The Fellowship of the Ring

Rating:
Summary: The most fascinating and complete work I have ever read.
Review: The lord of the rings trilogy is undoubtable the most intricate work of "fiction" I have ever read. Even though the subject matter is of elves and hobbits...your suspension of disbelief is easily reached and soon becomes an obssesive belief in the little people and their art of pipeweed. Even having already read this masterpiece four times, I would without a second thought choose it to read again if I could only read one more story in my dying days

Rating:
Summary: well done Mr. Inglis
Review: This was my first audio book and I don't think I could have picked better one to start my collection with. Inglis does a fine job of devising a wide range of voices for the characters, drawing from the rich variety of English accents as well his own theatrical training. His renditions are believable at worst, spell-binding at best. The Council of Elrond is easily the best chapter out of the Fellowship for Inglis. Lesser narrators probably would have failed, but Inglis is able to carry it off splendidly, from Gimli to Legolas to Gandalf and Boromir.

Considering the number of characters, from simple but sturdy hobbits to the Istari and elf lords, the narrator captures the richness and diversity of Middle Earth's denizens. It's a real treat to listen to Inglis as he rolls his r's in certain passages. His singing is adequate for the most part; his Tom Bombadil was rustic and deep, lending a memorable quality to the diddies of Middle Earth's coolest hippie. Don't be surprised if you find yourself singing or humming the tunes as you go about your daily business.

If you've read the books and have wondered what the songs might sound like, this CD collection is a good pick. Some of the renditions of the elvish songs are a tad corny, but these are far outweighed by the folksy charm of those sung by the hobbits. My biggest beef with Inglis lies with his pronunciation of some of the words. Dunedain is mispronounced, as our Isildur and some others. Most will only irritate the hard core nerds; casual fans will not notice so much and in the end, they are really only small blemishes on an otherwise fabulous telling of the 20th century's greatest work of literature.

Rating:
Summary: J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Uncut and Unedited
Review: I'm sure this won't be a popular review, but hear me out. I've heard a lot of people complain that the movies didnt' follow the books closely enough and that they could have been much better if they had done so. However, after reading this first book of the trilogy, I can honestly say that I personally enjoyed the movie more than the book.. I found it to be more exciting and awe-inspiring. It may just be that I saw the movie before I read the book (a sin, I know) and my first impression was just so great that I'll never forget it and it would be very dificult to out-do, but there are just some parts of the story in which I think were improved upon in the movie.

While both the book and the movie are undoubtably two of the best pieces of art in their genres, they should be considered to be two distinct works. The movie included a few things that the book didn't and ommited a few things that the book dwelt on. While some people think that the movie should have been identical to the book as much as possible, I am glad that the director felt some degree of artistic freedom and was able to make some adjustments that he felt would make for a better movie (and which I agree with).. The book wasn't written as a movie and some of the story just wouldn't have been as good in a movie. Anyway, maybe its just by bias because of my having watched the movie before reading the book, but I thought the movie really outdid itself and was able to improve on the story.

I still think that this is a wonderful book and realize that Tolkien is the Godfather of all that is Fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: a wonderful beginning with some problems
Review: Let me begin by saying that I adore Tolkein and love The Lord of the Rings. With that out of the way, I have to admit that of the three books, Fellowship is definitly the weakest. Because Tolkein viewed the trilogy as a single novel, book one is almost entirely exposition. The story doesn't really get moving until more than halfway through the book.

Also, a lot of people have difficulty with Tolkein's language. This is one of my favourite parts of the book, but he is wordy and descriptive so it does take him a long ime to say anything. That said, reading his books is like reading epic poetry. His words flow the same way the language in a good version of The Oddessy or Beowulf does so it can be easy to get caught up in the flow of the language. I find that this helps me get through the books, as I get so immersed in the story that I have trouble coming out of it when I need to stop. Also, the flow of the words makes his lengthy description run past quickly.

On a less technical note, Tolkein's characterization and plotting are magnificent. As slowly as Fellowship moves, you can feel the action building into something grand and vast. His characters are complex and vibrant, and they all have a well-developed range of actions and motivations. Even the pure, otherworldly characters have things that irritate them and make them snappish. This is traditional fantasy, so there is little depth to the evil characters, and a nearly inexhaustible supply of easily defeated minions, but it's not really noticable within the context of the story.

Rating:
Summary: The journey begins
Review: This is the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien takes the world of Middle Earth that he developed and continues the tale of the ring. The ring first appears to us in 'The Hobbit'. The hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, keeps this special ring he found on his journey to help the dwarves. This book picks up the story decades after 'The Hobbit'.

