Reviews

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

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arrk33's review against another edition

3.0

It is done. The return of the king movie has always been my least favorite and, unfortunately, the same is true for the book. The last half-ish is kinda just “blah blah blah” and wrapping things up that I didn’t particularly care to see wrapped up. I did somewhat enjoy the battle for the shore at the end but since the major stakes were already much higher and fully resolved, it just didn’t pack as big an emotional punch as it could’ve.

I love seeing where “modern” fantasy started and how many authors I love, as well as the creators of D&D, were inspired by this world and I’m very glad to have finally read them.

Time to go back and reread the hobbit, then find a new world to explore that’s hopefully closer to my tastes!

taryngoehrig's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

5.0

tibbarasden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0

I definitely prefer the movies. That said, I think anyone who is a fan of the movies should 100% read the books. You get so much more context. I really struggled through the first part of the story (book V). The battles are my least favorite all around, and in the book, you don't have Frodo and Sam's journey to break it up. Once I got through that, I found myself really getting into it. I did find the aftermath of everything was unnecessarily long, but I did enjoy getting more of the Hobbits at the end. It in itself was like a mini story.