A review by kieralesley
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

3.0

Finished! Read the entire Lord of the Rings and am no longer a geek embarrassment. I think I probably liked this book least of the trilogy - I really enjoyed Fellowship and the Two Towers. Return of the King certainly had its moments - Eowyn slaying the Witch King, Frodo on Sam standing on the side of Mount Doom as it collapses in fire and lava but still not quite ready to give up, Sam just generally being the most loyal and wonderful thing ever? But I found it a bit uneven pacing-wise. This is probably a product of being used to more modern novel structures, but I found the end was overly long and, in places, strange - the whole Saruman thing for example? It also just didn't have as much of a romp to it as the previous books, which makes sense considering this is the big war book.

I really enjoyed this read though and I'm glad I finally "get" Lord of the Rings. Classic books are the ones that, even when you know how it goes, are still able to move you and still have power. Lord of the Rings is certainly a classic and one I'll be reading again in a few years, I'm sure.