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I will write three separate reviews and combine them here as I think all three books cover so much that I need to put my thoughts down.
I read this the first time as a young teen but really didn't appreciate it much. I came to know about Hobbits through school mates who kept talking abpout the then upcoming first movie by Peter Jackson. I went to watch it but was unimpressed, almost bored even (until the last quarter at least). I loved the mythology but little else. Nevertheless, I got the book (and went to the trouble of finding and buying a special edition which was not easy back then). I read it but most went over my head.
Today I want to spank myself (and not in a good way) for ever thinking like that. Because if you know the book, and maybe The Hobbit as well, you can see just how much of a fan Peter Jackson is. Sooo many details only insiders will recognize. And the book is a thing to behold. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This first part introduces us to the world of Middle-Earth (Arda). There, elves, trolls, hobbits, goblins, orks, giant eagles and wolves, but also more sinister things dwell. And wizards, though I think that name is misleading here. Great evil has this world seen in the past and while it was defeated, it is on the rise again as these things are wont to do. Sauron is the name of the great evil here and a long time ago he forged a ring of power to bind all other rings as well as people of Middle-Earth. And just like a certain dark wizard of a more modern tale, he poured his soul into this master ring so it didn't matter when his body got destroyed thousands of years before the events of this first book. But this ring has been found now - by one of the most innocent creatures in this world, of all things.
The alliance that failed to vanquish evil from the world thousands of years ago is now represented in the titular fellowship comprising of a dwarf, an elf, two men, a wizard and four hobbits. And they march to destroy the ring - and thus evil - before Sauron can restore himself to his full power again.
Their quest leads them through forests, over mountains, on streams and through mines. But that is not the most important part, actually.
Most important is the fact that Tolkien was a wordsmith. He was not only a scholar at one of THE most famous universities in the world; he was not only fluent in several languages; he was not only keen on any mythology you can think of. He combined all of that in his writing. Apparently, he didn't write it to get published, thinking nobody would be interested, and thus wrote to his heart's content.
He included songs and poems, stating more than once that true magic lies in both (as is represented by the elves for example). His nature descriptions are not only sweeping and vivid, but also utterly beautiful. His dialogues, while being quite wordy, are fluent and artistic.
He INVENTED several languages for this book - complete with grammar and all. Linguists have marvelled over Tolkien's affinity and mastery for generations and I feel the same. Many authors use made-up languages but not a single one of them actually sat down and drew up one as whole as Tolkien did.
Thus, Tolkien has truly created an entire world, complete with art, history, mythology, geography (look at those gorgeous maps), politics, different peoples, languages ...
The only thing he didn't manage to convey as wonderfully as Peter Jackson with his films was the action. At least not here in the first book. It is suspenseful, but the impact of the encounter with the Balrog for example was much more touching and shocking in the movie (at least to me). The same goes for Arwen and Frodo being chased by the Black Riders until they cross the stream around Rivendell.
Maybe it's because he was fed up with war (he fought in WW1) or maybe he wanted to hold back and then hit the reader with full force in the end battle. Or he just didn't have the same concept of action as most of us do nowadays. I'm not quite sure. Nevertheless, one feels the pathos (look up the original word and its meaning), one believes the characters when they act out of integrity and honour and never once thinks it's pretentious of them (again, the Boromir-scene in the movie makes me cry, the one in the book didn't).
I've re-watched the (extended version of the) first movie and I've noticed sooo many details I had missed before, it was astonishing. The tale (in any medium) is packed with details enriching both the world and the reader's/viewer's experience on a level unmatched and I'm more than happy that Peter Jackson was able to translate that so wonderfully onto the screen (it doesn't happen often).
This second book had fewer songs and poems and yes, I missed them. Oh, there are some, like the funny songs of Sméagol/Gollum or some of Sam's rhymes, but it's not the same as the elaborate songs of the elves.
In this second part of the trilogy, the fellowship has broken up. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are persuing the Uruk'hai and orks that have taken Merry and Pippin while Frodo and Sam are trying to find their way to Mordor. The former soon meet the horse lords of Rohan and find out that a lost friend has returned while the latter encounter Sméagol/Gollum and let themselves be guided by him. Whether or not that is a good idea remains to be seen.
