Scan barcode
A review by illyanadallas222
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.0
I kind of took the plunge and kicked of 2022 reading with reading LOTR…
Full disclosure: I have expressly and tacitly avoided LOTR because readers and fellow authors constantly referencing it an overbearing shadow burden in the fantasy realm. Following the same logic as thinking of Star Wars when thinking of wars happening in space; a complete saturation that cannot be avoided.
And I finally do in fact agree! But now if anything, i bow to the authors that attempt at all in fantasy and deviate from Tolkien-esk ways, because it’s damn well hard!
In terms of the technicalities in the book, it reads like a Dickinson novel. Which, i anticipated, but can understand when people state it to be boring at times, given peoples perception of fantastical things to be palpable and almost video-game like. The pacing was alright, and was surprised at how domestic it was at times! My only criticism really is the lack of women. Like… at all. The few that were mentioned were secondary characters to the secondary characters and didn’t rouse any internal spark in me whatsoever. I am not about to jump on a soap box mind you but i found him inadvertently feministic. And the book wasn’t published in the Middle Ages for crying out loud it was published in the late 40s.
But back to the positive and evaluating the source material alone, the cast of main characters were all loveable (even Aragorn hehe). I will def be checking out some more world building books in Middle Earth, as that was the driving factor in me giving it a 4 star review.
Full disclosure: I have expressly and tacitly avoided LOTR because readers and fellow authors constantly referencing it an overbearing shadow burden in the fantasy realm. Following the same logic as thinking of Star Wars when thinking of wars happening in space; a complete saturation that cannot be avoided.
And I finally do in fact agree! But now if anything, i bow to the authors that attempt at all in fantasy and deviate from Tolkien-esk ways, because it’s damn well hard!
In terms of the technicalities in the book, it reads like a Dickinson novel. Which, i anticipated, but can understand when people state it to be boring at times, given peoples perception of fantastical things to be palpable and almost video-game like. The pacing was alright, and was surprised at how domestic it was at times! My only criticism really is the lack of women. Like… at all. The few that were mentioned were secondary characters to the secondary characters and didn’t rouse any internal spark in me whatsoever. I am not about to jump on a soap box mind you but i found him inadvertently feministic. And the book wasn’t published in the Middle Ages for crying out loud it was published in the late 40s.
But back to the positive and evaluating the source material alone, the cast of main characters were all loveable (even Aragorn hehe). I will def be checking out some more world building books in Middle Earth, as that was the driving factor in me giving it a 4 star review.