The Fellowship of the Ring
J. R. R. Tolkien
398 pages
published in 1954

Recent discussions in rec.arts.sf.written, as well as the upcoming movie, has inspired me to reread The Lord of the Rings for the first time. I first read it over a decade ago, liking it little, finding it overrated. It has always been cosnidered the archetypical high fantasy novel, or trilogy, but to me it seemed to be more of historical interest then a good read in itself. I had read too many other, more modern fantasy trilogies to appreciate what LotR was. It had been a hard slog to read it and I was content to have the books on my shelves, there if I ever wanted to try them again.

Thanks to Chad Orzel, and the threads he started in rasfw, that time was now. I started reading the first of the three books, The Fellowship of the Ring on Sunday, having just finished it now, three days later. Where the first time it took me a number of tries to even start reading and proceed beyond the first chapter, now it didn't take any effort at all. However, I did cheat a bit by skipping the dreary prologue, with its explenation of Hobbits and their habits, in order to plunge right into the story itself.

As you probably know, the story starts with the disappearance of Bilbo, hero of The Hobbit and bearer of the Ring at his birthday party, only for the action to really start seventeen years (!) later in the second chapter. The first chapter served as the real prologue, I find, also being more in the style of the earlier book then the rest of LotR. In fact, I'd say it's only a third of the way in the tale that the much friendlier world of The Hobbit is left behind for good. This makes for a fairly slow start, only gradually revealing the true scope of the book.

The previous time, I disliked this part intensely. Now, I find it a much more natural way to begin the story. The whole punctured tension of the The Fellowship of the Ring works very well for me at least.

I'm not going to seriously review this here, nor tell much of the plot, but I'd like to finish with some random thoughts.

Tom Bombadil. Perhaps the most hated figure out of the whole cycle, but I found him easy to stomach. His appearance is not as overwhelming as I'd feared and mercifully short.

I never realised how much Jordan swiped, sorry, was inspired by the first part of the LotR for his first Wheel of Time book. Not only is the general plot lifted straight from here, most of the incidents in at least the first twothirds are too...

Was I the only one who imagines the Hobbits speaking in a broad Devonish accent in the first chapter?

The Two Towers
J. R. R. Tolkien
302 pages
published in 1954

Unlike the first part of Lord of the Rings the second part does not have one continuous stroy thread, but instead, each of the two books of which it consists tells a different part of the story. This because of the events at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring when the Companions of the ring spilt in two groups.

Book III, the first half of The Two Towers tells of what happened to the greater part of the fellowship: Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn. How they escaped the orcs on their heels, went to Rohan and fared in battle against Saruman, once leader of the Wizard's Council, now fallen under the spell of the ring. This is the most "traditional", high fantasy part of the whole cycle, the part most imitated in lesser and later works.

Book IV, on the other hand, is not as grand or exciting, but tells merely of the long, weary trek of Frodo and his faithful servant Samwise to the land of Mordor, to fulfill the obligation Frodo took upon himself when he accepted the Ring. They're followed by Gollum, still alive after all those years since Bilbo took the ring from him and still lusting after his precious. In fact, after having captured Gollum, frodo kets him accompany them on their journey and if it wasn't for his help, they would surely have perished, even if he betrayed them in the end.

As said, the first half of the book is far more exciting and entertaining then the second half. Yet for all this, all of Book III is but a sideshow to what's really important, Frodo's quest to destroy the ring. This part is not as easily readable, but not nearly such a slog as it's often made out to be.

Favourite parts were Merry and Pippin's meeting with Treebeard, which was just sheer fun, the battles of Rohan, but above all, a small part in the second half, which I'll quote in full:

Gollum looke at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pas, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee - but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would've thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.

The Return of the King
J. R. R. Tolkien
277 pages (405 pages with appendix and index)
published in 1955

The third and final book of the saga, continues the two story threads of The Two Towers, with Merry, Pippin and co in Gondor and Frodo and Sam continuing their journey to the Crack of Doom. The structure is also the same as the previous book.

The first part, Book V, tells the story of the battle against the armies of Sauron which have finally marched upon Gondor. This is the most exciting part of the book, with the various battles and all.

The second part, finishes the quest of Frodo and Sam to the Crack of Doom where they will destroy the Ring, plus the aftermath of the defeat of Sauron, the return of the various travellers to their homelands and the return of the Hobbits to the Shire, finishing with the final fate of Frodo.

I liked how The Lord of the Rings didn't end with the climax of the defeat of Sauron, but let us spend some more time with all the friends we've made within the books, getting to know their ultimate fates. For those even then not sated, there are of course the Appendixes, which I haven't read this time though.