Moreover, Saruman is showing his true (multi) colours and thus sends an army to destroy Rohan and its inhabitants. But he didn't count on Merry and Pippin making some new friends in Fangorn forest and then there are also the Rohirrim, the formidable cavalry of the horse lords.
This second volume certainly saw more action. However, much like in the first book, many of those scenes were handled slightly better in the movie (I shall re-watch the second one tomorrow or the day after).
What the book has that the movie simply couldn't have, is a certain depth.
All the history of the last big battle against Sauron and what happened to the alliance of elves and men back then, the people of the south and their tendency to immediately follow Sauron, the proud but hopeless people of Gondor that we glimpse through Boromir's brother Faramir, ... there is sooo much to tell and not enough time or not enough pages to do so. However, Tolkien letting some characters tell of their experiences or their ancestors' experiences was a brilliant way of including the history of Middle-Earth that has passed into legends. And since every creature experiences history differently, we get a multi-faceted look through different eyes of different corners of the world.
Most interesting to me were the Ents. Not just Treebeard but the others, too, especially the mysterious loss of the Ent-Wives. There are one or two possibilities what Treebeard means when he says "we lost them" and it was fun for me as a reader to dwell on what the most likely story was. Not to mention that I love trees and everything green and the message of the Ents' struggle through time is clear enough (especially nowadays what with the even more apparent results of climate change). However, it was also extremely satisfying to see them fighting back and kicking ass.
Nevertheless, here, too, there was a scene I preferred in the movie as that one conveyed an additional message seen throughout Peter Jackson's trilogy: that nobody can just sit this one out, that all people/races must come together, work together, if they want evil to be defeated. We are seeing it with the elves and the tree shepherds aren't any different.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this mini-review, this second volume had a bit less of Tolkien's wordshmithery, his awesome poems and songs. Instead, we got more fast-paced action sequences that were also slightly better done than the ones in the first book. But never fear, the writing style is still gorgeous and the descriptions astonishingly vivid and colourful, opening up distant corners we hadn't been to yet and introducing even weirder creatures of Middle-Earth than we've seen so far.
The conclusion of the trilogy has us follow Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn as they lead the realms of men against the Army of Darkness while we also still follow Sam and Frodo (yes, surprise, he's not dead after all ;P) on their way to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.
As such, we see Saruman imprisoned by Treebeard and his Ents, we learn of and see in action the Army of the Dead, we still shudder because of a certain giant spider, fret over Boromir's little brother and we wait for Gollum to make a comeback to get is prrrrrreciouzzzzzz. Most of all, though, we see a massive clash of forces and have the privilege of seeing some truly delightful characters beat the living shit out of the bad guys (Eowyn, anyone?) before evil is conquered and the Hobbits get an adventure in the Shire that people who have only seen the movie will never know about (and which was pretty epic).
In the end, we get to say goodbye to all these lovely creatures we've journeyed together with, that we've laughed and cried with, whom we care about and kept our fingers crossed for. For, sadly, the age of magic is over and the age of man is upon us. And no, I don't like it one bit.
Tolkien ramped up the action for this one the most. The satisfying conclusion to all the build-up and while I still think that the movie managed to make me gasp more, he turned out to be wonderfully skilled in describing honourable sacrifices as much as impressive sword fights. My favourite is, of course, Eowyn taking out the Witch-King of Angmar. Granted, that, too, was done better in the movie (there, though she did take Merry into battle with her, she fought him alone and therefore also stood victorious alone), just like the succession of Rohan's rulers was better in the movie. While I always try to factor in the time any given book was written in and the environment in which the respective author grew up in, I know from other material, material written before LOTR, that Tolkien could do better female characters so Eowyn and Arwen felt like a waste (especially when compared with how wonderfully Peter Jackson had done them). Still, it's not exactly awful - you could say this is nitpicking on the highest level. *lol*
The writing style never wavered, never got any less impressive and awe-inspiring than in the previous chapters. One of the most amazing things is that I really got the impression of having been on a journey for a year or more with these people, so much has happened and so realistically did Tolkien portray the events as much as the sceneries.
