The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien | 1954–1955 | William Morrow and Co. | Hardcover $ 38
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
This is a foundational text in the high fantasy genre, not to mention a personal favorite overdue for a reread, so of course it had to go on my list for Classics Club!
I first read this book in the early aughts, when the live-action film adaptations were first being released. The Hobbit — the associated children’s book and prequel — had been on my shelves for a few years prior, but it was the movies that induced teen-me to graduate to the grown-up trilogy.
Lord of the Rings is really meant to be a single novel, but it was originally published in three separate volumes and is still presented in a book with three parts, so referring to it as a trilogy is pretty common.
Anyway, I reread it at least twice more while in college, and even had to replace my falling-apart paperback copy with a sturdier binding, but it’s actually been gathering dust on my bookshelves since then. It was high time for a reread.
It’s always a little bit of a risk, revisiting an old favorite after a long absence. Sometimes stories just don’t hold up to the nostalgia. A book may be just what is needed for a person at one point in their life, but a complete waste of time for that same person at any other point in their timeline.
Thankfully, The Lord of the Rings did not disappoint. If anything, I think my appreciation for the book has grown after reading it with another decade’s worth of fantasy genre reading under my belt. The lyrical quality of the prose really captured my heart this time around, when in my earlier readings it was just something that seemed nice but also sort of old-fashioned to me.
I would recommend this book to… gosh, I’m tempted to say everyone! But realistically, this is a book that is probably best appreciated by people who enjoy epic adventures with black-and-white protagonists and antagonists, not to mention incredibly detailed worldbuilding.
Links:
- The Tolkien Estate
- Biography of the author from The Tolkien Society
- J.R.R. Tolkien Collection at Marquette University Raynor Memorial Library
Publication information: Tolkien, J.R.R. The lord of the rings. New York, NY: William Morrow and Co., 2005. Print.
Source: Personal library.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
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