Star Trek: The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway (2020) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty good. I'm back with yet another book review. I know, I've done quite a bit of them lately, but I wanted to do reviews for the three Star Trek: Autobiography books that I own and since I was rereading all three following my first complete readthrough of The Lord of the Rings, I figured now was the best time to get these reviews out. Today I'm reviewing The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway by Una McCormack, who has written several Star Trek novels over the last 21 years. There won't be as many spoilers for Star Trek: Voyager as the previous two books had for TOS and TNG respectively, as Janeway doesn't go into specific detail on as many episodes as Kirk and Picard did in their books. I'll be talking about that in the review. So, without further ado, let's get into it.

While the Kirk and Picard books spent a good chunk of their pages telling stories that took place both during their respective shows, as well as their respective movies, The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway spends alot more time on Janeway's career prior to her taking command of the U.S.S. Voyager rather than on what happened during the show or after Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. I think that's because the show itself, Star Trek: Voyager, doesn't have as many major, redefining, moments as TNG and DS9 did and the TOS movies had. I've always thought that Voyager was focused more on the characters and their journeys because the big events like the Dominion War, the bulk of the Maquis conflict, Borg invasions, and the original peace treaty between the Federation and the Cardassian Union happened on TNG and DS9. Which makes sense since the ship was stranded in the Delta Quadrant for the entirety of the show's seven seasons. So it had no connection to everything happening in the Alpha Quadrant on the other two shows, particularly since DS9 aired in tandem with Voyager for Voyager's first five seasons.

In a way I do like that about this book, because it gives Una McCormack the chance to write Janeway more introspectively than Goodman was able to write Kirk and Picard in their Autobiographies. Janeway had alot of difficult decisions to make during her time as the commanding officer of Voyager because the ship was in completely uncharted territory and she was the only Starfleet captain in the area, until they encountered Captain Ransom and the Equinox in the season five finale. Because of that, Janeway had to make decisions and choices that Kirk and Picard didn't. She also didn't have anyone really to talk to about her doubts. Though she does speak to Tuvok and Chakotay about the broader shipboard problems her and the crew face on a daily basis. It's the personal problems that Janeway is alone on.

As with the Picard book, this one does contradict the post-series events. In this case, that's because it was written before Picard, Lower Decks, and Prodigy all went into production, even though it was published after season 1 of both Picard and Lower Decks had finished airing. So everything we know of where Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor ended up after the ship returned to the Alpha Quadrant from those three shows is very different in this book than they are in the TV shows.

While the rest of the crew's fates have been different in every version, it's interesting that in the TV/movie continuity, this book, and the post TV show Voyager novels that were published between 2003 and 2020 by Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster's other imprint, Gallery Books, Janeway was always promoted to admiral upon Voyager's return. I think that's because it was revealed to us in Star Trek Nemesis in 2002 first, whereas the novels were all published after the movie came out. And the novels and comics can't contradict anything from the shows and movies, which is why Paramount chose to keep the novels, comics, video games, and reference material non-canon after Roddenberry passed away in 1991, because it was just too easy for them to contradict or hamper the stories being told on the TV shows and in the movies. Especially in the '90s when multiple shows were on the air and multiple movies were in production simultaneously. 

Of the episodes that Janeway mentions in the book, I'm surprised the "Lower Decks" (season 7 TNG episode, not the current animated series) inspired episode, "Good Shepherd", where Janeway leads an away team of three crewmen who have slipped through the cracks, despite Voyager being such a small ship, and are impeding crew efficiency, wasn't mentioned at all. The major ones like "Basics", "Scorpion", "Equinox", "Message in a Bottle", and "Endgame", among others, are mentioned, but not one that, in my opinion, was, as an episode focused on three non-commissioned Lower Deckers, just as important as any episode focused on Harry Kim or Tom Paris or the Doctor or Seven of Nine. The reason I'm surprised that "Good Shepherd" isn't mentioned is because throughout the book, particularly in the TV show proper chapters, Janeway talks alot about taking care of her crew. Which is exactly what she does in that episode. And because it's such a good example of Janeway taking care of her crew, it's interesting that Una didn't include it in the book.