Moreover, here, we had more songs and poems again and the magic they envoked was palpable for me as a reader once more. The heaviness of the Mordor chapters was immediately lifted when Sam would start up a tune or a rhyme so Tolkien was right about the magic.
We all know that this story isn't about Frodo. On the surface some might presume so, but they'd be utterly wrong. Anyone can see clear as day that it's Sam's story. But for those who needed a moment longer, I shall simply quote the author and indeed the character himself:
Makes me cry EVERY.DAMN.TIME.
So yes, this is as epic as it comes advertised and I don't think anyone could doubt why it had such an influence on the writers and readers and movie / TV show creators of this world.
I shall re-watch this last movie, too, of course and am already looking forward to discovering yet more details I couldn't know about the very first time I saw the movie. I already learned a bit of trivia that astonished me (like the fact that I discovered only now that Aunt Zelda of the new Sabrina series is Eowyn! or that that actress only got the role after Elsa from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade declined the role - I can so NOT picture that woman as Eowyn)! You see: lots to see, every time and I'm glad we, as readers (but in this case also as watchers) have such impressive realms to dwell in and so many lessons to learn there, too.
This concludes a re-read of epic proportions and I'm glad I let myself be persuaded to do it as I had indeed forgotten most of what made the books be different and I have to (still shamefacedly) admit that my much younger self absolutely did not appreciate the richness portrayed in the author's linguistic craftmanship as much as I should have back then.
Edit: I've re-watched the last movie today and have to point out once again how much I love that Peter Jackson makes Faramir give up whatever position he might have gotten in Gondor in favour of following his wife because SHE is a ruler. Just like I love that Theoden came up with the idea of making Eowyn his heir and no Eomer in between, simply because she was the right choice.
n So here is my review-within-a-review for
The Fellowship of the Ring:n
I read this the first time as a young teen but really didn't appreciate it much. I came to know about Hobbits through school mates who kept talking abpout the then upcoming first movie by Peter Jackson. I went to watch it but was unimpressed, almost bored even (until the last quarter at least). I loved the mythology but little else. Nevertheless, I got the book (and went to the trouble of finding and buying a special edition which was not easy back then). I read it but most went over my head.
Today I want to spank myself (and not in a good way) for ever thinking like that. Because if you know the book, and maybe The Hobbit as well, you can see just how much of a fan Peter Jackson is. Sooo many details only insiders will recognize. And the book is a thing to behold. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This first part introduces us to the world of Middle-Earth (Arda). There, elves, trolls, hobbits, goblins, orks, giant eagles and wolves, but also more sinister things dwell. And wizards, though I think that name is misleading here. Great evil has this world seen in the past and while it was defeated, it is on the rise again as these things are wont to do. Sauron is the name of the great evil here and a long time ago he forged a ring of power to bind all other rings as well as people of Middle-Earth. And just like a certain dark wizard of a more modern tale, he poured his soul into this master ring so it didn't matter when his body got destroyed thousands of years before the events of this first book. But this ring has been found now - by one of the most innocent creatures in this world, of all things.
The alliance that failed to vanquish evil from the world thousands of years ago is now represented in the titular fellowship comprising of a dwarf, an elf, two men, a wizard and four hobbits. And they march to destroy the ring - and thus evil - before Sauron can restore himself to his full power again.
Their quest leads them through forests, over mountains, on streams and through mines. But that is not the most important part, actually.
Most important is the fact that Tolkien was a wordsmith. He was not only a scholar at one of THE most famous universities in the world; he was not only fluent in several languages; he was not only keen on any mythology you can think of. He combined all of that in his writing. Apparently, he didn't write it to get published, thinking nobody would be interested, and thus wrote to his heart's content.
