Book Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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BOOK review
Started on: 9.August.2012
Finished on: 16.August.2012

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title : The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
Author : J.R.R. Tolkien
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Pages : 458 Pages
Year of Publication : 1954
Price : $8.65 (http://www.amazon.com/)

Rating: 5/5

For those of you who are curious on how Bilbo got hold of the Ring, read my review for The Hobbit here.
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"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

It all begins on the day of Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first (111st) birthday, when he departed from the Shire, the land of Hobbits. On that same day, it was also his adopted heir, Frodo Baggins' birthday - his coming of age at 33. After Bilbo left, Frodo inherited all of his belongings, including Bag End - their home, and also a Ring which he had found on his adventures. The Ring used by Bilbo to make himself invisible, but Gandalf - his wizard friend, forced him to leave the Ring to Frodo. Without even knowing much about the Ring, Frodo was told to keep the Ring a secret. Only years later that he found out, that it is the One Ring which belongs to Sauron, the Dark Lord.

Sauron created the Ring to rule Middle-Earth, but he was overthrown and defeated by Gil-Galad the Elven King and Elendil the High King. Isildur, son of Elendil, cut the Ring from Sauron's hand. For a long time the Ring was gone, and one time it came upon a creature named Smeagol - who instantly felt that the Ring was his. Smeagol possessed the Ring for many many years, and because of the Ring he became evil - and named Gollum. And so Gandalf warned Frodo not to wear the Ring because it has the ability to influence the bearer if worn for a long time. It is also no longer safe for Frodo to stay in the Shire, because Gandalf found out that Gollum had went to Mordor and exposed the fact that the One Ring is in the hands of a hobbit named Baggins. So Frodo then set to go on a long adventure towards Rivendell - where Frodo, as well as the Ring, will be safe from the Dark Lord. Along with three other hobbits: Sam Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck, and Pippin Took, the four of them set out on a journey full of obstacles and dark enemies.

"He was fully awake now, and the memory of his journey was returning: the disastrous 'short cut' through the Old Forest, the 'accident' at The Prancing Pony; and his madness in putting on the Ring in the dell under Weathertop."

However, after the long and troublesome journey, Frodo and his companions finally managed to reach Rivendell - with the help of Strider, a ranger whose actual name is Aragorn. In Rivendell, the land of Elves, everyone gathered to decide what to do with the Ring. Each tells the story that they know about the Ring; Bilbo and how he found it, Frodo who experienced its' evil being, even Gandalf who tells that Saruman - the chief wizard in Middle Earth, has turned against them and wanted the Ring for himself. And so after long discussion, the council decided that the Ring must be destroyed, by casting it into the fire of Mount Doom in Mordor to end Sauron's power forever. In the end, Frodo was chosen as the Ring-bearer; and Elrond had chosen 8 companion to go along with Frodo: Two Men: Aragorn and Boromir, Legolas - the Elven Prince from Mirkwood, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, and Frodo's three hobbit-friend: Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Together they, The Fellowship of the Ring, goes on a journey to bring the One Ring to Mordor.

"Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains, they will endure."

"Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him for ever by strength, two things only remain for us to attempt: to send it over the Sea, or to destroy it."

After last time reading Tolkien's The Hobbit, which tells the story of Bilbo Baggins' adventure and how he got hold of the Ring, I kind of understood the flow of Tolkien's story. Even though there are some relation between The Hobbit and the first book of The Lord of the Rings, both are different stories and I can assure that you can read them both separately - in any order that you like. I've been wanting to continue reading Tolkien's work right after The Hobbit, but always been intimidated by the number of pages and the super tight writings in the book. Now, I didn't even regret one bit that I spent 8 days to finish this book, because this book is literally awesome! I love you Mr. Tolkien ♥

The book is separated into two sections; called Book I and Book II. The first section focused more on the hobbits - starting from Bilbo's birthday party, Bilbo's departure from the Shire, Frodo inherited the Ring, and the journey of Frodo and his companion to escape from the Black Riders. While the second part is when other characters finally get more portions such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond, Gimli, and all the others. In the second part, their journey to destroy the Ring also begins. For me, the first part was quite slow-paced. There are tons of details and unfortunately the obstacles aren't that exciting and the hobbits does get a lot of help from other people instead of fighting on their own. But thankfully, after their meeting with Aragorn, the story started to get more intense and from that point onwards I can't stop reading. Book II is even more of a page-turner because the journey is getting more and more intense and amazing!

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king."

Even though there are many great characters in this book, somehow only one has successfully captured my attention since his first appearance: ♥ Aragorn son of Arathorn ♥. When I searched for Aragorn's pictures, I found the one from the movie adaptation; and I was quite disappointed actually, because that's not how I imagined him in my mind ;__; But nevertheless, I still adore him so much because he's Aragorn! His first appearance in the book is in The Prancing Pony, where he first met Frodo and his companions. My liking towards Aragorn grew even bigger throughout the journey, because somehow I can just feel his charisma and wisdom from the story. Gandalf the Grey, is actually one of my other favorite characters too. I don't know why I think he's cute; not in terms of looks, though - but in personality. And somehow Gandalf reminds me a lot of Professor Dumbledore, just because they are both wizards and are men with beards.

I've been wondering about Legolas too, since I know this character is extremely famous (played by Orlando Bloom) and adored by many. But unfortunately, Legolas doesn't play much part in this book; so I wasn't really fond of him. Hopefully he'll show up a lot more in the second book :)

Another thing that still makes me wonder with awe, is that the amount of detail in the story is to the point of unbelievable for me. With all the writings, the maps, Elven language; even the name of places are also nothing short of spectacular. Even though all the information seems too much to take for me, and I wasn't able to remember each and every detail, I still respect Tolkien so much for writing this super amazing tale. My favorite namings in the book would be Aragorn, Elrond, Galadriel, Lothlorien, Isildur, MORDOR (the place of evil >:(), and Arwen. I think there are more, but right now I can't seem to remember all of them.

I am absolutely very excited to read the next book, The Two Towers, but have to delay it for now because I'm going to read other books first. And reading LOTR series also takes a lot of my time and I can't be productive in writing reviews. So, I'll probably continue reading the next book some time next month? Or next two months? But I'll be sure to write the movie adaptation review for The Fellowship of the Ring! Hopefully the movie won't disappoint me and will be as amazing as the book. Even though I'm pretty sure most of you have watched the movie already (and I haven't ;___;), please bear with me! ;)

by.stefaniesugia♥ .