A review by kabirahuja2431
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

4.0

Although I love Peter Jackson's film adaptation, I really wish I would have got to experience the story for the first through the books. But I did found a lot to appreciate in the book outside of what I had already seen in the movies. Reading this book it was evident why Tolkien's work had such an impact on the fantasy genre, and even after a while since its publication why it still remains some of the best works that the genre has to offer. Enough has been said about the spectacular world building of LOTR, how the Middle Earth is a character in itself and the level of detail to the world is second to none. I loved that there is an inherent sadness that is enveloping the world and the characters in the novel but there are moments of warmth that can be found sprinkled throughout that leave a sense of dread for what lies ahead. Over the time there have been some critiques about the characterization being too simplistic, and though there is some merit to these "complaints", I found that characters for the most part to be very well written, and the some of their simplistic traits did actually fit aptly with the world that Tolkien created. There were some parts of the novel that dragged for me and sometimes the overly descriptions of different places and past events would overwhelm me but overall I was very impressed with this and I am really excited to check the next two books.