The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2)

Rating:
Summary: At Last.
Review: The magnificence of Rob Inglis' dramatization, both with respect to its place in the Tolkien Legend and in comparision to the present state of the spoken theatre, is quite simply ineffible. Here presented is THE ONLY completely unabriged reading of the Lord of the Rings to be found, and to commuters like me, it represents a long awaited opportunity to become aquianted with the work of a genius without fear of losing precious shards of his masterpiece to the whim of an editor. Worth every moment of the 20 hour listening time, from the endearing character voices to the hearty singing of songs and chanting of poetry that is sure to linger in your mind throughout the day. A purely wonderful experience for both Tolkien Veterans and the uninitiated alike.

Rating:
Summary: The Journey continues...
Review: The Journey continues... 5 stars

This book starts off exactly where, "The Fellowship of the Ring," (see my review) ends. The Nine Walkers of Boromir, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin, Merry and the Ring-bear Frodo set out from Rivendell. After their leader and guide fell into the abyss in Moria (an ancient palace of the Dwarves in the mountains), Aragorn became their leader.

After emerging from the mountains, and passing through the land of Lorien, the Company faced a choice. Should they go to Mordor, where Frodo must go to destroy the Ring, the all-powerful instrument of evil and corruption or travel to Minis Tirith (Tower of the Guard) capital of the Gondor, a nation of Men who are at war with Mordor and its evil ruler Sauron.

The Hobbits Sam and Frodo disappear and depart for Mordor. The other two Hobbits (Merry and Pippin) are taken captive by Orcs, despite being defended by Boromir, who is killed in their defence.

In the first half of, "The Two Towers," the tale of what happened to Pippin, Merry, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn is related. In the second half of, "The Two Towers," the tale of what happened to Frodo and Sam is related. Within the book, I much prefer the first section of it. The reunion of the Hobbits with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas is one of my favorite moments in the book.

In some ways, whenever I undertake to read, "The Lord of the Rings," I dread the second section of, "The Two Towers." Personally, I do no appreciate the pain-staking description of every mountain, rock and flower; I keep waiting for some actual dialogue or action to happen. Tolkien obviously had a vivid, EXTREMELY detailed imagination for he invented every single part of his fictional world of Middle-Earth to be believable. There is a history of behind all the races and some of the races have their very own languages.

The problem that Tolkien may have run into in his epic work is that he lost something in attempting to achieve the grand scale he sought to produce. His heavy use of allusions to persons and events that the reader knows nothing of start off as evocative and then begins to get annoying. However, in terms of good epic length fantasy literature, "The Lord of the Rings," started it and it is probably one of the best novels of the 20th century. One last note, remember, Tolkien originally wrote the story for his own enjoyment, he did not envision millions of people in dozens of languages reading his work.

Rating:
Summary: A most imaginative and action-packed fantasy confection
Review: J.R.R. Tolkien continues The Lord of the Rings with triumph and imagination once again. Sheer brilliance mixed with an epic storyline. Middle-Earth is once again filled with enchanting landscapes, an assortment of creatures and a sense of danger and evil all around. But the second part of LOTR is still not perfect.

The Two Towers continues right where the first part left off. Hobbits Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship and trek to Mordor alone, being followed by a creepy critter. Merry and Pippin have been caught by Uruk-Hai warriors and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli travel to Rohan to speak to the King Theoden.

After Gandalf makes a stunning return, the four adventurers convince the troubled King of Rohan to prepare for war, as Saruman is ready to attack with his army of Uruk-Hai. The people of Rohan head to the fortress of Helm's Deep, confronting the evil Uruk-Hai.

As Frodo and Sam are lost, they are confronted by Gollum, the pathetic creature with long possession of the Ring. He promises to lead them to Mordor, but the two hobbits have a suspicion that the sly creature has another dark deed in mind. Merry & Pippin are rescued by Treebeard, an Ent of Middle-Earth, and takes them to Isengard.

The Two Towers has it's many moments, but the same problem of FotR plagues the second part: Tolkien has a bit too many unessesary sub-plots and dialogue. Of what could be the perfect novels, they are sometimes clogged with un-needed elements that would've just made the story flow smoother. However, I'd say that The Two Towers has a sharper narrative than the more episodic Fellowship of the Ring did.

