Publisher’s write-up:
‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find
them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were
crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring,
filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One
Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it
remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins,
as told in The Hobbit.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo
Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo
entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous
journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring
and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.’
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy from JRR Tolkien. This is perhaps one of the most
well-known books that I have read so far; being one of the most sold books in
the world and also having highly successful film adaptations. I had loved the
films as a teenager and wanted to get to reading the books someday. So, in this
review, I would evaluate if it was worth reading the book.
The story happens in the world built by the
earth, Middle-Earth, inhabited by various different species – being the
hobbits, elves, men, dwarves, orcs, etc. The story begins with Bilbo Baggins celebrating
his birthday in The Shire (the village of the hobbits) and leaves his
possessions to his beloved nephew Frodo, including a ring with special powers.
Frodo is visited by Gandalf the wizard, and is told of the evil powers of the
ring; previously possessed by Sauron, the ruler of the land of Mordor. Frodo is
joined in this mission by his gardener and close friend, Samwise, along with
two other friends from the Shire, Merry and Pippin. The rest of the story is
about their adventure and their path towards destroying this evil ring or as
they say in the book, the one ring to rule them all.
This was a book that I wanted to like, a book
that I had been meaning to read for a long time, it was a film that I enjoyed
as a teenager, enjoyed the games that were from the universe, etc. However, the
key word phrase here is that I wanted to like but I could not bring
myself to like this book despite my best efforts. To start with, the narration
was drab and often flat, providing no nuance to the characters and the manner
in which they expressed themselves at various points. This was a standard young
adult novel where each character had a clear identification of who was good or
who was evil and there were hardly any layers to the personality of any of the characters.
There were aspects that could have made the
book interesting, such as the distrust between the dwarves and the elves, and
how they make do with that, but then, the ‘Fellowship’ is closely knit
(something unusual for a group created on the spot by an elven lord, with only
notable exception being the character of Boromoir who had shown some levels of dissent).
One could praise the writer for the detailed
world that he has built and how this has inspired several other fantasy novel
writers, whom I have personally enjoyed, but with that said, this book was a
travelogue in a world that I was not interested in. There was nothing more to
it than a bunch of people walking together, complaining about the weather,
describing the surroundings, and moving from a point to another point. What was
expressed in this particular book could have been expressed in a third of its
size without losing the essential content of it.
While this book contains the features of a
standard young adult novel, unfortunately, it is not a very easy read for a teenager
either. Thus, I am unsure of whom it appeals to (no wonder this often features
in the list of books people ‘pretend to have read’).
To
summarise this book, I would say that it is a boring travelogue featuring drab
characters happening in a world that I am not interested in. On that note, I award
the book a rating of three on ten.
Rating –
3/10
Have a
nice day,
Andy
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