(Update) One Book to bind them all. (The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien)

Member Name: wyrdsister

Product:	The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Date:	31/12/01 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautiful story-telling , great characters

Disadvantages: needs commitment and concentration

“You have never read the Lord of the Rings! Well, you haven’t read anything”. Those were my best friend’s words to me about ten years ago. He then proceeded to badger me into reading it. Being, as I was, of a contradictory nature I refused on the grounds that I didn’t like fantasy novels and I didn’t own a copy anyway. I was then promptly provided with a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. Left with no more excuses, I sat down on the sofa and began reading. Two days later, I picked up my coat and drove to the nearest bookshop to buy the other two.
The Lord of the Rings begins very simply, in a place called the
Shire, with a special Birthday party and small gift, a plain gold ring left to a young hobbit by his uncle. But the story is not simple. When Frodo inherits the ring, he knows of its magical power of invisibility, which his uncle Bilbo used to his advantage in the past. What Frodo doesn’t know is its true power. It is Gandalf the wizard, a great friend of Bilbo and now Frodo, who discovers the true nature of the ring. It is the One Ring, a ring of power which belongs to the Dark Lord Sauron and which can give him the power to enslave the world. The Ring will corrupt its wearer and ultimately destroy him lest it is destroyed first. And the only way to do that is to throw it in the Cracks of Doom where it was made.

Gandalf instructs Frodo to secretly make his way out of the Shire as soon as possible with his friend Sam and head for Rivendale, an Elven city, where he believes the Ring will be safe. Gandalf leaves Frodo to his preparations to gather more information. When the wizard fails to return, Frodo reluctantly departs without him. Instead, his two friends Merry and Pippin decide to join him after discovering his plans. Frodo and his companions embark on a journey filled with doubt and danger, as the Black Riders, servants of the Dark Lord, are already close behind them. After narrowly escaping dea
th in the Old Forest, they finally reach Bree and, to Frodo’s distress, Gandalf is not waiting for him. There, they meet Strider, a mysterious Ranger and friend of the wizard, who agrees to help them reach Rivendale. The journey is long and strenuous for the hobbits, unused to the harshness of the outdoors. Events escalate as the Riders finally catch up with them and Frodo, frightened and helpless against the foes, uses the Ring.

After much toil and hardship, they reach Rivendale where a council is gathered to decide what to do with the Ring. As Frodo prepares to return home, he realises that he must take on the perilous task of returning the Ring to its birthplace. Although he alone must bear the burden of the Ring, a fellowship is formed to help him on his quest. Aragorn, heir of Elendil who took the ring from Sauron, Boromir, warrior of Gondor, Legolas, Elven bow-master, Gimli the Dwarf and Gandalf the Grey join the Hobbits on their journey. They are relentlessly pursued by the Ringwraiths, the nine Black Riders who hunt the Ring for their master Sauron. After the ring are also the corrupt wizard Saruman and his army, and of course Gollum, from whom Bilbo stole the Ring.

Frightened by the Ring’s power and for the lives of his friends, Frodo leaves the fellowship followed only by Sam. Now we follow two journeys, Frodo and Sam’s, as they must take the Ring into Mordor, and the rest of the fellowship as they battle the approaching dark forces and attempt to protect Middle Earth from evil and destruction. Thus the battle between Sauron and the Free Folk is fought on the plains of Middle Earth, where armies clash, and in the mind of the most unlikely person: Frodo, who fights against his own desire to possess the Ring.

With the Movie version now on the cinema screens, just about everyone knows about Frodo and the Ring and I suspect that a good few people might have been tempted to give the written version a lo
ok. First of all, I think you need to put aside all preconceptions before you start reading this book.

Tolkien didn’t write this book for money or for fame, he wrote this book for his own enjoyment and it took him over 15 years to do it. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an academic and Oxford graduate, where he became professor of Anglo-Saxon studies. He was keen on mythology and an amateur linguist. This lead him to invent a language, Elvish, and create a world, Middle Earth, in which the language could exist. His writings about Middle Earth and its mythology can be traced back to 1917 and would be compiled and published posthumously as the Silmarillion.
After the success of the Hobbit, Tolkien was asked to write another book and, as the stories of the Silmarils were rejected because of their academic complexity, he went on to elaborate on the Hobbit story, whilst using the rich background he had created as well as drawing on pre-Norman conquest English mythology. This, combined with the wonderful prose and poetry of the author, serves to make the Lord of the Ring a book of immense depth and realism.

Tolkien’s characters are well drawn, their depth and identities are well established and their weaknesses explored, this continues throughout the book and allows for the characters to evolve and change with each new situation. Tolkien has often been criticised for the lack of strong female characters in the Lord of the Rings. The fact that his writing is reminiscent of ancient warfare and mythology may have had some influence on that aspect although Eowyn of Rohan and Galadriel are both strong female roles.
The pace of the book is uneven and changes with the characters and situations. The beginning in Hobbiton is rather slow and seems reflective of the inhabitants and their way of life. This is also applicable to the Hobbits as they journey out of the Shire. The pace changes and accelerates when joined by Humans or Elves, thus refle
cting their manner of travel and lifestyles.
One aspect of the book that is vital to the story is the landscape or essence of Middle Earth and Tolkien emphasises this with thorough and sometimes lengthy descriptions. There, a definite personality and feel emerge and Tolkien seems to point out what is really at stake should Sauron prevail: the destruction of nature, a concept hinted at with the “industrialisation” of Isengard.

The Lord of the Rings is a complex story. It is impossible to summarise it and do it justice. To say it is simply good vs. evil is too simplistic and somewhat undermines the integrity of the work. Although the story is set in a magical realm, The Lord of the Ring isn’t really what I would call a Fantasy novel. The Lord of the Rings is unique, there is nothing quite like it in literature. It was written at a different time in almost a different world, and I believe that because of this, nothing comparable will ever be written again. It is however a compelling and beautiful story of hope and the triumph of friendship and courage over adversity. You need to be prepared to suspend your disbelief and to immerse yourself in Tolkien’s world to fully enjoy this book. If you can do that you will have a most intense literary experience.

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