| Product: |
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Date: |
02/05/02 (2 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: interesting, keeps you at the edge of your seat
Disadvantages: cannot put down!!
The Lord of the Rings is a great book which has been read by several generations since it was first published almost 50 years ago.
the author Tolkien started to work on this book as early as in the 30s of the previous century, and has re-written large parts of it after World War II.
It is unbelievable, but I have read "The Lord of the Rings" for the very first time this year - but certainly not for the last time.
After I very much enjoyed reading "The Hobbit", I wanted to read the sequel during my summer vacation this year. In total, the three volumes have more than 1,300 pages (plus several hundred pages of appendices).
But once you have started to read, you can't put it away, you just want to continue to the end without any breaks.
Having received a £20 gift certificate from amazon.co.uk, I ordered the paperback version of all three volumes in one box (the books itself were £15.99
Tolkien has managed to write a great fairytale, fascinating and terrific from the beginning to the end, with a lot of emotions, about many lovely characters from various peoples, and covering the great and monumental war of good against evil.
The world that he tells about actually comes into being for the eyes of the inspired reader. You just dive into this fantastic world and become part of the story - very difficult to return back into the real world.
Everything is so excellently described and consistent, including very detailed maps of the area with all locations of the story, as well as their own language, writing and symbols. All fits perfectly together and makes sense. A distinct world of the past, which might have existed in reality many ages ago?.
The story is about a ring, the One Ring, which gives enormous power to whoever owns and uses the ring.
In total there were 20 rings with special powers, three of them for the elven kings, seven for the dw
arf-lords, nine for mortal men and one for the dark lord ("One Ring to rule them all").
If you have read "The Hobbit" you will remeber that Bilbo Baggins the lovely hobbit (or halfling) actually found a ring during his adventures, a ring that makes his bearer invisible.
In case you have not yet read The Lord of the Rings (anybody out there who has not read it?) you might want to skip the next sections because it tells some details about the contents.
VOLUME ONE - The Fellowship of the Ring
Many years after his return from the adventures (as written in "The Hobbit"), Bilbo decides to suddenly disappear during his birthday party.
Frodo, one of his younger cousins who has been living in the same house for some time, then possessed - amongst other things - the ring.
Gandalf the Grey, the old wizard, finds out that this ring actually is the One Ring that rules them all. It had long been lost, but now the dark powers in the land of Mordor have become aware of the ring and have startet to try to get it.
They had sent terrible Black Riders, and Frodo had to leave home in a rush, together with some of his friends. It was very difficult and dangerous, but with the help of Aragorn the Ranger they arrived safely in Rivendell, the house of Elrond, the elven king.
A great council was held to make serious decisions about what to do with the One Ring. It was decided to attempt to destroy the ring, which is only possible by bringing it back to the Mountain of Fire were it was originally made, in the Dark Land of Mordor.
Frodo was selected to be the ring-bearer, and together with him, some more fellows started to travel together (representatives of a widespread coalition of fighters against the evil): Legolas representing the Elves, Gimli representing the Dwarves, Aragorn and Boromir representing Men, Frodo and his servant Samwise as well as Meriadoc and Peregr
in representing the Hobbits, and Gandalf the Grey.
Through massive danger and following a lot of extremely difficult situations they made their way. In the Mines of Moria, Gandalf the Grey fell into a dark abyss when fighting against a creature of the underworld, so they had to continue their journey without him.
After staying for a while in the wonderful Elvish land of Lorien, they moved on.
Soon they found out that the creature Gollum, who had possessed the ring before Bilbo, was following their trail, trying to re-gain the ring.
After Boromir attempted to seize the Ring by force, Frodo and Samwise continued their journey to Mordor, whereas the others were attacked by orcs, sent by the Dark Powers.
VOLUME TWO - The Two Towers
The second volume starts with the death of Boromir, killed by orcs, and the capture of Meriadoc and Peregrin by the orcs who try to bring them to Isengard.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli tried to follow the orcs and then met the Riders of Rohan who managed to destroy the orc army. Then they met Gandalf the Grey again, who has become the White Rider, and together they rode to King Theoden whom they could convince to join them in their fight against the evil.
Meriadoc and Peregrin managed to escape when the orcs were destroyed by the Riders of Rohan. They got lost in the wood where they met Treebeard the Ent, one of the oldest living trees in the world. The Ents marched towards Isengard against Saruman (ally of the Dark Lord). They destroyed most of his fortress, and Saruman was besieged in the tower, when Gandalf and the others arrived.
Gandalf deposed Saruman and broke his staff. They also picked up there one of the three surviving Seeing Stones which allowed Saruman to kepp in contact with Sauron, the Dark Lord.
In the meantime, Frodo and Samwise continued their journey towards Mordor. Gollum was tamed for some time and showed them a secret w
ay to Mordor. In the end, however, the desire for the One Ring was bigger, and Gollum attempted to betray them to the monster Shelob. Frodo seemed to be dead after an attack by Shelob.
Samwise takes the ring to continue the quest, but then he finds out that Frodo was not dead but just captured by orcs.
VOLUME THREE - The Return of the King
The Ring War, the final and monumental fight of good against evil had already started. Sauron, the Dark Lord, had sent his army. The great darkness had come across the world.
Following heavy losses, the allies led by Gandalf and the new king Aragorn decided to start their final campaign against Mordor.
At the same time, Frodo and Samwise managed to take the One Ring to the Mountain of Fire. However, at the very last moment, Frodo is overtaken by the temptation of the Ring, he wants to keep the Ring and to use the power himself.
Despite that - and Gollum plays a certain role in this final part - there is a Happy End. The good does prevail.
The hobbits return to their home country, and even there a lot has changed to the bad and they have got a lot to do to restore peace and order.
CONCLUSIONS
If you think that I have revealed most of the story, then you are wrong. There is so much to read on all those more than 1,300 pages, many events and situations and characters who have their role to play, so that it is virtually impossible to mention even a small part of it during such a short review.
The whole story stays extremely thrilling and exciting. Every little detail is important and there is nothing which could be left out. Once you have finished reading one volume, you'll certainly continue with the next volumes right away as I did.
I am very anxious to see the movie which will start later this year. From what could be seen so far it seems to be a great and impressive film. Very often a film is d
isappointing for all who have read the book before, so let's hope that this will be the rare exception to the rule.
The film will cover the first volume only (annoying i know) so we will have to wait for two more years and two more films before we can enjoy the whole story until the end in the cinema.
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