The Lord of the Rings (trilogy)

by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings (trilogy)
book data
27,016 ratings, 4.45 average rating, 1,979 reviews (more data...)
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published
October 12th 2005 (first published 1954) by Houghton Mifflin

binding
Paperback, 1216 pages

isbn
0618640150    (isbn13: 9780618640157)

description
One Ring to rule them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all

and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times ...more




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Manny
11/29/08
Manny rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0048230871)

Read in January, 1969
Considering that The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular books of the last century, it's surprising to see how few reviews there are here. I get the impression that many people feel guilty about liking it. It's a phase you go through, and the less said about it, the better. I think this is unfair to the book, which, I am prepared to argue, is a whole lot better than it's generally made out to be; I don't think its huge success is just evidence that people have no taste. It's something t...more
Like this review?   yes   (12 people liked it)
  24 comments

Dolly
07/09/07
Dolly rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0618346244)

bookshelves: fantasy, thought-provoking
Read in October, 1986
recommends it for: people who read fantasy and/or philosophy
I read Lord of the Rings first when I was about eleven or so, and then stayed up all night at a hip boy/girl party in the bathroom with Nathan O. ... talking about ents and elves and whether Tom Bombadil was God. Yes, I was a geeky child. However, all these years later, the story has stuck with me.

First a warning: Don't read Tolkien if you don't appreciate true-omnicient-narrator-style epics. Tolkien isn't a master character builder: he leaves all that to the reader's imagination. ...more
Like this review?   yes   (10 people liked it)
  1 comment

William
03/17/08
William rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: fantasy
Read in June, 1972
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Natalie
12/01/07
Natalie rated it: 2 of 5 stars

Everything that people like about these books is pretty much what I dislike.

There's a cool story here, it's just a chore to actually get to it. I personally find Tolkien's writing to be agonizingly bland, and he is terrible at exposition -- he's always just dumping history lessons in the middle of things where they serve little purpose. Good fantasy writers drop these in unobtrusively. I don't mean to discount Tolkien's contribution to the fantasy genre -- although to be honest, ...more
Like this review?   yes   (8 people liked it)
  11 comments

Werner
03/22/08
Werner rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0618517650)

bookshelves: classics, fantasy
Read in January, 1980
recommends it for: Anyone who appreciates fantasy
Actually, I read Tolkien's masterful Middle Earth fantasy corpus, beginning with The Hobbit in the early 70's and finishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy almost a decade later, before this anniversary edition came out. (I also read all four books to my wife in the early 80's; she loved them too!)

This body of work is, of course, the genre-defining classic of modern fantasy --especially epic, or "high" fantasy -- which popularized the genre as the publishing market force it ...more
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Wes
01/19/08
Wes rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in September, 1989
recommended to Wes by: my Dad
recommends it for: anybody
It's nice to have favorites. When you have a favorite -- a favorite menu item, a favorite car, a favorite shirt -- you can enter at least one corner of the maelstrom of subjective choices that life presents to you and evaluate the choices in that corner not with respect to some external criteria, but rather with respect to one specific thing.

For example, when asking oneself what the greatest book of all time is, one might first have to ask, "what makes a book great?" -- ...more
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Dick
02/15/08
Dick rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0007203632)

True story (sad when you have lived your life such that you have to add that):

When I was a child we did our yearly camping trip to the West Coast and Mootie always gave us an allowance for books/comics to read on the trip. It made traveling in the camper a little more bearable (barely). Roger and I had read in Parade magazine (Roger can correct me if I am wrong because it was a long time ago...the summer after fourth grade for me) that the hippie community was madly in love with Lo...more
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Kristin Little
Read in January, 2006
recommends it for: People who like walking and indecipherable poetry.
Save time... watch the movies. This book can appeal only to a linguist. The underlying story is great, but it is buried under an avalance of horribly annoying songs and poems that do nothing to advance the story. They just take up space. I diligently read every last one, hoping that they held some deep meaning in relation to the story, but if there is one, it is so obscure that it serves no purpose. Also, the book is all about walking. Yes, I know they are on an epic quest, and there has to be s...more
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  5 comments

Scurra
07/22/08
Scurra rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in May, 1980
To even attempt to review Tolkien's epic is like measuring the coastline - the deeper you go, the more there is to find (or, as the more cynical might put it, the longer it gets.)

And it's because it is so many different stories and, indeed, types of story, all melded together into one (at times unwieldy) whole. So, for example, you can read it as a poetry book. Skip all the narrative sections and just read the verse. You'll be surprised at how much of the narrative structure remai...more
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Phil Smith
recommends it for: Fantasy fans, people with a fondness for language.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Darin
12/11/07
Darin rated it: 5 of 5 stars

The Lord of the Rings dominant theme (for me) is attempting the impossible, feeling the anguish of defeat, but continuing to try anyway. And in the end, when all is dark and gloomy, finally the happy moment arrives when you finish the task, overcome the trial, arrive at the destination. But there are many other inspiring messages and themes in this great book. Each reader will find their own.