He included songs and poems, stating more than once that true magic lies in both (as is represented by the elves for example). His nature descriptions are not only sweeping and vivid, but also utterly beautiful. His dialogues, while being quite wordy, are fluent and artistic.
He INVENTED several languages for this book - complete with grammar and all. Linguists have marvelled over Tolkien's affinity and mastery for generations and I feel the same. Many authors use made-up languages but not a single one of them actually sat down and drew up one as whole as Tolkien did.
Thus, Tolkien has truly created an entire world, complete with art, history, mythology, geography (look at those gorgeous maps), politics, different peoples, languages ...
The only thing he didn't manage to convey as wonderfully as Peter Jackson with his films was the action. At least not here in the first book. It is suspenseful, but the impact of the encounter with the Balrog for example was much more touching and shocking in the movie (at least to me). The same goes for Arwen and Frodo being chased by the Black Riders until they cross the stream around Rivendell.
Maybe it's because he was fed up with war (he fought in WW1) or maybe he wanted to hold back and then hit the reader with full force in the end battle. Or he just didn't have the same concept of action as most of us do nowadays. I'm not quite sure. Nevertheless, one feels the pathos (look up the original word and its meaning), one believes the characters when they act out of integrity and honour and never once thinks it's pretentious of them (again, the Boromir-scene in the movie makes me cry, the one in the book didn't).
I've re-watched the (extended version of the) first movie and I've noticed sooo many details I had missed before, it was astonishing. The tale (in any medium) is packed with details enriching both the world and the reader's/viewer's experience on a level unmatched and I'm more than happy that Peter Jackson was able to translate that so wonderfully onto the screen (it doesn't happen often).
n Here is my review-within-a-review for
The Two Towers:n
This second book had fewer songs and poems and yes, I missed them. Oh, there are some, like the funny songs of Sméagol/Gollum or some of Sam's rhymes, but it's not the same as the elaborate songs of the elves.
In this second part of the trilogy, the fellowship has broken up. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are persuing the Uruk'hai and orks that have taken Merry and Pippin while Frodo and Sam are trying to find their way to Mordor. The former soon meet the horse lords of Rohan and find out that a lost friend has returned while the latter encounter Sméagol/Gollum and let themselves be guided by him. Whether or not that is a good idea remains to be seen.
Moreover, Saruman is showing his true (multi) colours and thus sends an army to destroy Rohan and its inhabitants. But he didn't count on Merry and Pippin making some new friends in Fangorn forest and then there are also the Rohirrim, the formidable cavalry of the horse lords.
This second volume certainly saw more action. However, much like in the first book, many of those scenes were handled slightly better in the movie (I shall re-watch the second one tomorrow or the day after).
What the book has that the movie simply couldn't have, is a certain depth.
All the history of the last big battle against Sauron and what happened to the alliance of elves and men back then, the people of the south and their tendency to immediately follow Sauron, the proud but hopeless people of Gondor that we glimpse through Boromir's brother Faramir, ... there is sooo much to tell and not enough time or not enough pages to do so. However, Tolkien letting some characters tell of their experiences or their ancestors' experiences was a brilliant way of including the history of Middle-Earth that has passed into legends. And since every creature experiences history differently, we get a multi-faceted look through different eyes of different corners of the world.
Most interesting to me were the Ents. Not just Treebeard but the others, too, especially the mysterious loss of the Ent-Wives. There are one or two possibilities what Treebeard means when he says "we lost them" and it was fun for me as a reader to dwell on what the most likely story was. Not to mention that I love trees and everything green and the message of the Ents' struggle through time is clear enough (especially nowadays what with the even more apparent results of climate change). However, it was also extremely satisfying to see them fighting back and kicking ass.
