The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Aug 06, 2018 Chandler rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-for-boys, books-i-own, classics, banned-books, adult-fiction, epic-fantasy, 301-499pgs, 3-star

This is one of the books that I think can be filled under the heading of ‘Books I respect more than I like’. This, like 1984, another book that can fell into that category, is one that is a staple of its respective genre. This book is one that has helped to advance the fantasy genre and can be seen on the direct and indirect influence on it for over the next 50 years! Yet, despite this, I found it very dry and dull most of the time, no matter how much I wanted to get into it.

I think this is bec This is one of the books that I think can be filled under the heading of ‘Books I respect more than I like’. This, like 1984, another book that can fell into that category, is one that is a staple of its respective genre. This book is one that has helped to advance the fantasy genre and can be seen on the direct and indirect influence on it for over the next 50 years! Yet, despite this, I found it very dry and dull most of the time, no matter how much I wanted to get into it.

I think this is because of the fantasy world of Middle Earth that Tolkien has created. This is one of major selling points of the book, and something to be proud of. The expansive world is something that he worked on for years and it shows. For example on the detail, I would give J.K. Rowling 5 stars for her world Building in Harry Potter. It is one that you can tell is here, and is really expensive, but it doesn’t come into the plot more than necessary. Tolkien, on the other hand, I would give 15 stars. There are a number of elements that are mentioned here in terms of places, dates, and names that all have a history behind them and all are mentioned with a gravity that informs the reader of their importance to the characters. It really feels like the author found a series of lost history books and made story out of them to give to us normal humans.

Yet, this is perhaps the worst part of the book series for me. Tolkien writes as though this is actual history that we should know, but it is often told in the dryest way possible. When we do have some context, many times the things that are mentioned are not given enough weight or context. For example, Gandalf tells us of a time when he went into the Misty Mountains, and the reader can tell that this was a significant event for him, but because it is contained in another book, it is most likely going to fly over the reader’s head. I guess that Means I’ll have to read the Silmarillion at some point, but it will be a while before I do, if it is anything like Lord of the Rings. This also makes it difficult for me to like the characters, because many times they are just used for exposition about the world and how it works. While I don’t mind details about a world, and in some cases even prefer it, this still seems to be a bit too much for my taste.

While this book is excellent in terms of its world building, it is too much in terms of the delivery. This still means that it is good. I liked the sense of sprawling adventure, and the work that Tolkein put into it. Yet, this means that it is dry in delivery and lacking character development. Therefore, I give it a three out of five. ...more

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