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The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Book 1)
Author : J.R.R. Tolkien
from Recorded Books
Sales Rank : 29725
List Price: $49.99 Our Price: $31.49
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Average Customer Rating : 
Total Customer Reviews : 880
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The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Book 1) Customer Reviews:
Completely amazing book
Words cannot describe my love for this book. Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring has a plot and storyline superior to most books that I have read. I loved reading it to the end. Tolkien set out to create something far different than what had been made up until this point: Just a regular story with little background on the characters and places. Tolkien created something a thousand times better. He did a great job introducing all of the characters and actually writes about them in such a way that makes you feel like they are real. The plot is very original, especially for the time period that it was written in, and shows the thought and time that Tolkien put into writing it. Throughout the book, the reader is able to picture some amazing things in their mind, and allowed to really create his or her own world based on what Tolkien has written. The reader can visualize the different places and people in the book, and it is fun to do so.
As for the characters themselves, there are quite a few of them. They each have a mind of their own, with all of them coming together seamlessly and creating a great book. One of the characters that I think is most significant is Frodo Baggins. He is a hobbit, a normal half-ling, that gets thrown into a quest to save Middle-Earth, and I like how Tolkien didn't try to create some supernatural character for this story to accomplish this task. Frodo had many flaws and had to overcome his weaknesses.
Although it is one of the best books that I have read, there are a few minor criticisms that I have for the Fellowship of the Rings. Since Tolkien spends so much time describing the story and since he needs to explain so much, the book does become slow during multiple points of the book, as some other people have mentioned. However, most books have slow points, and this really is not a true reason why anyone should not read the book. I personally think that so much description adds to the high level of praise this book deserves
Another setback is that the story gets confusing due to all of the places and people of Middle-Earth, and the events that take place in the book. It makes it hard to follow and you might end up with a need to reread some of the pages to fully get a grasp on what is happening.
Overall, this is an amazing book and I would recommend it to anyone that loves fantasy and adventure.
Enchanting volume
I read this way back when I was an undergraduate student at Bradley University. A friend of mine had given me the trilogy. I was an avid Bradley basketball fan and had gone to every home game up to the time that I received the three book set.
Well, I got so enchanted that I missed the weekend game and finished all three books in several days. But this volume was the place setter, as we come to know Frodo and his friends and their families, Aragorn, Gandalf, and other key characters.
I haven't read this in over four decades, but the enchanting power of this and the other books still resonates. . . .
the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring
The fellowship of the ring is the first instalment in J.R.R. Tolkien's THe Lord of the Rings (technically it is the second, it takes place after The Hobbit). I liked the book very much. I very recently have seen the 3 movies.Then I started reading the books.The book had words that I couldn't pronounce. there was stuff like tumbalemorna.Seriously. The book was alittle on the long side so only read it if you wil stick with it.It is boring in the beginning but gets awsome action.You guys should read the book it is a great read!-Alex
I wanted to love this but.......
As a self-professed nerd I wanted tot love this. I read The Hobbitt about 20 years ago and remember really rnjoying it. I expected more of the same here as I finally got around to Lord Of The Rings. What I got however was sadly a little boring, very tedious, and wordy to the point of confusion. Tolkien certainly has created one of the most amazingly thorough fantasy world. However, his writing style is so verbose that by the time he explains whose talking to whom you can't remeber what's being talked about. The actual novel could've been a quarter of the size and probably more enjoyable. I haven't given up on the entrire series but it'll be awhile before I feel the itch to read Two Towers. :(
Great Adventure--A Drop Slow at First
I came to "The Fellowship of the Ring" straight after reading "The Hobbit," which is one of my favorite books of all times. (I've read it about ten times). Although "The Fellowship" picks up, in a sense, where "The Hobbit" left off, the two books are quite different, and the difference for me was a bit of a culture shock--enough in the past to prompt me to quit reading about after fifty pages. But this time I persevered, and did not regret it!
The culture shock: totally different pace. "The Hobbit" flies along, wastes no time, goes into less detail, and covers huge distances of time and geography in a few pages. "The Fellowship" goes about ten times slower, poring over detail, which, once I got used to it, became rather interesting and at times welcomed. (I admit, though, at times I did some skimming, especially when I sensed that Tolkien was revving himself up to create his own Hobbitish version of Norse mythology.)
That said, the book, overall, is excellent (so much so that I'm presently three-fourths of the way through "The Two Towers"). It's a true adventure story, spirited, passionate, deep, and for me inspiring. (I'm soon embarking on a major life adventure, and have found myself surprised to find comfort from Tolkien.) I heartily recommend it to everyone and anyone, especially if you like "The Hobbit."
But here are my criticisms, though take them with a grain of salt, because again, I find "The Fellowship" excellent overall.
1) Too many poems and songs! Boring! AAH, I started skipping them after about page fifty, with NO regrets at all. Tolkien gets a little poem-and-song happy for my taste.
2) The whole scene with Tom Bombadil is pointless and boring--and too grandiose for my taste. Worth skipping over entirely, because not only does it detour from the tale, but actually detracts from it. Why did Tolkien put that in?
3) Tolkien makes some silly and/or inconsistent plot decisions from the get-go. To give one of many possible examples, Strider's whole mission is to save the wandering hobbits, and yet he moronically lets them walk right into a dangerous tavern, whereas he could have introduced himself to them while he was spying on them earlier (when they were with Tom Bombadil, who knew Strider!), and prevented a near calamity.
4) I felt it inconsistent that the Ringwraiths were on one hand so TOTALLY powerful and yet on the other hand so foolish and stupid. Didn't add up.
But all that said, J.R.R., you ROCK!
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