The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lord of the Rings
Book Review: Great lessons for adults and children
Summary: 5 Stars
Lord of the rings is a philosophical adventure in the lessons of right and wrong; good and bad, and so much more. In every chapter there is a lesson. For example, in the very begginning when the great wizard learns of the power of the ring, he goes back to the hobbit town to try the take the ring back from old Bilbo. Bilbo has become so upsessed with the ring that he is willing to risk one of his strongest friendships to keep it and not until the great wizard frightens Bilbo with his strenght does he relinquish it. The lesson is, of course, that over indulgence in anything is bad and so is greed. We must give up the things that make us forget to live no matter how beautiful or enchanting they are because nothing is more important than being true to ourseleves.
Tolken was a very wise man and there are tons of treasures of wisdom in this book. Because of the pictures in this edition, I think it is definitely great for children even if the don't follow every single twist and turn in the book. It is really the morals that are important. This book is full of them.
Book Review: bit crap, really
Summary: 3 Stars
When all is said and done, the Lord of the Rings is bit rubbish. It has a huge cast of characters, every one with a mythology behind them that is barely hinted at in the book (but is expanded on in the appendices and other works connected to Middle-Earth) and an amazing attention to details of towns, cities and landscapes, it has more songs than you can shake a stick at and it even has its own languages. Unfortunately, the plot is poor and Tolkien's ambition far exceeds his skills. His language is stilted to the highest degree, the language is fanciful and far too archaic and the dialogue is frankly awful. When a book's appendices are more interesting than the main text, you know you're in trouble. The problem is that the Lord of the Rings is caught halfway between "The Hobbit" (which is more colloquial and much more engaging), and what would become "The Silmarrilion", which has both a plot and a cast to match the pseudo-epic tone that Tolkien often adopts. You would probably be better off watching the films rather than reading the book with this one, simply because the films achieve everything that Tolkien fails to (although the last half-hour of the third film is truly awful). I would read this as a companion to the films, not as a work in its own right.Book Review: This is the best thing I have ever read!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you haven't read this you must its the best book of all by a long shot nothing comes close!! Book Review: Need I say more
Summary: 5 Stars
First read this when I was but a wee lad, great books a must read, why it reminds me of when I was a wee wee lad and my brother Charles Chadwick told me that he thought Smedley (a bona fide little person who live up the road from us) had some firecrackers and maybe we should pay him a visit and maybe get to light some off! Well we hopped on the tractor and drove down to his house,farm country if you must know.We saw him from a distance shooting hoops on his makeshift gravel court we drove up and he of course had a puzzled look on his face since we had never visited him before, we just rode the same school bus. Well as an ice breaker we played a game of horse, he won. Then he challenged us to a game, which hardly seemed fair since he was a little person like the Dwarf in "Lord of The Rings" , we took him up on it and were soundly trounced, he had an amazing hook shot. Well my brother Charles Chadwick decided to broach the subject of firecrackers and Smedley didn't know what he was talking about, we followed him around abit and he showed us a 5 gallon bucket of grease for the tractors, we had never seen such a quantity of grease in our lives, pretty cool. As we were looking at the grease my brother Charles Chadwick told Smedley that he had dropped a quarter in the grease and he could have it if he dug it out, without hesitation Smedley reached elbow deep into the grease and then my brother Charles Chadwick laughed and said he didn't really, we all laughed, some more than others and thats about all I remember about that visit. But I digress, Lord of the Rings all the way! I found the Silmarillion a little difficult but you cant go wrong with the trilogy.Book Review: Outstanding edition of the LOTR Trilogy! - (0618260587)
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to say that this edition is outstandingly the best one out there today. Houghton Mifflin has done a great job at compiling and designing the books. The set is particularly beautiful with artwork by the already famous Alan Lee. I have to agree that this edition surpass the 1988 edition (ISBN: 0395489326) by FAR! The 1988 edition was poorly done and had sloppy printing.
Books are well-produced with sturdy hardcovers. The binding is bound in red cloth. All three books have dustcovers with extraordinary artwork by Alan Lee - each shows a scene from the book that it is in. All three books have a map of "Middle-Earth" on the inside of the front and back flaps. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers show the whole map of "Middle-Earth". Whereas, The Return of the King shows the concentrated map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor section only. I think it is very fitting since The Return of the King takes place around Mordor. It would be even better if Houghton Mifflin made a fold-out map of "Middle-Earth" to go along with this edition.
The drawback of this edition is the glossy format that can reflect glare light that may disturb some readers. The books are somewhat large and overweight, but very solid and sturdy.
This edition of The Lord of the Rings is very compatable with the Houghton Mifflin's edition of "The Hobbit" (ISBN: 0395873460) and "The Silmarillion" (ISBN: 0618391118). Both editions have the same format and size as the LOTR SET. I truly recommend all!