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mossss123's review against another edition
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 It was a bit of a hard read with outdated language and hard to interpret sentences, but very rewarding.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
Graphic: Xenophobia
Minor: Homophobia
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