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nwhyte's review against another edition
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1908266.html
More in-depth analysis of the story of how The Lord of the Rings was written. We start at Helm's Deep, and follow through the end of Book III and Book IV (ie most of The Two Towers and then all of Book V (first half of The Return of the King). Tolkien's biggest problem was getting the chronology to work between four separated groups of protagonists so that they would eventually end up in the same place at the same time; placing the Paths of the Dead smoothly in the narrative was a challenge as well - it's probably the longest single flashback sequence in a book that generally avoids them.
The process of typing up the Helm's Deep / Isengard chapters of The Two Towers seems to have lost a few sentences from Tolkien's manuscript - none crucial but it seems to me that a "definitive" edition of LotR should be published which would at least include them in footnotes.
Finally, I was amused to see that the last person mentioned in the preface by Christopher Tolkien, thanking him for explaining an English folk-song reference, is one Mr. Neil Gaiman.
More in-depth analysis of the story of how The Lord of the Rings was written. We start at Helm's Deep, and follow through the end of Book III and Book IV (ie most of The Two Towers and then all of Book V (first half of The Return of the King). Tolkien's biggest problem was getting the chronology to work between four separated groups of protagonists so that they would eventually end up in the same place at the same time; placing the Paths of the Dead smoothly in the narrative was a challenge as well - it's probably the longest single flashback sequence in a book that generally avoids them.
The process of typing up the Helm's Deep / Isengard chapters of The Two Towers seems to have lost a few sentences from Tolkien's manuscript - none crucial but it seems to me that a "definitive" edition of LotR should be published which would at least include them in footnotes.
Finally, I was amused to see that the last person mentioned in the preface by Christopher Tolkien, thanking him for explaining an English folk-song reference, is one Mr. Neil Gaiman.
ninarg's review against another edition
4.0
My favorite book of the series so far, perhaps along with the third one (Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn chase Merry and Pippin across Rohan. ) The battle of Gondor takes place and I loved the action and excitement of it all. Merry and Pippin find out that they are made of braver stuff than they supposed, Merry even being essential in the slaying of the terrifying black captain along with Eowyn who is a kickass hellcat. Cool, brave and tough, who knows what might have happened but for her and Merry. If only Tolkien had left out how beautiful her blond hair was as the sun shone upon it. The male warriors didn't get those kind of descriptions...
Faramir is still one of my favorites, despite being ill with a fever most of the time. Denethor is a bastard for constantly belittling and criticising Faramir for not being Boromir, and then intending to burn him alive on a pyre. What a great stewart of Gondor he was... Theoden on the other hand was made of the right stuff.
Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn return in the nick of time, and Tolkien delights in throwing in one nursery rhyme after the other to prove that Aragorn is indeed the true king. Funny how many old verses are still remembered to prove Aragorn's claim. But anyway ...
The troops of the West are now gathered outside Mordor and it is not looking good...
Faramir is still one of my favorites, despite being ill with a fever most of the time. Denethor is a bastard for constantly belittling and criticising Faramir for not being Boromir, and then intending to burn him alive on a pyre. What a great stewart of Gondor he was... Theoden on the other hand was made of the right stuff.
Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn return in the nick of time, and Tolkien delights in throwing in one nursery rhyme after the other to prove that Aragorn is indeed the true king. Funny how many old verses are still remembered to prove Aragorn's claim. But anyway ...
The troops of the West are now gathered outside Mordor and it is not looking good...
charlottejones952's review
3.0
I won't do a full review of this book because it is the 5th book in the series (the first half of Return of the King). This one was much more action-packed than the rest of the series so far and I absolutely love following this set of characters compared to Frodo and Sam, and the way this one ended, I really need to read the last one soon!
raitalle's review against another edition
4.0
Continued exploration of Tolkien's notes and drafts for The Lord of the Rings, this time covering the end of The Two Towers and the beginning of The Return of the King. It is so interesting to see how much was still growing and changing even at this late point, and I'm guessing since we still have one more book to cover the remaining story, that there is still a lot to come.
leeg's review against another edition
4.0
I find the HoME books pretty useful in understanding the material at hand. Lots of Tolkien's drafts are more focused and faster paced than the finished matter although not internally consistent.
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