With all of it's glorious mountains, fields, rivers and forests, and the different varieties of creatures running around, the main reason these books are so great are because of the characters. Gandalf's booming directing or Sam's hearty nature, the characters are the most memorable elements of Lord of the Rings. It only is better with the more three-dimension Gollum.

The Two Towers succeeds where Fellowship of the Ring somewhat lacked, even though they sometimes contain the same problem. However, this is a fantastic adventure book, filled with action and suspense, imagination and flair. The climactic battle is unforgettable. And do please check out Peter Jackson's 'The Two Towers' film that's now in theaters. Fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: The Two Towers is one of the Best Fantasy Novels Ever
Review: JRR Tolkien beautifully interweaves the plot in The Two Towers, told from a third person point of view. His bright adjectives are amazing in his descriptions of cities, forests, and characters. In this story, the second part of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Tolkien narrates the story of Frodo the Ringbearer and the rest of the Fellowship of the Ring. When Frodo and his servant Sam leave the Fellowship for Mordor, ill things come to the rest of the group. An Orc ambush leaves Boromir dead and the two hobbits Merry and Pippin captives. Ever since the fall of Gandalf, Aragorn the Ranger led the group. Now he leads Legolas the spirited Elf and Gimli the surly Dwarf on the chase of the Orcs. When the Orcs were near their destination of Orthanc, the stronghold of Saruman the traitor, the trio of warriors and the Riders of Rohan that they met with, finally catch up to the Orcs. The five score Riders overcome the vicious army of Orcs in a battle at the break of dawn near the mysterious forest of Fangorn. The hobbits, confused, retreat to Fangorn. After a vicious, bloody battle between the Rohirrim and the thousands of Orcs, Isengard is defeated. But Gandalf had returned, and spurred the King of Rohan to attack Orthanc. Gandalf had broken Saruman's staff and banished him finally after the slow, but vicious Ents had destroyed and flooded Isengard, defeating the traitor ultimately. When all of that is going on, Frodo and Sam journey over a wasteland of hills and rock. The evil character Gollum has caught up to them, and they knew they were being followed. With an ingenious plan Frodo captures Gollum and almost trains him to guide them to Mordor. As he writes, JRR Tolkien intricately describes the places that the hobbits pass through, the setting almost telling the future of the story. As the hobbits journey with Gollum as their guide, they meet Faramir and the soldiers of Gondor, and end up befriending the proud warriors. Later Gollum leads them to Mordor, and to an unknown resolve to the story... One of the best parts of the book to my opinion was when Tolkien told of the soldiers of Gondor as though he personally knew them. He closely detailed their clothing, weapons, armor and gear as though he was one of them. The second part of my favorite scene is when the soldiers are fighting the evil men under Sauron's control. Tolkien consistently describes everything going on around, from individual men to how the setting affects the battle. "Four tall Men stood there. Two had spears in their hands with broad bright heads. Two had great bows, almost of their own height, and great quivers of long green- feathered arrows. All had swords at their sides, and were clad in green and brown of varied hues, as if the better to walk unseen in the glades of Ithilien. Green gauntlets covered their hands, and their faces were hooded and masked with green, except for their eyes, which were very keen and bright." This book is masterfully crafted by Tolkien's genius, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes adventure or fantasy or both. The beginning was slow, maybe the first 40 pages or so, but it is a wonderful tale. I really loved it and I'm going to also read the final book to find out the ending. I think you should find out what happens too...

Rating:
Summary: The Lord of the Rings - "The Two Towers" (Amazing)
Review: The Two Towers follows the lives of the Fellowship, shortly after they broke up. Samwise and Frodo trek on to destroy the ring at Mt. Doom, and the rest, including Aragorn, Legolas and our beloved dwarf friend Gimli search for Merry and Pippin, who had been kidnapped by Orcs. Fierce battles, amazing dialogue and very memorable characters made "The Two Towers" a great read. I won't spoil the ending, but, I'll tell you this: After I completed "The Two Towers", I immediately went out and purchased "Return of the King" to see how it would end.

