J. R. R. Tolkien: "The Two Towers" // Discussion

"The Company of the Ring is sundered. Frodo and Sam continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin - alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go."

~CONTAINS SPOILERS and is likely to be much longer than my review of Fellowship, since I made a few more observations than previous~

Someone once told me (or I read somewhere) that the second book in a high-fantasy series is always a better read - at least, a more enjoyable read - than the first, because you won't need as much description of the surroundings; since you became familiar with them in the first book. With Lord of the Rings/The Two Towers, I quickly realised that less description is never the case. I'd put this down to the fact that the Company is always on the move, and never in the same place twice; therefore, description is always paramount and so, Two Towers requires just as much concentration and effort as Fellowship. Which is how it should be, I guess, although I'm longing to relax. In Fellowship you're still in awe of the new places and characters, so the slow-paced sections are significantly more tolerable, whereas I didn't find the new locations in TT as easy to connect with and as a consequence, were more hard-going.

Some people may argue that the action in Two Towers or, indeed, LotR as a whole, is periodical, and so, in the moments between the action, Tolkien provides you with plenty of time for easy reading. I wouldn't agree. Although a book wouldn't be a Tolkien novel without an amazing amount of description, I do find myself wishing he'd give it a rest sometimes - and let the plot do the work. Blasphemy, I know! Rather, I found my solace and comfort in the dialogue between characters. Sometimes it was hard to stifle an excited scream when I saw a speech mark because I simply long for those moments so badly - not that there's a sufficiency of speech, though, just because there's so much description and action. Speaking of action: the battle between Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli etc. against the Orcs near Mordor was, I found, not entirely spectacular to read. I didn't become especially involved with the war/fight scenes in this book, and decided that this is something I'd enjoy more on-screen. Some things though, I did enjoy. The opening of the novel with Boromir's death was brilliant - so unexpected, and the possibility of this 'opening the flood-gates' to future deaths within the Company was very intriguing.

Furthermore, it was also quite interesting to see which paths the characters took once the Company had been separated by fate. It was lucky that Legolas and Gimli ended up together as their bond seems to be growing and is interesting to 'watch'; as is the unfolding of Aragorn's destiny as heir of Elendil. I suppose a 'truce' between the Elves and Dwarves throughout Middle-Earth is somewhat of an inevitability further down the line, if I know Tolkien. Sadly, I found that I missed the Elves and Elvish locations of Fellowship, although I did really enjoy the addition of the Ents, who bore such a resemblance to the tree-giants of Bridge to Terabithia and hence were a huge source of nostalgia for me. One addition I didn't really appreciate so much was the brief mentioning of the Oliphaunts. Just by the name you're thinking 'elephant', and still will be once I quote Tolkien's description of them: "Grey as a mouse, big as a house, nose like a snake, I make the Earth shake, flapping big ears, beyond count of years... never lie on the ground, not even to die."  What you're describing, dear Tolkien, is an elephant - and whilst I appreciate that you're probably trying to suggest that Middle-Earth actually exists parallel to Earth with these mystical versions of actual creatures for the reader's enjoyment, I thought that the idea of the Oliphaunts was lacking in originality.

Unsurprisingly, Gandalf's character continued to annoy me throughout The Two Towers, although admittedly, most of my irritation sprang from what immediately followed his return - his first conversation with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. Quote: "Gandalf," the old man repeated, "Yes, that was the name. I was Gandalf." Are you really telling me that he came back from great peril or death with no idea of his own name, yet he was able to name those around him with no problem? He strode up to these people, knowing they were no danger to him, knowing they were his friends. It's not likely he'd forget his own name and remember them. Of course, it's all for dramatic effect but it didn't really work on me. I don't think I'll ever particularly like Gandalf, although I do have a soft spot for Gollum. I think Smeagol is such an interesting character and it was great to see more of him in this book! His betrayal of Frodo even seemed like a betrayal to me because I liked him so much.

At both the beginning and the ending of the book I was completely on the edge of my seat, but the conclusion was particularly spectacular. Tolkien is an evil genius! No one expects the man-eating spider, do they?? For a moment there, I really thought Frodo was gone, so when Samwise had to take the Ring and leave without him I was heartbroken! That said, I do have one itsy bitsy qualm with the ending (I know, I'm sorry). Quote: "Clang. The gate was shut. Sam hurled himself against the bolted brazen plates and fell senseless to the ground." Doesn't it sound like Sam intentionally ran into the gate and knocked himself out? Apparently, that's not what actually happened. He just ran toward the gate and fainted, or something. I thought the wording of that particular sentence was a bit ambiguous, which wouldn't normally be a problem but it's the last action we see in the book! So we should be clear on what's actually happened.

Overall, although the book at some points didn't move fast enough for my liking, and so my rating (which you'll find below) has significantly decreased since Fellowship, I did find myself wanting to read The Return of the King pretty swiftly after finishing The Two Towers, to see how Frodo and Sam fare. Lord of the Rings is always interesting. And in Tolkien's defence, he wasn't to know at the time of writing that LotR would be split into three stand-alone novels.

