture off into an evil enemy's territory to banish a ring. This is no ordinary ring, it holds power beyong our imagination. The main character of the story is named Frodo Baggins; and on his journey, his friends and he go through countless adventures trying to destroy the ring. From great battles with dark forces to mysterious elven-woodlands, the book keeps you on the edge of your seat. From the journey you learn of great and strange friendships that arise, such as that of Legolas the Elf and Gimli the Dwarf; you are also introduced to great people with more to them than you would see at first, such as the mysterious Strider. This is a series I could'nt put down until I was finished. Among all of the books I have read, this is probably the best.
Rating:
Summary: The Book of the Century.
Review: This is the best book I have read, and all I can say is read it!Only rivalled by Dune, it is a masterpiece of the 20TH Century. Tolkien's imagination of Middle Earth is so greatly achieved that they certainly look real. As a Tolkien fan, I have yet to find a person who doesn't like the book after finishing reading it. The story is magnificently narrated, and the characters are all believable, but also very inspiring, and realistic too. The story follows the hobbit Frodo and his companions racing to destroy the One Ring of the Dark Lord- but the only way to destroy it is to throw it into Mount Doom, at the heart of the Dark Lord's kingdom. As I have said, this is the best book of the century yet and I have to say, quite simply, to read it and learn from it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book
Review: This is the best book I have ever ead. I mean it has all the asspects of good writing. No really anoying parts, No parts that seem to last forever. Also the book flows very good. How much work he must have put in that book. I mean all the languages and everything else
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying Drivel
Review: I am a big fan of fantasy books and roleplaying games. For years people have been telling me that I MUST read Lord of the Rings. I have always had doubts, for two reasons. First, I saw the old cartoon movies, which put me to sleep. Second, I hate Halflings/Hobbits. My reasoning is simple: I find the idea of short, chubby, jolly people that love to eat, sing, and sleep to be unheroic. Yet somehow, this series wants to make them heroic.Well, the movie is coming out, and many people say this book is great, so I picked it up. So far, it is everything I feared it would be. I have read 130 pages filled with hobbit lameness, and the total cumulation of actual events could have easily been written in 20 pages, with a decent level of description and atmosphere. There is at least one superfluos poem or song every 3 pages that usually begins with "O!", and has a minimum of 5 more exclamation points throughout. I hate cheesy poetry about mundane acts, and I hate it when people overuse exclamation points. I must also criticize Tolkein's use of misspellings as "flavor". If he wants to make up new words, and explain them using footnotes at the bottom of the page, that is great. I feel it adds flavor, and shows that the world differs from our own. Simply misspelling "wagon" doesn't cut it, and by his own admission, irritated the hell out of his edditors (Look! Flavor! O!). I desperately want to drench this book in oil, light it on fire, and throw it into oncoming traffic. The problem is, I will then be criticised with "you haven't read the whole book, you are judging it on such a small portion of it". Well, it is one thing to put a book down after the first chapter, or the first 10 pages. I figure that within 130 pages, I know if I am
interested in where the book is going. The idea of the hobbits wandering into the evil forest and being saved by some godlike being in their first "adventure" reminds me much of High School D&D. "Everything has to be amazing and spectacular, lets make them meet the eternal spirit of the earth on the first adventure! Lets have them stumble into an unescapable doom, and not allow their own wiles to get them out! Instead, let's introduce my new all powerful NPC to save their butts! O!" The only difference is that my friend Mike and I would have made an NPC that was a badass of some sort (I'm not saying that makes it better, it is just the only difference), instead of a fruitcake that sang songs about picking lillies off of the wallpaper. Oh, and did I mention that he is short, jolly, and likes to eat? I am torn. I don't know if I want to force myself through several more hours of suffering in order to give it another chance, or just toss the thing and assume that the movie will take that 130 pages and condense it into the 5 minutes it deserves. I certainly will be happy not to see any "O!"s in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: I hope the movie is better than the book.
