By J.R.R. Tolkien
This review critiques BOOK TWO of The Fellowship of the Ring, starting from the chapter "Many Meetings" all the way until "The Breaking of the Fellowship". Hope you enjoy this literary review of The Lord of the Rings! (All letters with umlauts, acutes, etc have been cut out and replaced without the special marks. This is due to problems encountered with Blogger that would severely disenchant your reading experience. I seek your sincere forgiveness.)THE SHORT
BOOK TWO is probably superior to BOOK ONE in every way imaginable, from the adventures undertaken by the Fellowship, to the diverse canvas of characters, ranging from the likes of Legolas to Gimli. This breathes new life into the book, as well as the introduction of places not seen in The Hobbit, the Mines of Moria, Lorien. As such, this makes this Book simply all the more interesting, and really, really ripping good fun. The unexpected twist involving Gandalf, however, seems to be the climax of this book, as from thence on, nothing exciting really happens, excepting Boromir's attempt on the Ring. Nevertheless, BOOK TWO is still an enjoyable read, perfect for fantasy fans and non-fans alike. The plot moves steadily on, tying in brilliantly with Tolkien's other works, and a glimpse and a taste of Tolkien's fantastic storytelling. Simply amazing.
THE REVIEW
This time around, the foursome of Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry are joined by a gaggle of new characters, but first let's revisit them. From BOOK ONE, they haven't shown any real development in character, making it seem a little boring to read about them after a while. Also, Pippin and Merry seem obsolete and unwelcome in Tolkien's attempts to welcome them into the fold of the Fellowship. It is a bit jarring, actually, to read them. Frodo, however, grows in importance, stabbing an Orc with Sting, and resisting Sauron's attempts to win back the Ring from him. Sam, too, grows and develops a little bit, but other than helping Frodo along, he never shows any true devotion to Frodo, except at the last part, where he and Frodo set out for Mordor alone. As such, the hobbits may be the main characters of this trilogy, but they still remain unexplored, their full potential unrevealed.
Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, and Legolas complete the Fellowship, and a rotating cast of characters ensures that the latter three are never fully discovered. Just a physical description is given of the three, and that is all that we get of them. No motivations, just scraping the emotional surface of the characters. Gandalf and Aragorn are the only ones expanded. Gandalf shows his true love for the Fellowship by sacrificing himself, and his comic sense of humour alternates with his periods of broody darkness. The first instance of his magic we see is Gandalf's blazing fire, and his braveness against the Balrog is epic. Aragorn is never truly explained, although we do sometimes get a glimpse of his love for Frodo. Perhaps Tolkien couldn't decide on Aragorn's true identity for a long time.
Sauron, is, again, vaguely hinted at, and never makes an appearance. Then the true adversaries must be the...Orcs in Moria? Otherwise, a shift of evil keeps watch on the Fellowship, while Gollum is seen lurking behind and finally revealed when the Fellowship travels down the Great River. So this is one area that BOOK THREE will need to work on.
One of themes explored in this book is mainly the concept of sacrifice, just as Gandalf sacrifices himself to save the Fellowship, just so Frodo could bring the Ring back to Mordor to destroy it in the Cracks of Doom. Frodo also "sacrifices" himself, leaving the Fellowship so he would not endanger himself any longer. Perhaps this illustrates Tolkien's love for the sacrificial hero, one who gives up everything to save the ones he loves. A fitting theme for this fantasy novel, one that reverberates through you. Temptation, too, is present here in this book, although much less obvious at the start. At the end, it rings loud and clear in Boromir, who tries to seize the Ring by force.
Now let's discuss the plot. It flows steadily from one area to another, although it does take Tolkien quite a bit to regain the fast momentum that he had built up at the end of BOOK ONE. The first part of the book at Rivendell isn't as exciting or as ground-breaking as previous instances in The Lord of the Rings, and all they really do in the Last Homely House is talk about the growing threat of Sauron, and discuss about where the Ring should go, and all that boring talk talk talk that nerds love. While it may provide much-needed exposition, it feels a bit dry to eyes and some point, and for those who have ventured into this book having read only The Hobbit, or those who haven't read any LOTR books at all, prepare to be severely confused as Elrond discusses Middle-earth lore.
From then on, however, things start to pick up, and Tolkien eases up on the history of Middle-earth to give us that glimpse of what we all really want to see, small people facing up to the darkness several times larger than them, and living to defeat them. Action-packed scenes ensue, and this improves the plot, as it chugs smoothly along without anything blocking its way. The plot then slows down for the three chapters spent in Lorien, and this causes a bore to be felt in readers, although it starts to slowly speed up down the trip of the Great River, never again to regain the epicness felt during the climax of Khazad-Dum.
