The Return of The King (1955)

This is an excellent ending to a great adventure, and well written by the author. I loved all the familiar characters lovingly depicted in the movie of the same name. ( )

It was good. The ending is weird. I might need to read it again. ( )

The Return of the King - Tolkien
Audio performance by Andy Serkis
5 stars

I’ll say it again. Andy Serkis nailed the Gollum voice. I can still hear that last scream…Precious! It’s well worth having this audio version for that alone. But, I still did not listen to the whole book. I’d rather read the many songs than listen to Serkis or Rob Inglis ( the other audiobook edition) try to sing them. I understand why Serkis would give Treebeard a deep, very slow voice, but I didn’t think slowing Aragorn and Legolas added anything to the text.

I’m being unreasonably picky. I’m grateful that these new recordings brought me back to these books for yet another reread.

I want to be a hobbit in my next life. ( )

The little hobbit and his trusty companion make a terrible journey to the heart of the land of the Shadow in a final reckoning with the power of Sauron. Tells of the opposing strategies of the wizard Gandalf and the evil Sauron as Frodo amd Sam struggle to end the great darkness with the Ring of Power.

The Lord of the Rings is undoubtedly one of the greatest fantasy epics of all time, but damn, does the last book in the trilogy always throw me… Obviously it is a necessary conclusion to the saga of the One Ring journeying back to Mordor and being destroyed, but I always find it a bit of a slog to get through. It’s far too much boys and battles, swords and suffering, before we actually get to the conclusion, which winds up feeling rather anticlimactic as Gollum/Smeagol wrestles with Frodo and falls into the fires of Mount Doom with the Ring clasped in his fist. There are a few bright moments of wonderful storytelling (Eowyn’s disguise, Merry and Pippin’s unexpected adventures, and the return to the Shire are some of my favourites), but the worldbuilding here felt a lot less exciting than in the previous two volumes and Tolkien’s language becomes so “inspired” by the sagas of old that it becomes archaic and loses some of its original flair. Even paired with Alan Lee’s paintings in this specific volume (which are lovely, if not as animated as others he’s done due to the setting of this storyarc), my opinion that this is my least favourite of the trilogy still stands. ( )