kayceeisbookish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Minor: Death, Kidnapping, Violence, and War
astrangewind's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
As with The Two Towers, the first half (roughly) of the book concern the war, while the second half is what continues the quest of Frodo and Sam. I tend to be less interested in war, even in fantasy settings, so I found it quite difficult to get through this section of the book. (The rest of it I devoured much more quickly.) Despite this difficulty, Tolkien's writing aligns both halves of the book in time, so that a deeper understanding of both storylines is gained upon reading.
One thing I struggled with is that nearly every female character who interacts with the main company ends up being reduced to nothing.
My one last gripe with this book is really a gripe with the editions of all three books. Occasionally, there are footnotes in the book that read something like, "Appendix F, page 1107." However, being three separate books, there is no page 1107, so the reader is left to either read the entire appendices (which are roughly 150 pages long in total and at the end of the third book), or compute what the page number actually should be. With this edition, I feel like these footnotes could have been rewritten to indicate the actual page number of the appendix. But, of course, this isn't an issue with Tolkien's story - only this edition.
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Torture, Slavery, and Colonisation
Minor: Grief, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
woweewhoa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Death, and War
Moderate: Sexism and Xenophobia
Minor: Slavery and Alcohol
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh, yeah, I cried. Andy Serkis as a narrator did a superb job, and the bit in the end, a whole mini plot arc that was not included in the movies was a delight to read in that I had a moment of "oh my god there is MORE". I strongly believe this quest would have failed without Samwise Gamgee, the epitome of Best Friend.
Graphic: Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Racism
judassilver's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Death, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Minor: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Fatphobia
ekgranstro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death and Sexism
parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, War, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Sexism, Mental illness, and Classism
Minor: Alcohol
parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Grief, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Sexism
Minor: Alcohol and Classism
bexi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Might bump this up to 4.5 stars later, I still can't make up my mind 😅
Graphic: War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Violence, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Slavery
jo_d's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: War
Minor: Blood