Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - The Fellowship of the Ring

And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so.

I was surprised by how nostalgic I felt reading this first LOTR volume, which I’ve never read before — the ‘epic’ sense of adventure reminded me a little of reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter as a child.

I’m rooting for Aragorn and Sam, always <3 (but can’t believe Arwen is so much less present here than the films!)

But yeah, if we’re being honest, there’s a lot of slightly dull walking around various parts of the wilderness that require patience to get through.

Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

Content Warnings

aceofsphades_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

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? Yes

5.0

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ethuiliel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

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? It's complicated

4.75

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mossss123's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

4.0

Going into this book, I had heard how horrible the pacing was. Actually, reading it, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast everything actually moved. The large cast of characters sometimes was too much, and I forgot that some existed at times, but by the end, they were all fleshed out and interesting. It was a bit of a hard read with outdated language and hard to interpret sentences, but very rewarding. The main two issues were the overuse of song and the unfortunate descriptions of non-white characters. Overall, it was very engaging despite what I had been told and a great improvement on the Hobbit. I was surprised at the great use of horror when describing Gollum, the Black Riders, and the Watcher, especially for a non-horror centric story. Tolkien’s clear hatred of industrialism and love of nature is evident throughout with his reverence for the trees echoing through every description of them, and are there many of them. The queerness of Frodo and Sam’s relationship is also very intriguing, and I can’t wait for that to develop when I read the other books.

Content Warnings

bearystarry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

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

4.5

Sam and Frodo 🩷 I really love being on an adventure with all of these characters. I do wish Arwen specifically was as involved as she is in the movies…

Content Warnings

madamenovelist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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