Bilbo has aged and in the course of celebrating his birthday leaves the Shire. To everyone's surprise Bilbo gives everything to his nephew Frodo, including the ring. Many years go by, and the wizard returns with a warning to take the ring and leave.

Frodo and three friends begin the trip. Along the way the meet the Ranger who helps them get to Rivendell, home of the elves. At Rivendell the true identity of the ring is revealed and a course of action is decided upon. The ring must be destroyed.

A band of nine people (men, elf, dwarf, wizard, and hobbits) form the Fellowship and begin the journey. This book sets the stage for the coming War of the Ring. We are introduced the members of the fellowship, gives us some background on Sauron, and the rings of power. We get a sense for the evil that the group is up against and the obstacles in their way. And soon realize that this journey is near impossible and may just be delaying the rise of Sauron.

At times this book is hard to read. Tolkien goes into great detail regarding the history of Middle Earth and the characters involved in the story. This may hard for some readers to get through or keep track of. I, on the other hand, think these details add to the richness of the story. The story is wonderful and has much more detail than the recent movies. If you enjoyed 'The Hobbit' and/or the films, I would recommend reading the books to get the full story of the ring.

Rating:
Summary: At least I tried to like it...
Review: To me this book is like modern art. Many think it's an amazing piece of work, it is very different from everything else, and I don't like it at all.

Why I didn't like this book is after the beginning it gets extremely boring. The detail is overwhelming. The language is exausting. I'm constantly asking my self 'erm... why is Whatshisname, son of Whatshisnamewithslightchange harkithing to thy for someith reasonith'? It just seems to prattle on and on about one thing over and over again. Have you ever read a book and just became so bored with it you kept on reading but weren't paying attention to what you were reading? I had to keep going back to read over pages that I had just read over (and no I don't have ADD or ADHD).

And why I gave it 2 stars and not 1 is because, HOLY CRAP, this is the most detailed book I have ever read, seen, or heard of. Just the fact that anyone could come up with this highly detailed (boring, repetitive, confusing) story is something that deserves 2 stars.

I know I'm going to get a whole bunch of angry LotR fans ambush me with a bombardment of 'not helpful' votes, but oh well...

Recomended books:
Harry Potter series
Da Vinci Code
Angels and Demons
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Rating:
Summary: LOTR goodness
Review: This book starts off with a birthday party at hobbit named Bilbo's house,Gandalf the grey has come with his fireworks and Frodo another hobbit is excited. Everyone loves Gandalf's fireworks in the shire. Frodo is recieving Bilbo's house because he is leaving, he is going through his stuff when he comes across a gold ring. Gandalf does comes in and is afraid to touch or even come near the ring, he senses evil and tells frodo with his friend Sam to get the ring out of the shire. On their way out of the shire they find Merry and Pippin stealing vegetables from a garden. They get to the town of bree and they meet an ranger fron the north known as Aragorn. Meanwhile Gandalf the grey rode to the White city of Minas Tirith to study the history of this ring. He finds its dark past and goes to the tower of orthanc for counsel from Saruman the white, he finds that he is corrupt by the power of sauron's control. Meanwhile the nine nazgul are after the group and frodo gets stabbed by one of their poisonous morgul blades. A elven wizard rode Frodo to the elven city of grey havens, in order to find to heal him. At the city Gandalf tells the counsel of the ring and decides to start the fellowship of the ring. The get into a fuss about who should take it to mount doom, when frodo decides he will take it, just then Aragorn decides he will go. Followed by Legolad and Gimli the dwarf, and Merry, Sam and Pippin will go too. Thus starts the fellowship if the ring, they start off good until they get into the mines of moria. There Gandalf fights the mighty balrog and get thrown over the bridge into the firey abyss. This was a big blow to the fellowship, but after that they get canoes and head down the river. They get to this part on the river where Merry and Pippin get captured by orcs and are going to be taken to an orc eencampment. Boromir gets shot by an orc named Ugluk and dies, Aragorn avenges his death and kills ugluk. Frodo and Sam starts off on the other side of the river to get the ring to mount doom themsleves.

Rating:
Summary: good v.s bad
Review: I loved these books from the moment I read them because I believe that they are great fantasy books. I understand that the characters don't have flaws and you can't relate to them, but I think these books are still wonderful. Every fantasy book that I have ever read, which is a lot, I haven't ever really been able to relate to. That is what a fantasy book is about, it's not about emotions most of the time. I agree also that it gets boring at times, but I think most books do that. I found it so amazing that Tolkien had made up his own laguages and put so much effort into this outstanding world of fantasy. I have never read another fantasy book where you can tell how much effort has gone into it. I would not recommend seeing the movies first because you get so much more out of the books than you do the movies. If you see the movie first then you will not understand the books as much.