Finished the day Mordor takes wing in the US... First time I read Tolkien was at school (i.e. more than 40 years ago) in dutch, now in the original. Book 5 is the most solemnly written, with quite a few archaic words I had to look up (wain, van, loth etc.). Some thee and thou's as well. I like it better if he writes plainly, which he usually does when the hobbits are center stage; book 5 is the most epic, battle-field ridden part of the book. All in all, it remains a monumental, genre-defining work, and a good read. Ideology is, of course, rather conservative, and there are some 'race' and 'blood' remarks as well as the insistence on hereditary qualities and positively valued class differences. And although women clearly belong at home in his universe, he is not shy of letting some play vital roles in the narrative.