The One Ring
A review of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
By Julia A. Keirns
Taking on the task of reading the entire Lord of the Rings saga was not an easy one for me. The volume I purchased is divided into six actual books, but most of us refer to it as a Trilogy – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. It did take me a while to complete the entire thing. I have to admit I love the movies, but reading the books was time consuming and difficult for me. An awful lot of detail bogged me down quite often and I would have to take a break and read a much smaller entire book just to feel like I was accomplishing something. I like to read books that move along a little quicker. I felt like I completed quite the feat once I was done with it, but I don’t plan to count this as any more than just one book in my list of classics to read.
Frodo Baggins takes on the quest of destroying the one ring that will rule all of the magical elven rings forged so many years ago. This is the ring that Bilbo Baggins found in the caves when he met the creature Gollum and has hidden for many years. He now gives it to Frodo to take on the task of traveling across Middle Earth into the dark world of doom and cast it into the fire that will destroy it.
It is a wonderful journey with a huge cast of characters, including Gandolf the wizard, the hobbits Merry, Pippin and Sam, Gimli the dwarf, Boromir of Gondor, and Legolas the Elf. The journey is filled with adventure, magic and death. I read somewhere that once Frodo discovers that the entire Middle Earth is dying and is depending on him destroying the ring in order to survive, it makes his quest take on a whole new meaning. It is not about him, or even simply destroying the ring. It is about saving the world.
Readers may get bogged down in the beginning with lots of detail until most of the action starts, but once you get into this book it is exciting and fulfilling. Tolkien was a great writer with a wonderful imagination. He created his own entire world with its own languages. He delved deep into detail to make it believable. He even created a past, a present and a future.
Lord of the Rings was published in 1948 as a sequel to The Hobbit. It took Tolkien several years to complete and is one of the best-selling novels ever written. His attention to detail makes it so worthwhile. Reading this book brings out nearly every emotion a reader can possibly feel. There is happiness, joy, laughter, friendship, hate, anger, love, sadness, horror, grief and in the end relief. There are so many wonderful moments, and lessons to learn. Everyone should add this to their reading list and attempt to tackle it at least once in their lifetime. I did struggle to get through it, but I am so glad I stuck with it and completed it. It is a great story that deserves your full attention.