Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Содружество кольца

Beautifully written, but a little too slow for my tastes. Clearly all the braincells of the Fellowship are shared by Aragorn, Gandalf and Sam (sometimes borrowed by Legolas and Gimli). It's increasingly hilarious when Frodo attempts to use his non existent braincells, but a bit frustrating too, as the story is told mostly from his perspective.

Frodo is a frustrating protagonist, not because he is afraid of his Quest (which is natural), but because he lacks the charisma his uncle Bilbo had in The Hobbit, and is also unfortunately not very good at picking things up on the fly and adapting like Bilbo. He repeatedly takes action contrary to what Gandalf and Elrond have advised.

That is not to say that Frodo is a bad protagonist. In some instances, his cleverness and quick thinking do benefit his companions, and he (most of the time) has the good sense to follow Aragorn or Gandalf when he himself is in doubt. He respects and listens to the opinions and advise of creatures much older and experienced than him, but still has the common sense to not take their words as gospel. He has good friends who are willing to follow him into death on his Quest.

Its an amazing book, deserving of its title of 'Classic', but maybe not exactly my cup of tea.

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aisabel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bookish_bry's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a classic. It's very well written and beautiful with a spectacular world. That being said, it's not really my type of book. I tend to lean more towards emotional and character driven stories which isn't always what we get in the Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings is more of an epic adventure than an emotional introspective story. I definitely did enjoy and appreciate it. I especially liked the way

Gandalf's "death" happens and the reactions to it. Really I liked a lot of the part where Gandalf was present, but unfortunately that was only the middle of the book.

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tuvz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

It was a bit hard to differentiate between Merry and Pippin in terms of personality and who-said-what, though it did get a little easier to tell once Gandalf started his hate campaign against Pippin's existence.

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orchidlilly's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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achingallover's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I cannot be objective about this, but also it is just so good. The feeling of grief for the times long past, and the things they must do.

Serkis is of course an excellent narrator as well.

Bilbo's parting song, Gimli leaving Lorien, Boromir's moment of temptation, Sam... just Sam... I love it and I definitely am not crying.

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naomi_k's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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shannasbooksnhooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I remember reading this a long time ago. I'm pretty sure I finished it that time around, but I can't quite remember. (And this was well before my usage of Goodreads.) I started this back in November with my family - every other Sunday, we meet over Zoom and read for about an hour. We started our Zoom reading with The Hobbit earlier in 2021 and then moved on to The Fellowship of the Ring. My family Zoom read is still in Fellowship (about to start Book 2), but I decided to read ahead since, thanks to my recent reading surge (or "reading high"). And boy oh boy, am I glad I began reading this. For my The Lord of the Rings reading, I am counting both the individual "books" (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King) and LoTR as a whole. (Tolkien originally intended it to be published as one whole book with six sections, or "books", but the publisher said that would be too expensive and had him divide it into 3 books, each with 2 sections/"books".) I will be doing an overall review for LoTR once I finish The Return of the King.
"'I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.'"
As someone already attached to the characters within Middle Earth thanks to growing up on the Rankin & Bass animated Hobbit movie, Peter Jackson's live-action Lord of the Rings trilogy, and then from 2012-2014, falling in love with Jackson's live-action Hobbit trilogy (I have my issues with it, but I overall love it). This is definitely something everyone should read at least once, or at least try to read. Hell, Sir Christopher Lee (may he rest in peace, power, and magic) read this trilogy once a year and met Tolkien. (I 100% intend to follow in his footsteps once I finish it up this year.) This is one hell of a book to get through, but it is a cornerstone and the precursor of modern fantasy as we know it today. The world is so magical and wonderful. Although lengthy, Tolkien does a fantastic job in creating this world, its story, and characters for all readers.
And to those of you who argue the <i>Harry Potter</i> wizards could beat Gandalf in a fight: no they can't.

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