Review: I hope the movie is better than the book. The book is not readable because of the overuse of adverbs. It just isn't well written. Quickly and quietly..., swiftly and quietly, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Homer of Heroic Fantasy
Review: Tolkien set the background of Heroic Fantasy (and unfortunately contributed to the swarming of mediocre "epigones").This trilogy is about the eternal fight on good and evil...in the human heart.All the strange creatures of the book are a symbol of a particular kind of human being. Hobbits are innocent,bold,yet vulnerable to temptation.They can be noble like Frodo,faithful and loving like Sam,amiable amd cheerful like Merry or Pippin..or pettily greedy like Lobelia,or miserably loathsome like Gollum.In fact,hobbits are the average man. Wizards like Gandalf and Saruman are the men of power,who must also fight the tempation of evil.Gandalf has fought and conquered it, Saruman has been overwhwlmed by power lust, falseness and deception. Then you have Elves: disillusioned idealists who've chosen to fly,to evade.And so we have the psychopaths Orcs,spiteful of all that's human (they remind me of some...), the Ents,representing the Earth (Wizard are Fire, Eagles are Air, Elves are Water)as well as the industrious Dwarves. And the Evil itself,Sauron,is not personified,because it is an abstract principle,and the battle between good and evil takes place (as I've said)in the human heart. So much for the symbolic. I've also loved Bilbo,Sam,Merry,Pippin,Gandalf,Aragorn,and pityied wretched Smeagollum,and admired the proto-feminist (of sorts) Eowyn,and saw in Elbereth Gilthoniel a long lost love of mine! Whit time, Frodo and Sam have grown and become Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Elric,Kirith Kirin, and the Elves have finally become Lynn Flewellyng faye (Alec and Seregil) and the Grigori and Wraeththu of Storm Constantine. But Tolkien was the pionieer who reinvented the myth.
Rating:
Summary: This Book was one of the Great
Review: Three Great Books. If you like any fantasy books (e.g. Harry Potter, The Once and Future King, etc.) you'll love this series. Also try all of J.R.R. Tolkien's other books.
Rating:
Summary: AN AMAZING BOOK!!!
Review: Books can change someone's life! Lord of the Rings changed mine. I completely recommend this book to everyone in the world!READ IT! The number of pages really scares, I know, but for get the pages. The story is awesome. It talks about a totally different world. But, Tolkien describes it so well that you really believe it exists. Everything is so detailed, that you really travel reading the book! The problem is that when you finish reading it, you miss the characters, and you'll want to be reading the book forever!
Rating:
Summary: decent packaging captures essence of the classic masterpiece
Review: This boxed set has a decent box and book cover, but I really like the books without the covers. The pages have a nice heavy feel to them and each book includes a very large foldout map in the back. The maps are fun to look at as one follows the stories. Five stars for good packaging on an excellent set of books.
Rating:
Summary: The new epic, the new myth
Review: In a rising tide above the rapidly aging Pottermania comes the sweep of Tolkienmania. In preparation for the three new live-action movies, the famed trilogy is rereleased. Years before, the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron was discovered in the possession of the creepy Gollum - and came into the "ownership" of Bilbo Baggins, a pleasant hobbit in the middle of an adventure. Now, it is given to his relative Frodo, who soon encounters creatures both mesmerizing and evil in the Shire. Wizard Gandalf has him head off to the elf city of Rivendell, but along the way he is attacked and nearly killed by the sinister Black Riders. It is determined at Rivendell that the One Ring must be destroyed, and that Frodo's the hobbit to do it. With Gandalf, he sets off with a group of companions: the hobbits Sam, Merry and Pippin, men Aragorn and Boromir, elf Legolas, and dwarf Gimli. They travel across the length of Middle Earth, from the beautiful gardenland of Lothlorien to the rotting wasteland of Mordor. Aragorn and the others will attempt to save the city of Minas Tirith from the armies of Sauron. Frodo and Sam will try to take the Ring to Mount Doom, the only place where it can be destroyed. But that will take a terrible price. When this book was first published, Tolkien had no idea that he would jump-start the fantasy genre from an odd little collection of fiction to a major part of the book market and would inspire more ripoffs than any other author in history. Lord of the Rings is a sweeping epic of good and evil. Cliche? It is a cliche now, but it's also one LOTR spawned. What sets it apart is two things: the Judeo-Christian morality and ethics that Tolkien held so dear, and the crafting of Middle-Earth. If one carefully examines the themes of temptation, redemption and punishment, as well as the innate nobility of the heroes. I also advise, to get the full effect of Tolkien's beliefs, that you read the Silmarillion. Middle Earth is perhaps the most intricate fantasy world ever created, with Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy's world as a close second. Tolkien crafted not just geology and various species for his world; he also created a religious background, complete with a God and a pantheon of deitilike angelic creatures, individual languages, cultures, and several outlooks that are alien to the other species. Add to this his poetic, strong descriptions, pleasant dialogue, occasional song or poem, and you have a true classic. The classic status is cemented into immortality by the fact that this was the first widely-read fantasy. A recommendation: If you've already read the trilogy, then you may want to read two other intelligent trilogies, "Children of the Star" and "Riddlemaster." Though they cannot match JRR (who can?) they are two of the best. If you are one of the few people who has never read this trilogy: Put down your Harry Potter and read the story that introduced the world to fantasy.
|
