The Lord of the Rings. 3 Vol. Set by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lord of the Rings. 3 Vol. Set
Book Review: greatest book, great edition
Summary: 5 Stars
first the story, simply the greatest story ever told, aside from the bible, enough said. i bought this edition soley for the paintings and i wanted a hard cover edition. previuosly owend an ordinary paper back version that got all bent up. the only problem for me is whether to leave the sleeve on because the painting on it is awesome or take it off to show the classiness of the brownish red cover (which feels like a hard cloth cover over the ordinary hard cover cardboard) with only the gold symbol j.r.r. created for it. with the sleeve off it looks authentic and classic and historic so i dont know. good problem to have desciding which outside you want to show off. i do wish however it had a hard lether case too, like the paper back leather bound books do. but i guess you cant have it all.Book Review: A ton of faults in this door-stopper!
Summary: 1 Stars
I'll start by saying that I am a huge fan of Fantasy novels, but this 'crux' of Fantasy literature really disappointed me.
This book has a lot of faults. To begin with, it goes against the first basic rule of writing a book: show don't tell. As you start the novel, it tells everything and nothing has been shown. Tolkein has just narrated almost everything, starting from the history to the setting, and this gives the novel a feeling as if a child has written it.
Secondly, the book is just too slow. I mean you just start the 1st chapter and you doze off after a couple of pages. The pace might have been fine for the 50's but it's just too slow for the double Os!
I don't know why other people liked the plot so much, but I think the plot was really really weak. The causality in the story is almost non-existant and that is what makes the difference between a jumble of short stories joined loosely together and a good novel.
Lastly, the characters could have been much developed with more life in them than mere puppets bound to do the author's bidding. The chracters are much more Archetyped than they should have been.
Overall, I think that it has gotten more attention than it deserved, perhaps because of the movies, and that people are liking it because of some trend or the like.
Book Review: A Good One-Volume Illustrated Edition
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll begin with the edition and will follow with the actual story. There's nothing to be reproached to this edition: the paper is fine quality, the printing is flawless, the illustrations are printed on glazed paper; everything is perfect. The hardcover is really good too, with Tolkien's stylised initials on the front side of the book.
A review on that book may not be particularly needed, given all the attention this work has received, but I can still try. "The Lord of the Rings" reads like a marathon, but not one that bores you, though it may tire you. Having read "The Hobbit" before, I think this book will please you way more than its predecessor.
Since I already gave it 5 stars and that pretty much everything has been said about "The Lord of the Rings", I'll indulge in some negative criticism, not because I dislike the book but most because I don't feel like stating the obvious, especially when it has been said countless times before. So here is my (slightly) negative criticism.
Having seen the movies, my reading was necessarily influenced. For instance, had I not seen the movies, I'm not at all sure that I would have actually understood that there was something between Aragorn and Arwen; I also seem to have missed their wedding, though I can't be sure why that is. Perhaps I was dozing as I read, or perhaps Tolkien didn't spend much time on that. I honestly don't know.
I read somewhere that the book was criticised for its "simplistic character psychology" which didn't seem especially relevant to me, or actually accurate, but I couldn't describe my impressions of Faramir falling in love with Eowen in any other way. This is but a trivial detail in the whole story, but when you read that bit, it does seem a but hard to swallow. From the moment they meet to the moment they marry there's not an awful lot of time (and pages) and so it seems a bit incredible. But then again, that's just a detail.
Another thing I must admit I wasn't crazy about was all the singing and poetry reciting. I'm quite glad they didn't take on that in the movies because it would have easily become a musical. Again, it won't spoil the book's pleasure for you or anything, but I can't say that I read those bits with much delight.
I'll stop here for the negative criticism because it's really not much.
A word about the illustrations: they're gorgeous. There are many, and they're wonderfully executed.
Book Review: Collector's editon
Summary: 4 Stars
A great book for a great story! It is made on the model of the Red Book as described in the text. It has a really nice looking leatherette binding. About the inside it seems to be one of the most accurate text ever produce : almost every errors are corrected, has explained in the
"about the text" foreword.
The only weak points are the lack of any charts showing the entire Middle-Earth (only the shire is printed)and the absence of a ribbon placemarker.
That's not too much weak point, isn't it ?
So in conclusion a great book !
Book Review: Beautiful, moving illustrations
Summary: 5 Stars
The illustrations are breath-taking! I cannot wait until my children are old enough to experience the story first-hand with this book.