The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing well. The weather is bizarre, but otherwise things are good. Today I'm going to be reviewing The Fellowship of the Ring, which is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. I did read The Hobbit but I decided to review that another time, instead choosing to simply focus on The Lord of the Rings. Mainly because this year is the 70th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, and the 70th anniversary of The Return of the King being next year, in 2025. And because this is a 70 year old novel there will be spoilers as I see fit to include them. So let's get into it.

Published on the 29th of July, 1954, The Fellowship of the Ring reintroduces us to Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit who was the main character of The Hobbit, which was published on the 21st of September, 1937, as well as his friend, the Wizard, Gandalf (played wonderfully by Sir Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson's movie adaptation). It also introduces Bilbo's younger cousin, Frodo, and Frodo's friends, Samwise Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck, and Pippin Took as well as many other characters such as Gimli the Dwarf, played by John Rhys-Davies in the movie, Legolas the Elf, played by Orlando Bloom, Aragorn, played by Viggo Mortensen, and Boromir, also a Human, played by Sean Bean, who gets killed by the end of the movie, which also paved the way for Sean Bean to play Ned Stark in Game of Thrones a decade later. But, I'll get into more of that when I review the Peter Jackson movies, at some point this year.

My history with The Lord of the Rings began just after the movie first came out in 2001, as it was one of the first movies, if not the first movie, we rented on DVD after my parents bought our first DVD player in late 2001 or early 2002. My grandmother bought me the 2001 book boxset (shown above) which contained the seven volume version, which bugged the hell out of me, because it was always distracting having to change volumes in the middle of the books. It particularly bothered me with The Fellowship of the Ring because you had this big action piece with the four Hobbits and Aragorn (known to them as Strider at this point) fighting off the Nazgul/Ringwraiths, and it ends with Frodo having been injured. And then, you get this very quiet first chapter in volume 2, before getting this massive info dump about the One Ring, how Bilbo obtained it during his adventure with the Dwarves many years earlier (as told in The Hobbit), and how Elrond advises the Fellowship on what to do with the Ring. Which kept me from reading it Tolkien's work, apart from The Hobbit.

 Then, for my birthday in 2023, my mom bought me this four book boxset (originally published in 2017, but re-released within the last couple of years) which included mini versions of the hardcover versions of The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King, which includes Tolkien's original dust jacket designs from the original editions of all four books which were published in 1937, 1954, and 1955 respectively. I gave my old editions of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to my sister. Honestly this version made reading The Fellowship of the Ring much more enjoyable this time around.

I think another reason I enjoyed The Fellowship of the Ring so much more this time around is because I've read alot more Fantasy than I had back in the early 2000s when I originally got the seven volume boxset and read Tolkien's work for the first time. I've read A Song of Ice and Fire, The Sword of Truth, Eragon, and The Chronicles of Narnia (which was being published around the same time as The Lord of the Rings was). And so I feel like I have more respect for the works that inspired so many authors to write books that built on concepts that Tolkien created. And like I said, reading the books all at once, in three volumes, rather than spreading it out among seven volumes (including the Appendices as volume 7).

Tolkien had an expansive story that he wanted to tell, which easily could've spanned volumes and volumes and he does such a good job at building up the world of Middle Earth, which is something I praised George R.R. Martin for in my A Song of Ice and Fire reviews. But, unlike Martin's work, Tolkien's includes a much smaller cast of characters that are unique to each volume of his work (including The Silmarillion, which I have not read before). For example, while Bilbo appears in The Lord of the Rings, specifically in The Fellowship of the Ring, he isn't the main character of that particular story set in Middle Earth. He's the main character of The Hobbit. He simply appears here to pass the Ring along to Frodo. Indeed, even Gandalf simply pops in and out of the story here even more than he did in The Hobbit.

It's funny because the last time I read this book, I didn't like the Tom Bombadil chapters very much. Yet, this time I absolutely loved those chapters. Same with "The Shadow of the Past" and "The Council of Elrond". Despite the fact that it took me several days to get through "The Council of Elrond", simply because it is such a long chapter. There's so much backstory within that chapter, that, we, as the readers, didn't necessarily need, but it's all stuff that Frodo and the others needed to know for their upcoming journey once they leave Rivendell. It also doesn't rehash everything that Gandalf told Frodo in "The Shadow of the Past", nor does it rehash the events of The Hobbit in their entirety. Which would just bog the book down completely. 

Even though I really like Frodo as a character, my favourite is Samewise Gamgee, played by Sean Astin in the movie. There's just something so innocent and loyal about him that makes him the best companion a protagonist could ask for in a Fantasy series. From the getgo, Sam knows that Frodo plans to leave the Shire with the Ring, and even before Merry and Pippin get involved, Sam made up his mind to follow Frodo all the way to Mordor if their journey came to that. Even at the end of the book, after Frodo escapes from the crazed Boromir, and plans on sneaking off into the night to make his way to Mount Doom in Mordor, Sam knows his friend and master well enough to understand that Frodo was going to sneak off, not wanting to put his friends in further danger, and even knowing the danger, chose to go with Frodo anyway, knowing that Frodo wouldn't be able to destroy the Ring on his own. Especially because Gollum had been tracking them since Rivendell, and could attack at any moment.

What else can I say about a book that has been talked about endlessly over the last 70 years? I really enjoyed it. Yes, the pace is slow, and there's alot of information being given to the readers, as well as the characters in those two chapters I mentioned earlier. But, it's still enjoyable in a way that I didn't appreciate until I started this reread. I've always loved The Hobbit, but I'm starting to enjoy The Lord of the Rings more than I used to.

Alright my friends, I think that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more blog posts, including the next part in my Star Wars Legends novel overview series. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.