Overall this was a great book. It was great getting Janeway's private thoughts on the events that she and the Voyager crew experienced while in the Delta Quadrant, as well as getting a look at Janeway's life prior to becoming a captain, and her life after Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. If you're a fan of Star Trek: Voyager, or just a fan of Kathryn Janeway because of Star Trek: Prodigy, I recommend reading this book. It's a fascinating look into the life of "The captain who went further than any had before" as the book's cover says.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more blog posts in the very near future. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Trek: The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard (2017) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Friday. I'm back with another book review, where I'm taking a look at the next book in the Star Trek: Autobiography series published by Titan Books. I don't have the Spock one, so up next is The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard, which was written by David A. Goodman, who also wrote The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, which I reviewed on Monday. Like with the Kirk one, this book mostly contains spoilers for certain events shown on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the movies Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and Star Trek Nemesis (2002). There's no mention of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) though, similar to how the Kirk book didn't mention the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). I will be talking about those spoilers because this book expands upon several episodes as well as the movies that are brought up in the book as well. So let's get into it.

Because The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard was written and published before Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023) was even thought of, it presents alternative outcomes for both the fate of Picard's mother, Yvette, and the years after Nemesis and the 24th Century backstory for the 2009 Star Trek movie. While season 3 of Picard was great, the first two seasons weren't, and while Yvette's death is still tragic (she died after a fight with Irumodic Syndrome, the disease that killed Picard's body in the first season of Picard), it's preferrable to her suicide due to mental illness. And the events both between and after the backstory from Star Trek '09, are much more optimistic than those depicted in Picard. Jean-Luc and Beverly got married between Nemesis and '09, and they even invited Q to the wedding (he disguised himself of course), and then after being the Federation ambassador to Vulcan for several years, Jean-Luc retired from Federation service to the Picard Vineyard and started producing the family wine, while Beverly took command of the USS Pasteur, as she had done in the Anti-Time Future seen in the TNG series finale, "All Good Things...". Again, a much more preferrable outcome than the one we got in Picard.

However, the bulk of the book actually focuses on Picard's career aboard the Stargazer, including his rise in the ranks and the lead up to him being forced to take command after his captain was killed and the first officer, after being in command for a month as the captain. It shows the ship's role in the war with the Cardassians, the near war with the Klingons just before the Enterprise-C's sacrifice at Narendra III solidified the Federation-Klingon Alliance, and the tragic death of Jack Crusher, which was combined with Picard's encounter with the Chalnoth as mentioned in the TNG season 3 episode, "Alliances", so that the Chalnoth killed him while he was trying to rescue an away team that Picard had sent down. He also met Guinan during this period too.

The part that interested me the most though was the period between the abandonment of the Stargazer and Picard assuming command of the Enterprise-D prior to the TNG pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint". Picard becomes a troubleshooter for Admiral Quinn, who appeared in the season 1 episodes, "Coming of Age" and "Conspiracy", where he would go around the fleet and solve problems.

This period in Picard's history was originally depicted in the 2007 novel, The Buried Age, which was written by Christopher L. Bennett as part of the Lost Era. However, while that book had a much smaller viewpoint to focus on, as Picard only met Guinan, Deanna Troi and Data during this period, this book was much larger as he not only met Data and Deanna during this period, but he also met Tasha Yar, Geordi La Forge, and Worf during this period as well. Which is interesting because, while we knew of how Picard met Geordi through dialogue in the season 5 episode, "The Next Phase", and we also know alot about Geordi's Starfleet career prior to serving on the Enterprise, we have nothing in canon that talks about Worf's career or Tasha's. Being that Worf was a Lieutenant Junior Grade during the first two seasons of TNG, it stands to reason it hadn't been that long since he'd graduated from Starfleet Academy and therefore had had only one assignment prior to being assigned to the Enterprise. It also expands upon Worf's role on the ship during season 1. While he only acted as a relief officer for the Tactical, Ops, and Conn stations on the Bridge for most of the first season, he was also a member of Tasha's security team, hence why he was with the team that tried to apprehend Lore in "Datalore", and why Picard chose him to replace Tasha as chief of security after her death in "Skin of Evil".

I think what I like most about this book is that it does give names to some of the unseen crews and captains who were killed or assimilated during the Battle of Wolf 359. Apart from Sisko and the crew of the Saratoga, Admiral Hanson, and the few people who were there that we met in various episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, who had been assimilated, we never saw the larger scope of the battle, only that of the people I mentioned like Sisko and Hanson. But knowing that Captain DeSoto, who we never saw on screen, but who was Riker's commanding officer prior to Riker transferring to the Enterprise, as well as a friend of Picard's, Marta Batanides and Corey Zweller, who were Picard's Academy friends as seen in the season 6 episode, "Tapestry", and his former Ops officer on the Stargazer, Cheva, who is original to this book, were all there and all killed when their respective ships were destroyed, makes it that much more personal for Picard, which in turn, makes it much more personal for me as a reader.

