The Lord of the Rings

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Summary: Of the millenial editon...
Review: These books are an (aging) classic. Regarding the hardcover boxed edition: A very pleasing form. By splitting each text into a couple of small, identical hardcovers, totalling 6 volumes (plus 1 appendix), the series is presented in an easy to read and aesthetically pleasing manner. No goofy fantasy art, each text a manageable 200 pages or so, and very strong cover art. I'd not read the books in many years, but found this edition irrisistible.

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Summary: Lord of the Rings--Millennium Edition
Review: First: Amazon's rating method--i.e, that all editions of the same work are included under one rating thread--is useless. This Millennium edition is a rip-off--cheaply bound, printed on cheap paper, small print (paperback-like), no illustrations--DON'T buy it--buy one of the well-establishhed, illustrated hardcover editions. Tolkien's work itself, of course, rates all the stars there are.

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Summary: Memories to last many ages!
Review: My father first read me the Hobbit for a summer reading program when I was 8 years old. Almost 22 years later,I have just about all of the Middle Earth books and absolutely love re-reading them over and over again. I always find something new each time! My father is still reading these stories, now to my 7 year old niece. There can never be anything to match Tolkien's wonderful mind. Thank you Beren, we miss you!

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Summary: The Lord Of The Rings
Review: A great fan of fantasy literature, I first read the Lord Of The Rings six years ago, since that time there have been no other books set in this genre that even comes close to the imaginative impact that is provided by this classic. Try as I might, some novels have provided a suprisingly new tear of light within this genre, yet the authors of these pieces of work have obviously been inspired by the most ground breaking story of all time, The Lord Of The Rings.

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Summary: Greatest Book of the 20th Century...
Review: and that is an extremely difficult decision for me to come by, but I can come to no other.

The best word that I can come up with to describe The Lord of the Rings is that of perfect. It is perfectly constucted, perfectly executed. The characters are perfect in that they are characters with downfalls and fears, and only through the progression of this tale, through new experiences and trials, are they able to bring themselves to new and stonger levels of understanding and the strength that comes with understanding.

It is also exceptionally fun to read. We may appreciate Ulysses because of its intellectual brilliance, but The Lord of the Rings is an enjoyable adventure while intellectually stimulating.

For those who have passed this book over as being something full of common fantasy cliches, consider that this is where those cliches began. Tolkien's popularity has had such an effect on popular fantasy, that few authors have not appropriated one Tolkien idea or another.

In other words, read this book.

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Summary: Millenium edition more a binding of the week
Review: No other book(s) I have read do I return to every 2-3 years and read again. Without a doubt, LOTR is the best example of fantasy writing ever.

That said, I wish I had read the customer reviews regarding "The Lord of the Rings Millenium Edition Boxed Set" (ISBN: 0618037667). I had expected a wonderful hardbound set worthy of a once-in-a-thousand-years printing. Granted, at this list price it wasn't going to cause those in the binding industry to drool, but a "Millenium" edition should stand out from other editions. Sadly enough, the Millenium Edition Boxed Set stands out for all the wrong reasons. Have you ever checked out a book from a library and noticed the book was obviously a paperback that had its cover removed and pasted onto a hard fiberboard and then put back onto the rest of the book? This edition is exactly that, only the publisher has done the work for the libraries. Truly disappointing.

The LOTR deserves better and Houghton-Mifflin has done much better than this, so why bother issuing such an inferior version? I plan on returning this as soon as possible and ordering something more in line with the collector's quality I had hoped to receive.

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Summary: Amazon synopsis Misleading
Review: I requested the 7 book series as a gift for Christmas, since the LotR is one of my favorite trilogies and I have a dog-earred trilogy in paperback. It looked like a nice set. Black bindings and the synopsis mentioned illustrations that would certainly add to my enjoyement. When I received the books, I found that the "Millenium Edition" had no illustrations and the binding was paper instead of the traditional durable cloth. I truly see this as a waste of dead presidents and wish I had just requested a new paperback version.

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Summary: Lord of the Rings
Review: This is the best book that I have ever read. After reading it I was introduced into a whole new world of fantasy. I especially liked the freedom Tolkien grants your imagination in the novel. I have read the Trilogy over 5 times and I still can't find a fantasy book as good as this.

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Summary: Specifically about the "Millennium Edition."
Review: This is NOT a review of LOTR: It is, rather, specifically about the "Hardcover boxed, Millennium edition (October 1999)" from Houghton Mifflin. First off, LOTR is divided here into six volumes (plus a volume of appendix material) -- not the three volumes one usually sees. The titles of the three usual volumes have therefore changed; but it's not stated where the new titles came from. Are they from Tolkien himself? From his son? Or from some lesser source? (Yes, I know, the original LOTR has Book I, Book II, etc.-- but not different titles for each of these). Second, on the whole these "hardcovers" look a little cheesy to me. The bindings certainly aren't leather: They look kinda like nothing more than cardboard with a glossy lamination. The books' spines have no "give," either: They, too, are of stiff, unbending cardboard. And finally, it doesn't appear that the paper on which this "Millennium Edition" is printed is acid-free (which lasts longer and doesn't yellow with age). Like the covers, the paper also appears, to my eye, a little cheap. (If a book's paper is acid-free, that fact is usually stated on the copyright page.) So all in all the PHYSICAL aspects of this edition (epecially at a list price of $70!) seem suspiciously second-rate. On the positive side, this edition claims to be free of a large number of typographical errors, misprints, and other textual mistakes that marred earlier editions. Also a plus: The maps of Middle Earth here are clearer and easier to read than those in earlier editions. Yet even this has a down side, however: These nice maps appear ONLY in the 7th and final volume of the boxed set, i.e., in the appendices! Why, oh, WHY weren't the maps run in EACH of the six volumes of the story, so that a reader could easily glance at a map as the tale progresses from volume to volume? Some of the volumes in this edition have several *blank* pages at the end, and therefore they could EASILY have accommodated the maps! Wasn't anybody thinking of the READER when this edition was put together?

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Summary: Beautiful Edition
Review: Without a dought one of the revolutionary books of the century, with memorable charecters, and a great plot, but a would like to comment on the edition. It has all six books in small hardback size, with leather covers and a leather box, damned beautiful. Buy this edition if you already love LotR, if not, buy it anyways it will make a nice dent in you bookshelf. I also purchased the paperback and hardback editions of LotR in one book, the new Hobbit/LotR paperback box, and new copies of hobbit/LotR in hardback.