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Loading... The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings (original 1955; edition 2005)by J.R.R. Tolkien
Work InformationThe Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (1955)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. It took me until my mid-60s to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. While I certainly enjoyed the imaginative world Tolkien created and the hero's quest, I was distracted throughout by the scarcity of female characters. I realize the series was penned in the 1950s, when women's place was "supposed to be" in the home and men got to have all of the adventures, that alone was off-putting to me. Still a wonderful series and I can understand why it is so beloved. Now I will have to watch the movie, which I also somehow managed to avoid until now. Reread in 2023 after having seen the movies in 2021. Such interesting characters. Book V was a slog at times because there were so many parts to the war, but Book VI made me very happy. Getting back to Frodo and Sam and the reason for the journey. I just have one thing to say. Sam is the true hero of the whole damn thing! He was the glue that held things together and, even though he's a fictional character, I love him very much. On the whole, I love this series by Tolkien. Considered individually, this is my least favorite out of the three books (or four, if one includes The Hobbit). There are nearly 800,000 ratings for The Return of the King, so I highly doubt I have anything original to add into the mix. I did give this story a lower rating because it seems unbalanced. The battle scenes dominate this book. Oddly, there seems to be plenty of time for the characters to chat among all this chaos and destruction. On the upside, many of the conversations are quite touching and even though I know what happens in the end, it still makes me tear up. Although Frodo is a favorite character, I think the real hero of this story is Sam, who never falters and somehow remains untarnished by 'the ring.' Overall Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 Audiobook Rating: 5 stars for outstanding narration by Andy Serkis! Original Publication Date: 1955
Nobody seems to have a moderate opinion: either, like myself, people find it a masterpiece of its genre or they cannot abide it . . . The demands made on the writer's powers in an epic as long as 'The Lord of the Rings' are enormous . . . but I can only say that Mr. Tolkien has proved equal to them. Belongs to SeriesIs contained inThe Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (indirect) The J. R. R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection: " The Children of Hurin " , " The Silmarillion " , " The Hobbit " and " The Lord of the Rings " by J. R. R. Tolkien (indirect) LORD OF THE RINGS, SILMARILLION, HOBBIT, BOOK OF LOST TALES, UNFINISHED TALES IN 8 VOLS Easton Press by J. R. R. Tolkien (indirect) ContainsIs retold inHas the adaptationInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a commentary on the text
Fantasy.
Fiction.
The evil Saruman has been defeated by Gandalf, but in Mordor the battle for the Ruling Ring continues. Wounded by the giant spider, Shelob, Frodo has been captured by the dreaded orcs. Sam, alone and in possession of the Ring, must rescue his master if their mission - to find the Cracks of Doom, and there destroy the Ring - is to continue. Meanwhile, the other Fellowship members are preparing for war against the armies of the Dark Lord, Sauron... Widely regarded as a broadcasting classic, the BBC Radio dramatisation of 'The Lord of the Rings' stars Ian Holm, Michael Hordern, Robert Stephens, John Le Mesurier and Peter Woodthorpe. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Despite all my complaining, this book still has some great qualities to it that I cannot overlook. For one, "Return of the King" definitely has an epic, grand, and climactic feel to it. There are tons of massive battles between Good and Evil in this one. Everything comes to a head, and Frodo finally arrives at Mordor. It's hard not to get excited at all this craziness. However, as I mentioned in my previous review, I don't like how Tolkien constantly tells us how epic and grand everything is. The amount of times the dude used the words "Lo!" and "Behold!" drives me off the wall. Tolkien, let me decide how I feel about this story and its scale, alright?
Though I've stated in my previous reviews that I dislike how Aragorn is "too perfect" in these books, I will say that I did finally somewhat enjoy reading about him in this book. He's not made any less perfect (if anything, just more perfect, majestic, and kingly), but it is nice reading about certain aspects of his character, like his mercy, his generosity, his ability to set pretty much the entire realm of Middle-Earth right, etc. I do get feel-good emotions reading about it at times.
Just like in the previous entry of this trilogy, the pacing isn't that great here. I've already mentioned the 110-page conclusion of this book, but there's also many other parts that drag on. A good example is the beginning. Every time I re-read "Lord of the Rings", I always get the urge to put off reading "Return of the King" for a little while after ending "The Two Towers". Almost nothing interesting happens for many, MANY pages, and it just drains me, man.
Anyway, that is how I feel about this book, and, with that, we're done with this franchise. There are obviously some other books that delve into the extremely intricate and rich lore of this world, but I'll probably re-read and review "A Song of Ice and Fire" next before going through "The Silmarillion", which will actually be a new read for me, though I now a little bit about it from watching tons of CivilizationEx videos. ( )