I also like how it handles the aftermath of Picard having been captured and tortured by the Cardassians in "Chain of Command", giving weight to his disorientation when meeting Sisko in the pilot episode of DS9, "Emissary". While we got things from Picard's perspective on his first meeting with Sisko in the novelization for "Emissary", this was the first attempt to attribute him missing who Sisko was and what ship he'd served on prior to being assigned to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards for the next three years, to his uneasiness at being at a Cardassian station as a result of his recent captivity.

My favourite part though is seeing what happened between TNG seasons 1 and 2 and seasons 2 and 3 in regards to how Geordi became chief engineer, how and why Pulaski replaced Beverly, and how Beverly returned to the Enterprise before the beginning of season 3, AND how Ten Forward was built and how Picard informed Guinan that he'd figured out how to build a bar on his ship, and that he wanted her to tend it.

I would've liked to have seen Ro Laren being mentioned and how through her Picard came to know the Bajorans as he mentioned to Sisko in "Emissary". I also would've loved to have seen what effect Ro's defection to the Maquis in "Pre-emptive Strike", which was the last regular episode of TNG before the series finale, beyond what we actually saw at the end of that episode. But for whatever reason, Goodman chose not to include anything having to do with Ro or the events in "Pre-Emptive Strike". Which is fine, but after we saw the resolution of Picard and Ro's storyline in season 3 of Picard, it would've been interesting to see that resolution told in this book since it was written and published only a year before Star Trek: Picard was commissioned by Paramount and Paramount+ (when it was known as CBS All Access).

Other than that there really aren't any particular TNG episode I would've liked seeing Picard's perspective on in this book. All the major and personal events in Picard's life are included here, and it's very well written.

Overall, this is an awesome book. I actually like it better than the Kirk one, again, also by Goodman. I think it's because Picard is my favourite Star Trek Captain, next to Janeway and Pike. If you're a Picard fan or just a fan of TNG in general I definitely recommend reading this book. It's very indepth and we get to know characters like Walker Keel and Jack Crusher, who only appeared in one episode, or appeared in holographic form and in flashback in the case of Jack.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more reviews and other posts. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Trek: The Autobiography of James T. Kirk (2015) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing great. I had my second Dungeons & Dragons session yesterday, and I had alot of fun. I ended up staying up a bit later and ended up finishing reading The Autobiography of James T. Kirk by David A. Goodman, and published by Titan Books. Which is what I'm reviewing today. Because this book is basically an in universe autobiography of Kirk, the spoilers in this book are for stuff we never got to see on TOS or in the movies, but there are also spoilers for the TV show and the movies up to Star Trek Generations (1994). Let's get into it.

One of the things that I love about this book is that it connects the events between movies. So many novels and comics have attempted to tell the story of what happened between each movie, be it Kirk's second five year mission as captain of the Enterprise between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, or what happened between the '60s TV show and The Motion Picture but because they were all written independent of each other, none of them line up with each other. Same with the events of how Kirk took command of the Enterprise after Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain. 

I also like how reflective Kirk is in this book. We see him as a leader, and this larger than life person, but in this book, he's just Jim Kirk. The man, instead of the myth. And that's extremely refreshing. Especially when the book shows the events that shaped Kirk into the captain we saw on the TV and movie screens. We got to see how he managed to become an admiral again between the first two movies, when he was Captain Kirk again at the end of The Motion Picture. We also see his internal struggle with why he blew up the Enterprise in The Search for Spock, following the death of his son, David at the hands of the Klingons.

Speaking of the Klingons, the movies seemed to imply that his hatred of Klingons started with the third movie, but this book showed that Kirk always hated Klingons, even as a kid. Which is interesting, because we only see a fraction of Kirk's life on the TV show and so we never saw what happened before the show.

This book was written and published in 2015, so there isn't anything from the first two seasons of Discovery, either season of Short Treks, or Strange New Worlds included in the book. Which is bizarre in a way because it doesn't include anything from any of the novels published by Simon & Schuster or the earlier Del Rey and Bantam TOS novels either. It just sticks to the movies, the TV shows, and background material that we've learned about throughout the show and movies. The animated series isn't mentioned either, but there weren't alot of Kirk centric episodes in TAS so the show was skipped over in the book. 

