The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

There's a reason why this is the granddaddy of Fantasy literature. Some people think that its pretty much the first of its kind, but that neglects to take into account the likes of William Morris, E R Eddison and Lord Dunsany, all of whom are great fantasy writers and deserve more respect than they currently get. Tolkien's achievement in this field was to humanise the narrative. The earlier works were very much on the level of high fantasy - as if King Arthur and his knights were looking for a holy grail and its all written in ye olde englishe for good measure. Tolkien sees the possibility of bringing his own thoughts to a wide audience in a fantasy context ...  Read the complete review

The Lord Of The Rings was recently voted the book of the century. What is it about JRR Tolkien’s epic tale of swords and sorcery that has made it so popular with so many readers? Now that a film adaptation of the book has been made I thought it would be a good time to take a closer look at the original text. WARNING THIS IS A LONG OPINION! it should be considered more of a guide to Tolkien’s middle earth, than a review of the books. I don’t expect you to read all of it and I have organised it in self contained sections that you can mix and match these depending on your interests. ****BACKGROUND**** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...  Read the complete review

The greatest fantasy epic of all time? Oh yes. As someone who has read plenty of fantasy epics, all of which written since Tolkien effectively created the genre, all of which were compared more in hyperbole than truth to the ‘Lord of the Rings’, I feel as qualified as any to judge, and Tolkien’s surpasses by a country mile those of Eddings, Gemmell, Feist, Tad Williams (although he comes closer than most). The best book of the last century? Well… Asinine question really, as neither I nor anyone else has read more than a fraction of them, and even if they had they wouldn’t remember half of them well enough to judge. So, now that’s ...  Read the complete review

Lord Of The Rings and the tale of The Hobbit are both gripping stories that transform the mind of the reader. By this I mean that it takes your mind through a journey of adventure and fantasy, filled with surprises and creatures unheard. The most revelling thing about Tolkein's books is their astonishing readability. I find myself rereading the same novel time and time again still fixated by the complexity of the individual characters. Smaug was the evil tyrant dragon that was defeated by Bilbo Baggins the notorious hobbit in search for his treasure. The Hobbit was a stifling story of hope. It represented so many aspects of our nature; the power of ...  Read the complete review

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and its prequel The Hobbit should have a place in the library of every home. These are books you will read again and again. First introduced to the world of Middle-Earth in my teens, I must have read the trilogy 20 times at least. Every read brings out more surprises - sentences you skimmed over, or just missed completely, passages that suddenly make sense, and characters that come to life. In The Hobbit, we are introduced to the main characters, Hobbits, and the scene is well and truly set for the start of The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit story follows Bilbo Baggins and his travelling companions as they quest to defeat the evil ...  Read the complete review