Nevertheless, here, too, there was a scene I preferred in the movie as that one conveyed an additional message seen throughout Peter Jackson's trilogy: that nobody can just sit this one out, that all people/races must come together, work together, if they want evil to be defeated. We are seeing it with the elves and the tree shepherds aren't any different.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this mini-review, this second volume had a bit less of Tolkien's wordshmithery, his awesome poems and songs. Instead, we got more fast-paced action sequences that were also slightly better done than the ones in the first book. But never fear, the writing style is still gorgeous and the descriptions astonishingly vivid and colourful, opening up distant corners we hadn't been to yet and introducing even weirder creatures of Middle-Earth than we've seen so far.
n So here is my review-within-a-review for
The Return of the King:n
The conclusion of the trilogy has us follow Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn as they lead the realms of men against the Army of Darkness while we also still follow Sam and Frodo (yes, surprise, he's not dead after all ;P) on their way to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.
As such, we see Saruman imprisoned by Treebeard and his Ents, we learn of and see in action the Army of the Dead, we still shudder because of a certain giant spider, fret over Boromir's little brother and we wait for Gollum to make a comeback to get is prrrrrreciouzzzzzz. Most of all, though, we see a massive clash of forces and have the privilege of seeing some truly delightful characters beat the living shit out of the bad guys (Eowyn, anyone?) before evil is conquered and the Hobbits get an adventure in the Shire that people who have only seen the movie will never know about (and which was pretty epic).
In the end, we get to say goodbye to all these lovely creatures we've journeyed together with, that we've laughed and cried with, whom we care about and kept our fingers crossed for. For, sadly, the age of magic is over and the age of man is upon us. And no, I don't like it one bit.
Tolkien ramped up the action for this one the most. The satisfying conclusion to all the build-up and while I still think that the movie managed to make me gasp more, he turned out to be wonderfully skilled in describing honourable sacrifices as much as impressive sword fights. My favourite is, of course, Eowyn taking out the Witch-King of Angmar. Granted, that, too, was done better in the movie (there, though she did take Merry into battle with her, she fought him alone and therefore also stood victorious alone), just like the succession of Rohan's rulers was better in the movie. While I always try to factor in the time any given book was written in and the environment in which the respective author grew up in, I know from other material, material written before LOTR, that Tolkien could do better female characters so Eowyn and Arwen felt like a waste (especially when compared with how wonderfully Peter Jackson had done them). Still, it's not exactly awful - you could say this is nitpicking on the highest level. *lol*
The writing style never wavered, never got any less impressive and awe-inspiring than in the previous chapters. One of the most amazing things is that I really got the impression of having been on a journey for a year or more with these people, so much has happened and so realistically did Tolkien portray the events as much as the sceneries.
Moreover, here, we had more songs and poems again and the magic they envoked was palpable for me as a reader once more. The heaviness of the Mordor chapters was immediately lifted when Sam would start up a tune or a rhyme so Tolkien was right about the magic.
We all know that this story isn't about Frodo. On the surface some might presume so, but they'd be utterly wrong. Anyone can see clear as day that it's Sam's story. But for those who needed a moment longer, I shall simply quote the author and indeed the character himself:
n “Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.”n
Makes me cry EVERY.DAMN.TIME.
So yes, this is as epic as it comes advertised and I don't think anyone could doubt why it had such an influence on the writers and readers and movie / TV show creators of this world.
I shall re-watch this last movie, too, of course and am already looking forward to discovering yet more details I couldn't know about the very first time I saw the movie. I already learned a bit of trivia that astonished me (like the fact that I discovered only now that Aunt Zelda of the new Sabrina series is Eowyn! or that that actress only got the role after Elsa from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade declined the role - I can so NOT picture that woman as Eowyn)! You see: lots to see, every time and I'm glad we, as readers (but in this case also as watchers) have such impressive realms to dwell in and so many lessons to learn there, too.
This concludes a re-read of epic proportions and I'm glad I let myself be persuaded to do it as I had indeed forgotten most of what made the books be different and I have to (still shamefacedly) admit that my much younger self absolutely did not appreciate the richness portrayed in the author's linguistic craftmanship as much as I should have back then.
Edit: I've re-watched the last movie today and have to point out once again how much I love that Peter Jackson makes Faramir give up whatever position he might have gotten in Gondor in favour of following his wife because SHE is a ruler. Just like I love that Theoden came up with the idea of making Eowyn his heir and no Eomer in between, simply because she was the right choice.
