What can be said about Tolkien's works by me that hasn't already been echoed by everyone else? They're groundbreaking. Modern fantasy wouldn't exist in the way it does today without it.
I have actually reviewed The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy before, however I am no longer fond of said review and therefore will be re-reviewing each book separately. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
A hobbit named Frodo finds himself quickly ensnared into a huge quest to save the world: he must bring the magical ring he inherited to Mount Doom in order to be destroyed before the enemy can get his hands on it and use it to become all-powerful. Frodo is joined by a group of either, consistent of a wizard, two men, a dwarf, and elf and three of his hobbit friends. Together, this Fellowship of the Ring embarks on their journey, and face all sorts of perils in the process.
Like mentioned in the fist paragraph: I really have nothing new to bring to the table when it comes to reviewing Tolkien's works. They're phenomenal and literally influenced how we see the fantasy genre today more so than possibly any other fantasy media.
The story is grand and epic. It starts out perfectly comfortable and small in the Shire. Hobbits are a simple folk that take joy in simple things: smoking pipe-weed, tending to their crops and just overall living a calm life. Frodo has always seemed to be a bit adventurous for a hobbit, but he soon realizes that the adventure he ends up is is nothing fun, it's life-threatening.
The characters are fantastic, I really do just love our Fellowship so much. From loyal Sam to the other Hobbits, to Aragorn who is ready to take his rightful place at the throne, to flawed yet lovable Boromir who just wants to protect his people. Gimli and Legolas share a possibly budding friendship, and of course Gandalf is a very iconic character in fantasy in general. I just felt so hurt when he died even though I obviously knew it was coming (and how he comes back in future books).
The biggest sell for this book for me, however, simply is the world. Tolkien has so far to this day still crafted my favorite fantasy world, and he was one of the first to do so in the modern-fantasy sense. Middle Earth is great, well thought out and has so much lore around every corner. Each race has their own distinctive qualities, Tolkien constructed just so many languages for all of them and it is just one of the most well-established worlds I've ever read.
The only possible flaw I could really find in this book is what people have also been bringing up en-masse: Tom Bombadil. He's just kinda there and brings the book to a halt for a couple dozen pages. It's not like he has a huge influence on the story, anyways. It's brought up that he can carry the Ring and isn't affected by it, but this literally goes nowhere. His chapters don't drag the book down for me or anything, they just feel a bit pointless. He shows up out of nowhere to save the Hobbits a couple of times, reveals that he isn't affected by the Ring and after that just kind of vanishes into the ether not to be really brought up or have any impact on the story again.
But this is still a legendary installment I enjoyed every page of. It deserves its status as what kick-started the modern fantasy trend.
No comments:
Post a Comment