The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Two Towers is part two of The Lord of The Rings trilogy and much like Fellowship of the Ring—this story is truly epic. I read the works of J.R.R. Tolkien yearly, these stories are the kind that you can come back to and never get bored of them. The characters in these tales come to life and inspire and enrich the lives of those that choose to read these stories. So, kick off your shoes and curl up in front of a cozy fire and pick up The Lord of the Rings—you will not be disappointed!
The Fellowship has been broken and the nature of our beloved characters becomes apparent in this tale. Gandalf has been lost in the mines of Moria, Boromir—gone. Pippin and Merry have been taken as orc prisoners and Sam and Frodo find themselves being lead closer to Mordor by their unlikely guide—the creature, Gollum.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli journey together on a quest to save Merry and Pippin from the orcs which throws us into a rich storyline separate from the quest of Sam and Frodo. We have a surprise return of an old friend and a huge battle along with some mysterious talking trees that are called Ents during this part of the story –fun stuff! Then our story splits and we find that we are back in the company of Sam and Frodo as they trek through the dead marshes and into the lair of the great spider, Shelob.
Honestly? It’s so hard to sum up my thoughts, feelings and even the plot of this book—it’s THAT good! There are differences in the book from the movie but if you’ve watched the movie before reading the book you won’t be disappointed. The movie was one of the rare ones that didn’t completely slaughter the storyline—even with the differences. I think if you enjoyed the movie you will fall in love with the book!
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings .
Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English language and literature from 1945 to 1959. He was a close friend of C.S. Lewis.
Christopher Tolkien published a series of works based on his father’s extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion . These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and Middle-earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the word “legendarium” to the larger part of these writings.
While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the “father” of modern fantasy literature—or more precisely, high fantasy. Tolkien’s writings have inspired many other works of fantasy and have had a lasting effect on the entire field.
In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”. Forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.
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