Return of the King Book Review
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Lord of the Rings Return of the King is the conclusion the the Lord of the Rings Trilogy written by J. R.R. Tolkien back in 1955. Being the single most iconic fantasy series that has spawned tropes movie adaptations it saddens me to know that this is the last entry to the series. Today we are going to review the Lord of the Rings the Return of the King.
This book can be described as being split into two parts. The end of the battle for middle earth transitions to an epilogue of the return back to the shire and the events that transpired over the course of the time the hobbits were away.
The Battle for Middle Earth
There are two threads happening with the battle against the enemies of Mordor. This follows Aragon, Gimli and Legolas.
The other line happening during the battle for middle earth is with Frodo and Sam working still to destroy the ring. Over the course of the first half of this book we see Frodo struggle to make it to the very end.
Sam’s character in the book here is amazing, the payoff of Sam carrying the weight of not only Frodo who has lost the will to go on, carry him as well as the weight of the entire middle earth depending on finishing the goal they started with.
The story is so impactful with the level of exhaustion that Tolkien is able to portray with these characters and the ending that they are at with their journey, coming to the realization that they probably not going to survive but doing everything they can to carry on anyway.
The Scarring of the Shire
After all the events completed with the war, and their return to the Shire showed the hobbits that even their own world was not immune to the effects of evil. They need to work with the other shire folk to take back their home.
This part of the book feels slightly more slapstick compared to the heavy ending of the destroying of the ring. I don’t think that is to much of a bad thing however.
This part of the book does feel like it carries on a little long,
Conclusion
Is this book the best in the trilogy? Honestly I have to say no. But it’s still a good book. It doesn’t beat the feeling of first entering the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with the fellowship of the Ring. The adventure is fresh, the characters are joyful, all together, and the lore is deep without much effort.
That being said, there are moments in Return of the King that make it stand out more than Fellowship of the Ring. It’s not just that it’s the end to the series. The writing with Frodo and Sam in Return of the King is spectacular and gut wrenching. The battles are epic.
Return of the King has amazing high points, but it also just has some pretty long stretches of good but not great. Perhaps if there was not so much conclusion with the travelling with the fellowship and the battle for the Shire did not take as much time this would have been corrected.
Comparing that to Fellowship, that book holds a steady mystery and anxiety throughout that keeps the pace ticking and doesn’t have times where it dips out of greatness to me.
But all the same, I am happy that this book gives me the closure to characters that I have really invested in by reading this series. I think that overall Tolkien does a great job with this.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy needs to be read by everyone. I know that the pace and the writing style might not be for all, but this is a story that truly stands the test of time. The books are good throughout and worth the read if not just once in everyone’s life.
If you are unsure if this series is for you, give the prequel the Hobbit a go. It’s shorter and sets up the entire premise to this fantastic Trilogy.
But Fear Not!
Just because the trilogy is over does not mean however that there are not many other works from J. R. R. Tolkien and his son Christopher Tolkien. There are other books that continue the lore to the world as a whole with the Silmarillion or Children of Huren. If you are interested in expanding your knowledge to middle earth beyond what most people have done when reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the links are provided to these books below.
Thank you for all the support and taking the time to read through these reviews, this book was a long time coming to review having been detached from the Two Towers review by several months. Well we finally made it.
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