J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings [7 Book Box set] Review

Overall Rating

Having recently taken an extended holiday, I decided to take a big book with me - the Lord of the Rings trilogy, comprising of the Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and the Return of the King.

It's a classic tale of good versus evil, told with magnificent narrative. Every element of the journey is explained in great detail - from what the countryside looks like, to encounters with people they meet along the way.

When you can get into the flow of it, this style of over-narration makes for a really good read. However, I also found myself struggling through entire chapters at times (the Two Towers especially) when it felt like there wasn't really much going on, and yet Tolkien still goes to great depths to try and describe everything. I also found it quite difficult to keep up with the array of characters and their relation to each other, and who was heir to what, although the appendix goes to great depths with lots of family trees etc...

It's a great collection of books, and one that everyone should read, but you should definitely reward yourself with some easy-reading for getting through it.