Disclaimer: At times I may make negative observations, but this is more likely to be because 1) I recognise that everything, however brilliant, has flaws or 2) I'm an English Literature student and have learned to write critically. I would like to reiterate that I absolutely love Tolkien's work, I'm a massive fan and hope, one day, to have read everything he's written.

Thanks for reading all the way through! To keep up with what I'm reading, please feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/meaghanbethany

Also: Eowyn + Aragorn = ♥!! I ship those two so hard.

Rating: ★★★1/2 (the 1/2 was added for the spectacular ending)

ISBN: 0-261-10236-2

J. R. R. Tolkien: "The Fellowship of the Ring" // Discussion

~MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS~ It took me longer than I thought it would, but finally, I conquered all 531 pages of the first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring. I have heard it said that a fantasy fanatic reviewing Tolkien - a man widely thought of to be "The Father of Fantasy," - is the same as a Christian reviewing The Bible. I wholeheartedly agree with that statement, and so, this post will not be a review, but rather, a 'discussion' of sorts. Even if the discussion is with myself.

Not usually one for high-fantasy and hobbits, my purchase of Fellowship and The Two Towers was completely unexpected. I was in my town waiting for my dad to get back from the gym when I decided to have a lurk around the charity shops. I found these two books in one of my local Lighthouse stores and something came over me; my best friend Jayson is addicted to all things LOTR and so I think he may have rubbed off on me a little. Sadly, a copy of the third book, The Return of the King, wasn't available - but I figured I could pick that one up from the library, which I did the very next week. Anyway, at the time I had two great books with Tolkien's own illustrative designs on the cover, even if the copies themselves are a bit weathered. After all, they've been in circulation since 1999.

Even though I, myself, haven't seen the movies in 10 years and hadn't read any of the books before this week, I'm assuming that you, like me, have at least some understanding of the storyline. However, just in case you have been living under a rock for the best part of 100 years and have not yet stumbled upon even a synopsis of The Lord of The Rings, here is the blurb from Fellowship:

"In a sleepy village in the Shire, a young hobbit is entrusted with an immense task. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power - the only thing that prevents the Dark Lord's evil dominion."

I did really, really enjoy Fellowship. Tolkien's wondrous, rich descriptions and poems were a blessing to read. I even found myself enjoying some of the songs. The hobbits were all so child-like and endearing, and I loved the characters of Aragorn, Bilbo and Legolas from the moment they made their appearances. I did have some qualms with Gandalf though, concerning the way he's just automatically in charge. In the entirety of Fellowship we do not see any transition from an ordinary guy/wizard to a man with such a position of superiority and power - if such a transition ever existed in any of Tolkien's writings - however I understand that in one of the following books there will be a lot more characterisation when he transforms into Gandalf the White. And at times, his superiority meant the plot was a little predictable. If Gandalf said the Company would suffer no disturbances that night then the reader would not worry about disturbances and there would be none; because when on Earth would Tolkien ever write Gandalf to be unwise? What Gandalf says goes.

Another plothole I found difficult to get over was the (just slightly) underdeveloped physicality of Sauron, The Lord of the Ring. I was surfing the internet one day, researching people's opinions about LOTR, when I came across someone who wondered why there was no description of Sauron in Fellowship. I pondered it for a moment in confusion, thought back, and realised that there really was no mention of his appearance at all. I brought it up with my friend Jayson - the one who's obsessed with all things LOTR, and he said, "There's no description of Sauron's body because he's just an eye." Needless to say, I responded, as any normal teenager would after just being given this information, with simply the word, "WHAT". Now, my problem with Sauron being just a headless, bodyless, eye is that, whilst the Company are going to great lengths to avoid the Ring falling back into Sauron's hands, the irony is that he has none. My first thought was of how he could possibly use the Ring to harness any dark power if he couldn't at least slip it onto his finger first. Then Jayson explained to me that, because Sauron created the Ring, he doesn't have to touch it to harness its power. But everyone else has to touch it to harness it, so I can't think of any good reason why it should be different for Sauron... even if he is the creator. The bad guy not being able to wield the weapon properly? Yeah, that was a downside for me. At this point, anyway.

Something I was happy to learn during my research is that Tolkien was good friends with C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia. I love the works of both of these two men and the fact that they knew each other and existed in the same time period is astounding to me. I learned that Tolkien, like Lewis, was a Catholic; which I could never have imagined. Then, it clicked. Frodo being led not into temptation (using the Ring) and delivering it from evil (Sauron and the Ringwraiths)? Totally Catholic. How could I have missed that?

Despite pointing out any seemingly negative observations, I assure you that I really do love LOTR and soon I'll be starting The Two Towers, which looks slightly less threatening in length. To keep up with what I'm reading, feel free to add me on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/meaghanbethany. Thank you!

Rating: ★★★★1/2