All in all, the plot is nearly perfect, as nothing illogical happens, and it is smooth without pacing problems, not like BOOK ONE, where pacing was an incredibly large issue. However, one problem felt within the plot is the fact that Tolkien chooses to show us less of Middle-earth than he had done in BOOK ONE. Really, BOOK TWO forgoes the mythical tales than had been recounted in BOOK ONE, and this leaves us sore for the world that Tolkien had created. Perhaps he has not truly perfected that balance between the actual story and the myths in his novels. However this is only a minor problem; the plot everywhere else is as perfect as it can be.
All in all, The Fellowship of the Ring: The Lord of the Rings Part One (BOOK TWO) is extraordinarily perfect for its time, even fitting for the modern readers of today, who want a world to disappear into for a short while. Tolkien serves this up for us, and this is exactly what we want. Amazing and wonderful, this book is exciting and simply a masterpiece.
Rating: 9.4/10
Advice: TO BE READ!!! A must-read for EVERYONE! Highly recommended, this book is exactly what everyone needs to read.
And so we come to the conclusion of my review of the Fellowship of the Ring. Be sure to check out my review of BOOK ONE, just a few scrolls below this post! I hope you all have enjoyed this novel as much as I did!
Next week: Poirot returns as the Belgian detective with a mouth in my review of Poirot Investigates! In this short story collection, Poirot solves several cases, but there seems to be a link between them. Only Poirot can figure out what it is, in Poirot Investigates. Find out in my review next week if it was an excellent mystery novel, or if it fell flat on its own face!
Sauron, is, again, vaguely hinted at, and never makes an appearance. Then the true adversaries must be the...Orcs in Moria? Otherwise, a shift of evil keeps watch on the Fellowship, while Gollum is seen lurking behind and finally revealed when the Fellowship travels down the Great River. So this is one area that BOOK THREE will need to work on.
One of themes explored in this book is mainly the concept of sacrifice, just as Gandalf sacrifices himself to save the Fellowship, just so Frodo could bring the Ring back to Mordor to destroy it in the Cracks of Doom. Frodo also "sacrifices" himself, leaving the Fellowship so he would not endanger himself any longer. Perhaps this illustrates Tolkien's love for the sacrificial hero, one who gives up everything to save the ones he loves. A fitting theme for this fantasy novel, one that reverberates through you. Temptation, too, is present here in this book, although much less obvious at the start. At the end, it rings loud and clear in Boromir, who tries to seize the Ring by force.
Now let's discuss the plot. It flows steadily from one area to another, although it does take Tolkien quite a bit to regain the fast momentum that he had built up at the end of BOOK ONE. The first part of the book at Rivendell isn't as exciting or as ground-breaking as previous instances in The Lord of the Rings, and all they really do in the Last Homely House is talk about the growing threat of Sauron, and discuss about where the Ring should go, and all that boring talk talk talk that nerds love. While it may provide much-needed exposition, it feels a bit dry to eyes and some point, and for those who have ventured into this book having read only The Hobbit, or those who haven't read any LOTR books at all, prepare to be severely confused as Elrond discusses Middle-earth lore.
From then on, however, things start to pick up, and Tolkien eases up on the history of Middle-earth to give us that glimpse of what we all really want to see, small people facing up to the darkness several times larger than them, and living to defeat them. Action-packed scenes ensue, and this improves the plot, as it chugs smoothly along without anything blocking its way. The plot then slows down for the three chapters spent in Lorien, and this causes a bore to be felt in readers, although it starts to slowly speed up down the trip of the Great River, never again to regain the epicness felt during the climax of Khazad-Dum.
All in all, the plot is nearly perfect, as nothing illogical happens, and it is smooth without pacing problems, not like BOOK ONE, where pacing was an incredibly large issue. However, one problem felt within the plot is the fact that Tolkien chooses to show us less of Middle-earth than he had done in BOOK ONE. Really, BOOK TWO forgoes the mythical tales than had been recounted in BOOK ONE, and this leaves us sore for the world that Tolkien had created. Perhaps he has not truly perfected that balance between the actual story and the myths in his novels. However this is only a minor problem; the plot everywhere else is as perfect as it can be.
All in all, The Fellowship of the Ring: The Lord of the Rings Part One (BOOK TWO) is extraordinarily perfect for its time, even fitting for the modern readers of today, who want a world to disappear into for a short while. Tolkien serves this up for us, and this is exactly what we want. Amazing and wonderful, this book is exciting and simply a masterpiece.
Rating: 9.4/10
Advice: TO BE READ!!! A must-read for EVERYONE! Highly recommended, this book is exactly what everyone needs to read.
And so we come to the conclusion of my review of the Fellowship of the Ring. Be sure to check out my review of BOOK ONE, just a few scrolls below this post! I hope you all have enjoyed this novel as much as I did!
Next week: Poirot returns as the Belgian detective with a mouth in my review of Poirot Investigates! In this short story collection, Poirot solves several cases, but there seems to be a link between them. Only Poirot can figure out what it is, in Poirot Investigates. Find out in my review next week if it was an excellent mystery novel, or if it fell flat on its own face!
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