Overall, this was an interesting read. It sheds alot more light on Federation and Starfleet politics during Kirk's career, which we hadn't had in the franchise yet at the point when this book was published, so it was interesting to see how characters we either never saw but were mentioned, like Nogura, or we only saw in a few movies, like Morrow and Cartwright, were connected. If you're a fan of the original Star Trek TV series, and you haven't read this book before, I recommend it. 

That's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more blog posts. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The First Sitcoms I Ever Saw - A TV Show Discussion

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm going to be talking about the first sitcoms that I ever saw. There are eleven of them and I don't remember in what order I watched them in, so I'm gonna go in alphabetical order. Also, there was gonna be twelve of them, but I really don't want to talk about The Cosby Show for obvious reasons, so I left it off the list, even though it is one of the first sitcoms I ever watched. I'm also not including M*A*S*H on this list either, because, even though Wikipedia does list it as a sitcom on the page for that show, I don't consider it to be one. Let's get into it.

The first show I wanna talk about on this list is Cheers which aired for eleven seasons on NBC from September 30th, 1982 until May 20th, 1993. For the few of you who don't know what this show is about, Cheers was about the people in a bar known as Cheers, where "Everybody knows your name" as the theme song put it. It starred Ted Danson, Shelley Long (Seasons 1-5), Kirstie Alley (Seasons 6-11), Woody Harrelson, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman, Nicholas Colasanto (Seasons 1-3), Kelsey Grammer, George Wendt, and Bebe Neuwirth. Even though the show has been off the air for the last 31 years, it's legacy has been a lasting one as it had a successful spin-off in Frasier (1993-2004), which just returned on Paramount+ in 2023. It was on CJOH here in Canada during its entire run, though it did air on Global as well from 1990 to 1993. I don't remember which channel we watched it on though.

 Next up is Dinosaurs, which aired on ABC in the U.S., and CHRO here in Ottawa, from April 26th, 1991 until July 20th, 1994, with reruns airing on Family Channel in 1992 until sometime in the late '90s. I loved this show growing up. Particularly Baby Sinclair. Kevin Clash, who is well known as Elmo on Sesame Street from 1985 until 2012, voiced Baby Sinclair. The show was created by Michael Jacobs, who is known for also creating My Two Dads in 1988, and Boy Meets World in 1993. 

 Then we have Family Matters, which aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 22nd, 1989 to May 9th 1997, and for one season on CBS from September 19th, 1997 to July 17th, 1998. We all know Steve Urkel. The show was part of ABC's TGIF block for the first eight seasons before changing networks in 1997. It was definitely not on ABC anymore by the time my family and I were watching Boy Meets World, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Teen Angel, and You Wish. I actually didn't watch it on ABC though. Here in Canada it aired on CTV (CJOH is the CTV station here in Ottawa) alongside Full House, another Miller-Boyett Productions series which I'll be talking about a little bit later.

Next is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired for six seasons on NBC from September 10th, 1990 until May 20th, 1996. I honestly don't remember what channel it aired on here in Canada. I think it was CHRO, but it also aired on various channels when it went into syndication in 1994, including CBC. So it's possible that it aired on CBC the whole time, but I'm pretty sure it was on CHRO or CJOH, or we just watched it on NBC when we had access to NBC.

And then we have Full House, which aired for eight seasons on ABC's TGIF block from September 22nd, 1987 until May 23rd, 1995. This was probably my favourite sitcom when I was a kid. I think we stopped watching it after season 6, even though we still had CTV/CJOH after we moved to the log house, because I don't remember watching the final two seasons until they aired in reruns on CTS (Crossroads Television System) in the mid-2000s. I do remember Jesse (John Stamos) having a mullet in the first season, which I watched in reruns, and the episode I remember the most was "The House Meets the Mouse Part 1", which was the first part of the two part season 6 finale where the Tanners, along with Jesse, Becky, Nicky, Alex, Kimmy, and Joey head off to Walt Disney World. 

The reason I remember this episode so well is because my parents taped it for me just in case I couldn't watch it as I was in the hospital at the time, and those small hospital room TVs only had ten channels that could be shown on it at a time, and they were always pre-set so until you turned them on, you never knew what channels you were going to get. There was also a little panel on the side, which you could flip open and reset the TV channels to whichever ones you wanted that were part of Canadian cable packages at the time. During my time in the hospital we always tried to set the TV to CBC, CTV, CHRO, PBS, and YTV, as those were the channels I watched the most with all the kids programming on CBC, CTV, PBS and YTV, and with Star Trek: The Next Generation airing on CHRO, I had to have that channel. Especially if I didn't have any of my TNG VHS tapes with me.

