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.
LotR is one of my favourite books in the whole wide world — I think I’ve read it about six or seven times now. But that being said, I now always skip the half of TTT that’s just Frodo and Sam!
PS — How did your move & everything go?
I have Lord of the Rings (2nd book I think) on my TBR list. These books seem daunting to me because the sheer size..thickness of the book.
My now 18yos read these books several years back. He really enjoyed them.
This is also one of my all time favorite book(s). I’ve read them at least twice, and I very seldom reread books. I know some people find parts offensive but I just think it’s a terrific story with great characters and I can hardly put it down once I start reading. For people that like this I recommend the Simarillion (not sure that’s spelled right). It primarily deals with the elves and stories which are just touched upon in the Ring. I thought the movies were terrific and I’m glad I had my own images of characters already.