For any fan of fantasy or fan of great writing, this is the book for you. A great sequel to "The Fellowship of the Ring" and an excellent read.

Three words: Read it now

Rating:
Summary: World-Class
Review: Inevitably, after reading The Fellowship of the Ring, the natural reaction is to reach for The Two Towers. The second part of a classic trilogy, The Two Towers picks up exactly where The Fellowship of the Ring left off. With most of the main characters already established and the main focus of the journey identified, the truly exciting scenes begin to take place. The novel splits up into a pair of books that take the reader through two different adventures based on the now divided characters. The two books take place during the same time line, which I felt was a very interesting way to observe the storylines. Talking about all the amazing qualities of Two Towers might spoil your own experience, but if you are ready to read Two Towers, you are already have an idea of what type of brilliance lies ahead.

The imagery laid forth by Tolkien is simply dazzling, he was a master of the written word and this book exemplifies as well as magnifies that fact.

Full of excitement and adventure, this continuation of the quest to rid the world from the threat of evil takes the reader right through the heart of one of the most colorful, well known and amazing fantasy adventures of all-time. After being left breathless at the end of this one, the reader will take part in his or her own journey to get their hands on The Return of the King to finish out the trilogy. Simply Spectacular!

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Trilogy
Review: Lord of the Rings is a fantastic piece of literature. While all of the parts are exceptional, part two, The Two Towers, is without a doubt the best of the series. The novel starts off with Aragorn finding a wounded Boromir. Boromir explains that the Uruk-Hai ambushed him and captured Merry and Pippin. This part of the series is split up into two books (Book 3 and Book 4). While Book 4 is fantastic and details the continued adventures of the Ring-Bearer, Book 3 really shines. The chapter about the Battle of Helm's Deep might be the best chapter in any book ever. For those readers rather uninterested in what happens to Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, Book 4 will be your favorite. An old enemy of Bilbo's is back to guide Frodo and Sam, but instead leads them into a trap. One warning though. As great as this book is, do not read it unless you can soon-after beging The Return of the King. The Two Towers has even more of a cliffhanger ending than Fellowship of the Ring did. I highly recommend this great piece of work.

Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Rings the Two Towers
Review: The second book of J.R.R. Tolkien's three piece story. It has a lot of action and suspense. The book has basically two different stories intwined togather. One of the stories is the becoming of a king. The other story is about the small hobbit who has to save the world by destroying the magical ring of power. Aragorn and his fellow friends are trying to tarck down their other friends who were captured by some orcs. The two hobbits that were captured gathered up some tree-like creatures and destroyed one of the two towers it was called Isengard. While the small hobbit named Frodo is led on by an evil being named Gollum who leads Frodo it to a trap near the end. This book is a real page turner. You may never want to put this one down. There is so much developement within each of the characters that you feel like you have known them for a long time. I would reccomend this book to somebody of any age who likes action-packed fanstasy stories.

Rating:
Summary: The Two Towers
Review: Great continuation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
May 11, 2004
The continuation of the Fellowship of the Ring the Lord of the Rings: Two Towers is an excellent sequel. It is the continued story of Frodo Baggins and his journey to destroy the one ring. As Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, Gandalf the White, and the armies of Rohan are fighting Orcs at Helm's Deep Frodo and Sam encounter Gollum and ask for his aid to the gates of Mordor. J.R.R Tolkien does a great job in the second Lord of the Rings book. For children that have enjoyed the first book The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will be equally enjoyable. If children wish to find out what happens after the end of The Two Towers, children should read the last book in the series The Return of the King. For children wishing to know how Bilbo got the one ring, they should read The Hobbit a prequel of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Rating:
Summary: The Adventure Continues
Review: The adventures continue for the fellowship in book 2, The Two Towers. There seemed to be a lot more action and fighting in this book than the first. Tolkien's writing style makes this book just as magical as the first, however, I did feel that it dragged on in a few spots and just didn't seem to hold my attention quite like the 1st book. However, I would recommend this book to anybody who loves the movies and anybody who loves the 1st book or the Hobbit.