The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

There is a reason this is the greatest epic fantasy series ever written, The movies pale in comparison to the trilogy of books.  This is final volume in the Lord of the Rings is all battle should I say battles.  It starts with the armies preparing for war at Minas Tirith,  Merry & Pippin are sent their separate ways in which they are both portrayed more valiantly than they are in the movie.  The sons of Elrond & the Dunedain come bearing gifts for Aragorn & join him on his quest along the paths of the dead.  A great many things happen during the siege of Gondor's capital city in the book it seems more of a brutal & desperate battle than it does in the movie.  Denethor's betrayal is a much darker revelation in which he has been deceived by Sauron.  The march to the black gate & that subsequent battle are pretty much the same as the movie.  There is really not a lot of focus on Legolas or Gimli in this book compared to the other characters of the fellowship.  The true gem of this book is the rescue of Frodo by Sam as this was the cliff hanger of the second book & isn't followed up on until the reader is two thirds through this book.  The finale of the book focuses on the fellowship returning to their respective lands following the crowning of Aragorn, King of Gondor & Queen Arwen.  There is also the marriage of Faramir & Eowyn uniting the lands of Gondor & Rohan into an even stronger alliance. The hobbits return to the Shire only to find that Saruman has beaten them there enslaving the people, hoarding the food & defacing the land.  The hobbits having come back from an incredible journey rally & unite the hobbits to fight for their land which ends in the death of Saruman at the hands of Grima Wormtongue.  Time passes Sam gets married Merry & Pippin are knights of the Rohan & Gondor respectively & Frodo finishes documenting the journey before setting off on one last adventure.  On Bilbo's birthday which will make him one year older than the Old Took; Frodo asks Sam to journey with him to the edge of the Shire on his way to Rivendale.  At the edge of the Shire they come across Elrond & Lady Galadriel with their houses, Gandalf & Bilbo heading to Grey Havens over the sea.  It is here that Frodo & Sam part Merry & Pippen are also with the elves at the request of Gandalf so they can accompany Sam back to Hobbiton; so ends the third age.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Two Towers starts off with the death of another member of the fellowship & continues on from there at a brisk pace building toward the battle at Helms Deep.  Helms Deep however is only the halfway point of this book as Saurumon & Shelaub still have to be dealt with be this books end.  Back in the day Tolkien was a true master of fantasy nowdays authors like George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, & Terry Goodkind just to name a few have sprung up to tackle the genre.  They have all taken cues from Tolkien over the years Jordan's & Goodkind's works even copy Tolkien's from time to time.  Martin however has used the writing style & layout for his grand epic even the cliffhangers are very similar.  I can only imagine how destraut a child would be if they had to wait six years inbetween The Two Towers & The Return of the King to find out what happened to Frodo Baggins.  Overall this is still a spectacular tale that stands high above the movies.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Where do I begin, this is truly one of the great epic tales of the 20th century.  If you are a fan of the movies you should give this book a try, I understand that Tolkien's writing is not for everybody but if you can make it through his trilogy then you will have a much deeper understanding of the world & characters he has created.  One of the biggest differences between the book & the movie is the overall sense of time, the events in the book span decades.  One of the great things about The Lord of the Rings trilogy is that it has songs spread throughout the story which Tolkien has taken the time to flesh out completely for the readers enjoyment.  These are mostly skipped over in the movies.  One of Tolkien's most unique & baffling characters plays a rather important role in this first part of the The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil.  This is a character that has no basis in the land of Middle Earth but at the same time embodies all of its aspects.  If it was not for Tom Bombadil the Hobbits wouldn't even have made it to Bree.  This first book ends slightly before the final events of the first movie.  To say more would only spoil the surprises that await new readers of this classic.  I feel that just with this first book Tolkien is writing this for himself or his children & the idea that anybody else will read it was just an afterthought.