Aside from the Mormon cannon of scripture, I have found this trilogy to be the most enligh...more
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Joe
11/03/07
Joe rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 1985
1985-First read when I was about 12. Thoroughly enjoyed it then.

7/97-Although the battle scenes were difficult to follow, the Elven stuff sentimental and dialog of less developed characters (Legolas, Gimli) sometimes melodramatic, there were plenty of tense moments that made up for at all. The black riders in the 1st book, the tenuous alliance with Gollum and the horrifying scene with Shelob were the most exciting parts of the trilogy. The cleansing of the shire was triumphant.
...more
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Jon
06/29/07
Jon rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0618346244)

Read in January, 1985
recommends it for: Everyone
LOTR has its faults, yes: it can be excessively descriptive; female characters (even the important ones) aren't as fully fleshed-out and realized as male characters (Arwen spends most of the books making a flag); Gandalf annoyingly and constantly points out how everyone else's decisions are wrong; the refusal to interweave chapter-by-chapter the stories of Frodo & Sam with the stories of everyone else results in literally hundreds of pages going by without mention of the majority of the main pla...more
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  1 comment

Bonnie
06/19/09
Bonnie rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0261103253)

[Update, to correct review links.:] This is my all-time favourite classic fantasy and I have read it at least four times over the years. I believe it has stood the test of time, hence - it is truly a classic.

But to read an excellent pair of reviews, I recommend that you go to Brad's, recently posted: >> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/603... <<

And for a different, but equally excellent take, see Manny's review:
>> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/389......more
Like this review?   yes   (6 people liked it)
  2 comments

Brian Steed
12/20/08
Brian Steed added it

I read a lot of this while I was down with mono. And it was the omnibus illustrated hardback edition of LOTR, which in my weakened state I had to heft to an upright position in order to read its pages. Tolkien deserves the acclaim he gets for creating a world, complete with a rich history and its own languages, down to such a level of detail. Enjoyable in an operatic sense, and Tolkien does a good job balancing the need to keep the narrative moving with his desire to frequently stop and paint...more
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Barbarossa
10/27/08
Barbarossa rated it: 1 of 5 stars

OK, first of all I know some folk love this and I'm not saying they shouldn't. Everyone has different tastes.
I read this on my second attempt. I tried first when I was in my teens and found it dull, I gave up around page 100 or so. I finally read it years back in my early 30s, but although it was still dull I gave it the benefit of the doubt and finished it. My opinion changed from dull to dull and not that big a deal.
It seems to be full of: long descriptions of folk walking about (d...more
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Daniel Stafford
Read in October, 2008
I was finally able to read all of The Lord of the Rings. Once, when the movies were first released, I had started the so-called trilogy (Tolkien thought of it as one novel in three parts, six books) and only got as far as the beginning of The Return of the King before I went on to other things…as I often did back in the days of when I was too tired. This time I decided to read the whole thing through, and it was lovely. It really is a beautiful story full of history, sadness, hardship, friends...more
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Tyler
04/22/08
Tyler rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2003
recommends it for: everyone,
This trilogy, which really is just one book divided into 6 parts (like acts), is one of the most amazing written works ever produced. Tolkien is a genuine genius is brining about a story that touches every genre: humor, mystery, action, fantasy, war, sci-fi, romance...it's all in there.
It's beautifully crafted, very consistent, and even has multiple languages, one of which is a complete language created by Tolkien for this story.
Many might think that the beginning of the story is s...more
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Dani Butler
bookshelves: classic, sci-fi-and-fantasy
Read in January, 2001
recommended to Dani by: High School Group
recommends it for: Fantasy lovers, JK Rowling fans, Anyone with a good imagination
I tried reading The Hobbit many times through out high school but could never really get into it (because of the cutness of the book/lack of a moving plot). Anycase, when the movie came out I wasn't to excited for it because I figured the whole series would be like the Hobbit. But I finally got down with the Hobbit literally a couple of days before I went to the movie with some friends. And by the end of the movie I was on the edge of my seat saying "Oh my god! what happens next?" So ...more
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Annika
02/17/08
Annika rated it: 4 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0618346244)

bookshelves: classics, fantasy, stunners
Read in January, 2004
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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The Lord of the Rings (Paperback)
The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)
The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)
The Lord of the Rings (Collector's Edition)
The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)







quotes from this book

""So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." - Gandalf " More quotes...


groups with this book

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True North
Fantasy Life
Lord of The Rings
The Inklings






The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again (Paperback) by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, Part 3) by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion (Hardcover) by J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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