Get Smart, which aired for four seasons on NBC from September 18th, 1965 until March 29th, 1969, and for one season on CBS from September 26th, 1969 until May 15th, 1970, is a show I remember watching all the time. Of course by the time I was growing up in the late '80s and the '90s, the show had been over for 20 years. However, it aired in syndication on YTV from 1990 until 1995, and that's where I remember watching it. I remember watching it around midday along with The Flintstones (1960-1966) and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1959-1964). Of course, it stars Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, the titular character of the show. As mentioned in my post on Inspector Gadget, Don Adams would go on to voice Inspector Gadget. It's appeared on other channels here over the years since then, but I haven't seen it in about twenty years, though my dad has the first season on DVD.

Growing Pains, which aired for seven seasons on ABC from September 24th, 1985 until April 25th, 1992, is a show I only vaguely remember watching. The reason being that it hasn't returned in syndication in my area since it went off the air in 1992. The only reason I remember watching it is because it aired alongside Who's the Boss? on Global in 1989-1990, during the time my dad taped all of those episodes of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin for me, and there's a commercial for both shows on one of the tapes. Obviously Alan Thicke appeared on various shows over the years, and Kirk Cameron is the brother of Full House star, Candace Cameron-Bure, though he hasn't had anything high profile come out in decades (I am well aware of his status though). 

I honestly don't remember what channel I first watched Happy Days, which originally aired for 11 seasons on ABC from January 15th, 1974 until July 19th, 1984, on. It was in syndicated reruns obviously, but it's not listed on YTV, so I didn't watch it there. I remember watching it on CTS in the mid-2000s along with The Muppet Show, Full House, and reruns of early seasons of 7th Heaven, but I don't remember where I watched it in the early '90s. Fonzie, played Henry Winkler was my favourite, though Don Most as Ralph Malph and Anson Williams as Potsie were hilarious. This was also my introduction to Ron Howard as an actor, which is cool. 

The Munsters, which aired for two seasons on CBS from September 24th, 1964 until May 12th, 1966, is another show that I remember watching, but I don't remember what channel I watched it on. It's possible that I watched it on YTV, but I can't find it on the list of former shows that aired on the channel on Wikipedia. The show was my introduction to classic horror film figures such as Frankenstein's Monster (Herman), Dracula (Grampa), Dracula's Daughter/the Bride of Frankenstein (Lily), and the Wolf Man (Eddie). I haven't seen this show in forever, but I remember loving it. As much as I love the Addams Family, I think I've always preferred the Munsters, because I watched the original '60s show, whereas I don't remember ever watching The Addams Family. I watched the '90s cartoon adaptation and the live action movies, but the only live action TV version I watched was The New Addams Family, which aired on YTV from 1998 to 1999.

Roseanne, which aired for nine seasons on ABC from October 18th, 1988 until May 20th, 1997, and then for one more season on ABC from March 27th until May 22nd, 2018 before transitioning into The Conners (2018-Present), which I also watched a few episodes of, is the show that introduced me to Laurie Metcalf, Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, and John Goodman, with three of them going on to work on The Big Bang Theory, with Galecki playing Leonard, Laurie playing Sheldon's mom, Mary, and Sara playing recurring character Leslie Winkle. And of course, Goodman has been in alot of movies that I've enjoyed over the years. It's also a really weird show because, even though it got canceled in 2018, it still lives on with The Conners, which has been on longer than I expected it to be.

Finally we come to the final show on this list, Who's the Boss?, which aired for 8 seasons on ABC from September 20th, 1984 until April 22nd, 1992. I have more fond memories of watching Who's the Boss? than I do watching Growing Pains. Not that I didn't like Growing Pains, but I preferred Who's the Boss?. I think it's because of the combination of the dynamic between Tony, played by Tony Danza, and Angela, played by Judith Light, and the fact that Mona, played by Katherine Helmond, was lots of fun. Of course, Alyssa Milano being on the show didn't hurt either. Her character, Sam was pretty cool. Like with Growing Pains, I don't remember watching Who's the Boss? after the first six or seven seasons when it was originally on, as I remember watching it on Global, but I don't remember watching it anywhere else until the mid to late 2000s when it was on in syndication on a channel that I don't remember the name of. It was a Canadian channel though and on our cable package at the time, the channel was in the fifties. 

