Union reviewed Above the Hush by Jacqueline Druga
None
4 stars
In general I loved it but... my god, so many songs. JRR if you're reading this, less songs next time eh?
423 pages
English language
Published June 15, 1988
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
4 stars
(1030 reviews)
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. It takes place in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. It was originally published on 29 July 1954 in the United Kingdom. The volume consists of a foreword, in which the author discusses his writing of The Lord of the Rings, a prologue titled "Concerning Hobbits, and other matters", and the main narrative in Book I and Book II.
Lynn reviewed Above the Hush by Jacqueline Druga
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book focuses on two men who lived in the original Gilded Age and the solutions they applied to conditions very similar to those we see now. How discouraging to realise that 100 years later, corporate power has systematically undone all of the progress made since then - and again we have a 'government of the people, by the few, for the wealthy'.
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
yeah, this book is really good, I guess there is a reason that so many people feel fondly about it, like the characters are friendly to each other and seem concern about each other. Its pretty refreshing.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Boxed Set New Line Cinema Movie' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I used to read this every few years, but I think I've let 15 or 20 go by without. It's good - accomplishes everything it sets out to do.
I was surprised by one thing; there were bits I'd intended to skip recalling that they were a bit boring, but when I got to those they were actually pretty lightly touched upon. Interesting that Tolkien was able to convey the tediousness of, say, being lost in the woods or imprisoned for months without the reading itself becoming a chore.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I debated how many stars to give. I profess as a teen (and I have not reread it since then, though I keep meaning to), I actually struggled to read through the whole thing in one go, even though there were large chunks of the story I quite enjoyed, the long travel sequences or 'hey look at my skill with languages' parts were not quite my thing. I primarily give it the rating it has because it handles its classic story much better than most of the rip-offs that come after it, although this will not be fully obvious until the ending, and actually has something interesting to say.
The ending is strangely realistic once you cut the fantasy part of 'They just tossed a ring into a volcano' away, and this is possibly because of Tolkien's view being so heavily colored by actual war. It is easy to come …
I debated how many stars to give. I profess as a teen (and I have not reread it since then, though I keep meaning to), I actually struggled to read through the whole thing in one go, even though there were large chunks of the story I quite enjoyed, the long travel sequences or 'hey look at my skill with languages' parts were not quite my thing. I primarily give it the rating it has because it handles its classic story much better than most of the rip-offs that come after it, although this will not be fully obvious until the ending, and actually has something interesting to say.
The ending is strangely realistic once you cut the fantasy part of 'They just tossed a ring into a volcano' away, and this is possibly because of Tolkien's view being so heavily colored by actual war. It is easy to come away after skimming the first parts of the series with an image of cutesy hobbits, who one imagines surely go home happy and victorious... but in the end this is not a happy-fluff novel, at least if I remember the ending correctly anyway, yet at the same time shows you don't need to go full on 'describe every bit of battlefield gore and rapine' unlike other certain reactionary (and frankly far more awful) works I can think of who seemed to think the problem with Tolkien was not enough gore, sex and misery.
They do not go home undamaged, Frodo does not 'get the girl' like in many fantasy Tolkien homages, and contrary to those who complain of black and white morality (though this book does have a fair deal of that) even Frodo is damaged by holding on to the ring for too long, which stands in for the temptation of power. There is not a lot of romance in this series (although you could make an argument for Frodo/Sam), which is fitting for a work about war, one of the things that makes it stand out as more realistic to me oddly enough. In a war with constant threat of death from above, your sex drive probably isn't going to be one of the first concerns on your mind (although I admit I'm not an expert on that and for some people it probably has the opposite effect - seek what thrills you can while you can, is not an uncommon mentality under threat). Here, war is terrible, not romantic, something that may leave you permanently damaged when you go play hero. This suits more a modern war than a medieval one, admittedly (until modern times, camps with trains of washer women were not unheard of, and war was glorified), which marks another difference between Tolkien and imitators and makes the fantasy strangely richer for it. (Tangently related: It's a weird fact that gorefests don't necessarily de-glorify war, and often the opposite.)
If you are curious about other human viewpoints, the religious undertones of the work may be a bonus, but this is a story that can be read without much thought toward religion at all. Having it (as well as a lot of the magic) largely be 'hidden' made it feel more like a fantasy version of the real world than works where gods actually constantly answer prayers, but like real world religion and magic if you think about it too much it will feel like a weak point - don't try to logic it.
I enjoyed the Hobbit more, which definitely did not have perfect heroes (they are thieves who aren't even that interested in slaying the dragon), but is still a much simpler work, although I feel it is also much better paced which is part of why I enjoyed it more and actually read it straight through as a kid. Nostalgia might also be a reason: my father would read it to me.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
I read this as part of my son's bed-time story. There are a lot of dark points in the book but so much about people continuing to try and do their best, even when all hope is lost. It's a great lesson for any child and it's the reason the Lord of the Rings remains one of my favorites.
Review of 'The Middle-earth Treasury : The Hobbit & the Lord of the Rings' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Kudos to Rob Inglis for creating a different voice for each hobbit and dwarf and wizard and Esgaroth resident and elf and spider and dragon, and actually singing the songs!!??!?!
Next to the audiobook for [b:The Graveyard Book|2213661|The Graveyard Book|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1303859949s/2213661.jpg|2219449], listening to this recording of The Hobbit was one of the most delightful listening experiences of my life, and I'm so excited to start The Lord of the Rings.
Lynn reviewed Above the Hush by Jacqueline Druga
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was a quick read that was great for an afternoon when I wanted something light. I think I'd have enjoyed it less had I not read the first one - this one had little room for character development and backstory.
Stephen Hayes reviewed Above the Hush by Jacqueline Druga
None
3 stars
A collection of short stories, mainly involving the sea and ships, around the coast of southern Africa.
kamen reviewed The Pursuit of the Pankera by Robert A. Heinlein
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
“You know what?” he said. “If I were to die or something, you know what I would do?”
He didn’t wait for me to say anything.
“I’d stick around,” he said. “I’d stick around a while.”
franksbooks reviewed Above the Hush by Jacqueline Druga
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The girls were a bit shocked, but I'm ecstatic they wanted me to move straight onto reading them The Two Towers
2020: MrMatey knows what’s going on.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Peut-être mon tome préféré de cette trilogie qui n'en est pas vraiment une. Le côté épique atteint son apogée et c'est ce qui rend ce tome aussi passionnant et mémorable.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Les aventures de la Communauté de l'Anneau, désormais dissoute, se poursuit. La première partie, suivant les aventures d'Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin et Merry m'a beaucoup plu, tandis que la seconde, avec Frodo et Sam m'a un peu plus ennuyé au début, même si la fin est plus intéressante. J'ai en tout cas toujours envie de poursuivre avec le troisième "tome".
Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Lire enfin en entier le Silmarillion m'a donné envie de relire le Seigneur des Anneaux, et c'est avec un vrai plaisir que j'ai replongé dans le début des aventures de Frodo et de ses compagnons à travers la Terre du Milieu.
Review of 'The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Boxed Set New Line Cinema Movie' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The first time I read The Hobbit I was 14. Now, 20 years later I've enjoyed it in English and even the translation is really good, reading Tolkien in his language it's a different thing. The expressiveness of his prose is a really different to the type of English texts I usually read. I'll re-read TLOTR in English some time in the future but as for now, I'll move to a novel into Spanish.
