Anthony Burgess reviewed The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Obviously the typical fantasy book.
4 stars
This one is like Beatles songs: You notice how they sound kinda similar but "simpler" to other pop songs, until you think about, how they built the whole genre. Everyone after them builds on their formula and this is why they sound similar, but they still have their uniqueness to them.
The Lord of the Rings is the same: Every conversation is a big speech and they don't sound like people would, if they actually just talk to one another. Big descriptions of how the world looks like. Many weird names of places and people (but Tolkien just throws around names like he's paid for the amount of them) and many other things.
But it still has its own story. It's filled with songs, which is an understatement. It seems like people in middle earth are just eager to sing as often as they can. Tolkien tries to make decisions …
This one is like Beatles songs: You notice how they sound kinda similar but "simpler" to other pop songs, until you think about, how they built the whole genre. Everyone after them builds on their formula and this is why they sound similar, but they still have their uniqueness to them.
The Lord of the Rings is the same: Every conversation is a big speech and they don't sound like people would, if they actually just talk to one another. Big descriptions of how the world looks like. Many weird names of places and people (but Tolkien just throws around names like he's paid for the amount of them) and many other things.
But it still has its own story. It's filled with songs, which is an understatement. It seems like people in middle earth are just eager to sing as often as they can. Tolkien tries to make decisions believable and real.
All together a fantastic book, obviously a must read for every fantasy fan, but it's not totally my cup of tea. Most conversations felt a bit stiff. They seem like everyone is talking in front of a camera and are nervous about it, because every dialog is unnecessarily big and it seems like they always try too hard. The whole Saruman plot is weird. Without getting into spoilers, he seemed like this wise and mighty wizard in the movie, but in the book, he's like this stupid coward. How could this person be the "chief of the wizard order" ?
Still, if you like fantasy, give it a read, I still enjoyed reading it!