And that's it. That's my list of the first eleven sitcoms that I ever watched in my entire life. This is another topic that I've been wanting to talk about for a while now, and with many of these shows either already 40 years old or more, or about to reach their 40th anniversaries, I figured that now would be the perfect time to talk about them. I'll be back soon with more posts so until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

The Return of the King (1955) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Apologies for my absence for the last three weeks, but I've actually been busy. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons last Sunday (April 7th) and I had alot to do to get ready for my first session. But, I'm back and ready for more blog posts. Today I'm reviewing The Return of the King, the final part of The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm probably not going to talk about spoilers in this review, even though the book is 69 years old at this point, but just in case I do include spoilers, this is your spoiler warning. Let's get into it!

Published on the 20th of October, 1955, nearly a full year after The Two Towers was published, The Return of the King is the final book in the trilogy. Even though I saw the movie after it came out in 2003, this was my first time reading the book and I was surprised how action packed it actually is. People often criticize Tolkien for having long descriptions about  everything, but honestly, I only felt that, outside of the Appendices at the end of this book, the long descriptions and lore building exposition are really only limited to The Fellowship of the Ring as not only is it the first book, but when it was originally published in 1954, there was a chance that people hadn't read The Hobbit, and so the book also had to include Bilbo's background as part of the long history of the One Ring.

Like with The Two Towers, The Return of the King divides itself between everything going on in Gondor with Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf and the rest who are fighting the War against Sauron, and Frodo and Sam's quest to destroy the Ring. The second half is further split up between Sam and Frodo's quest, which ends in this book, and the return to the Shire, where Saruman, following his defeat by Gandalf in The Two Towers, has set himself up as the Middle Earth equivalent of a Mob Boss or petty dictator. 

While many people complain that the book has multiple endings, the world of Middle Earth is so complex and dense that a book of this scale needs multiple endings in order to wrap everything up so that there aren't any dangling plot threads left at the end of the story. We also basically know what happened to everybody as a result so that, as the audience, we aren't left wondering, "What happened to Gandalf?" or "What happened to Bilbo?" or "What happened to Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam?" or any other permutations of that "What ever happened to?" question. What Tolkien doesn't do is bog the story down in details about what Aragorn and Arwen were doing after the story. He saved those for the first of the Appendices, Appendix A. 

Speaking of the Appendices, I didn't bother to read all of them, but I did read Appendix A, and found it quite informative. I also read Appendix B, which basically gives a chronology or timeline of all the events that happened in Middle Earth from the First Age, right through to the end of the Third Age, which is when The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place. The others I didn't bother reading as it's way too much information and stuff I didn't need to know to enjoy the story unless I wanted to learn to speak and write the Elf, Dwarf, and Hobbit languages. Which I don't.

Overall, The Return of the King is a great ending to this epic tale. The characters are fantastic, there's humour, there's heart, and the ending of the book is positive and upbeat. Especially after Frodo and his friends save the Shire from Saruman. Honestly, when Tolkien described the Shire in that second to last chapter, where everyone is oppressed and the place had become dark and gloomy, it reminded me of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when you return to the Kokiri Forest as Adult Link only to find it to be dark and gloomy and completely overrun by enemies like the Deku Babas and Mad Scrubs. But I guess that's what happens when you spent your childhood playing fantasy games, watching children's fantasy shows, and immersing yourself in the realm of geekdom.

Having now finished reading The Lord of the Rings, I certainly have become more of a fan of the trilogy itself. However, apart from The Hobbit, which is still my favourite of Tolkien's work, and one of my favourite books of all time, I have no interest in reading Tolkien's other works. Even the ones set in Middle Earth. The reason being that they do take quite a bit of time to read and, as someone who reviews books on this blog, I'd basically have to stop reading other books altogether and focus my entire attention to reading the works of Tolkien and I don't feel like doing that. Even if I didn't review books on this blog, I'd have to stop reading anything else altogether just to get through everything. As it is it's probably going to be a long time before I read The Lord of the Rings again, but, I will read it again at some point. Maybe it'll be something that I do annually, as I do A Song of Ice and Fire and the Star Wars: X-Wing series. 

I recommend reading the books. Especially if you're a fan of Fantasy and love storytelling in that realm. If you can get past the density and long exposition, this is a great series to read. Especially on those cold winter days or rainy days in the summertime. I'm not sure if I'd classify The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy to read on the beach or by a pool, but it's still a great read. It was definitely much easier to read in the three volume edition than it was in the seven volume edition that I used to have.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today, but I'll be back soon with more posts. I promise it won't be another three weeks before that next post comes out. So until then, have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.