Lord of the Rings

This is actually a review of 2/3 of The Two Towers and all of The Return of the King. I read Fellowship of the Ring seven or eight years ago; I remember liking it overall, and I probably did like it more than the second part. I started The Two Towers after FOTR, but I never finished it managing only one third of it six years ago. I liked The Hobbit when I read it a decade ago. There is a notable difference in how Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and LOTR though. Having seen the movies since I read the first part of the trilogy, I imagined the characters and visuals in my mind were that of the movie including all the actors. This does not happen often but since I saw all three of the movies; they can leave an impression and I think the movies were well adapted. Actually, the books made me want to watch the movies again.

In TTT and ROTK, I found the Gandalf, Aragorn and Co. sections moving more quickly than the Frodo and Sam one. I like Sam, but there seemed to be less stuff happening when it was that particular quest. I found myself more engaged in the plot of those characters. I once read that Tolkien was quite religious and the trilogy has much Christian imagery specifically, Catholic bend to it. I saw this in the reverence the characters have for Galadriel, often referred to as the Lady, striking a resemblance to Mary, mother of God. This adds another interesting layer to the books  as I am someone who does not mind religious imagery if the book is meritiorous.

Overall, I am rather indifferent to this trilogy; I do not dislike it, but I do not love it. I think it definitely has its merits from the sheer fantasty epicness and commitment to adventure and ground breaking world creation. I am just not in love with this series as others are and it was slow reading for some parts of the trilogy. After all, I did put it on hold for six years at one point. Having said that, I can understand why it is so well loved.