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A review by malulu
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
3.0
This book too an unexpected turn for the worse. While the narrative in book 1&2 was a bit tedious at times, the whole setting and characters made the journey so much fun. Book 3, on the other hand, seems shorter and more abrupt compared to others, which makes it the worst out of the 3.
This book follows mostly the battle in Minas Tirith and less of Frodo and Sam. It almost seems like a condensed version of the story, which is peculiar considering LotR is going on and on about explanations and such. However, it feels as if Tolkien was a bit done by this point, because some decisions seemed more rushed and the timeline was not as clear; something that is important when events are so clearly connected. Eowin is the one the one that captured my heart in this book, which was unexpected since I found her mediocre in the movies. Other than that, I was honestly more taken in by Pippin and Merry, as well, rather than anyone else.
The whole book became even more tiresome when the main plot ended at hour ~13 out of 22... So, you had a LOT of post-adventure adventures, which were just not as interesting for the most part (though the meeting with Sharkey was great) and the last 3.5 hours were Appendix stories with a bunch of history and names and more names and even more names. After some point, my mind was just zoning out, but I refused to give up!
Andy Serkis is still an amazing narrator, but even he could not save this endless journey of the 3rd book. No regrets, however! Now I can say I have read one of the most fundamental series for the epic fantasy genre and it was mostly fun!
This book follows mostly the battle in Minas Tirith and less of Frodo and Sam. It almost seems like a condensed version of the story, which is peculiar considering LotR is going on and on about explanations and such. However, it feels as if Tolkien was a bit done by this point, because some decisions seemed more rushed and the timeline was not as clear; something that is important when events are so clearly connected. Eowin is the one the one that captured my heart in this book, which was unexpected since I found her mediocre in the movies. Other than that, I was honestly more taken in by Pippin and Merry, as well, rather than anyone else.
The whole book became even more tiresome when the main plot ended at hour ~13 out of 22... So, you had a LOT of post-adventure adventures, which were just not as interesting for the most part (though the meeting with Sharkey was great) and the last 3.5 hours were Appendix stories with a bunch of history and names and more names and even more names. After some point, my mind was just zoning out, but I refused to give up!
Andy Serkis is still an amazing narrator, but even he could not save this endless journey of the 3rd book. No regrets, however! Now I can say I have read one of the most fundamental series for the epic fantasy genre and it was mostly fun!