Its Lordof the Rings (The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien)

Name: GundamMeister

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Product:	The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Date:	06/01/08 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its Lord of the Rings

Disadvantages: There was never a sequel

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 by making, at least his main characters very human and very relatable. Lord of the Rings is at heart a tale of the underdog and the tale of a young man (or hobbit) who has to take the weight of the world on his shoulders and cannot succeed without the help from his best friend.

There's more to it of course...the epic scope, the wonderful world that Tolkien builds complete with made up languages, the vast range of interest characters, amgical items monsters and thrilling adventure.

I love this book still. Maybe not as much as when I was 12 and first read it, having been transported away to a magical realm I never believed could have existed -yet, despite all the great literature I've read since, I'll still return to this when I feel sad or in need of comfort. There's something comforting about it all, don't you think?

Summary: Why is this everyone's favourite book? Because its great, I guess!