Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16500 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1216 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
A Christian can be forgiven for not reading the Bible--heck, it's a pretty big book after all. But there's no salvation for a fantasy fan who hasn't read the gospel of the genre, J.R.R. Tolkien's definitive three-book epic, The Lord of the Rings (encompassing The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King), and its charming precursor, The Hobbit. That many (if not most) fantasy works are in some way derivative of Tolkien is understood, but the influence of The Lord of the Rings is so universal that everybody from George Lucas to Led Zeppelin has appropriated it for one purpose or another.

Not just revolutionary because it was groundbreaking, The Lord of the Rings is timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelf mind. Tolkien was a distinguished linguist and Oxford scholar of dead languages, with strong ideas about the importance of myth and story and a deep appreciation of nature. His epic, 10 years in the making, recounts the Great War of the Ring and the closing of Middle-Earth's Third Age, a time when magic begins to fade from the world and men rise to dominance. Tolkien carefully details this transition with tremendous skill and love, creating in The Lord of the Rings a universal and all-embracing tale, a justly celebrated classic. --Paul Hughes, Amazon.com

New Statesman
"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness"

Synopsis
All three parts of epic masterpiece 'The Lord of the Rings' in one paperback. Features brand new packaging, the definitive edition of the text, fold-out flaps with the original two-colour maps, and a revised and expanded index. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power -- the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring -- the ring that rules them all -- which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Crack of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Since it was first published in 1954, 'The Lord of the Rings' has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Now, to coincide with the publication of J.R.R.

Tolkien's The Children of Hurin, the definitive 50th Anniversary text, fully restored with almost 400 corrections -- with the full co-operation of Christopher Tolkien -- is reissued with a striking new cover.

Customer Reviews

The one book to rule them all !!
This is without exception my favourite book of all time. I have read it many times since discovering it in my mid teens and each time I seem to come away with a new message or perspective, what other book could claim this ?

We all know the story so I wont go into it, what I will review is the book itself. Firstly its great to have all six books and the appendices under the one cover. However the paper upon which it is printed is thin in the extreme and the binding appears a bit on the flimsy side. The cover looks great but I fear it will not stand the test of time which is a pity as Tolkien's work is eternal. Try as i might I cannot deduct a single star as that would be like insulting a childhood sweetheart !! Every book collection should have a copy of this timeless classic.

"Great"
I first read LOTR when I was 11 (I'm now in my late 30ies) and since then I have read and re read it countless times.

A fantastic piece of work, much copied and plagarised but peerless and never bettered.
It's escapism par excellence and has got me through the downs and depressions in life.
Read it and you will discover something new every time you read it, the smallest details are meaningful and part of the overall scheme of the book.

This book has everything, and the famous CS Lewis review of this work is the best I could use to describe it;

"If Ariosto rivalled it in invention (in fact he did not) he would still lack its heroic seriousness. No imaginary world has been projected which is at once multifarious and so true to its own inner laws; none so seemingly objective, so disinfected from the taint of an author's merely individual psychology; none so relevant to the actual human situation yet free from allegory. And what fine shading there is in the variations of style to meet the endless diversity of scenes and characters - comic, homely, epic, monstrous, or diabolic."

Says it all!

(I thought the film (Steve Jackson) was average.
Tolkien was a product of his time, so the PC brigade can bugger off! )

Peerless
I first read the Lord of the Rings when i was 10 or 11, and have re-read it countless times since.
Really it is beyond review; Tolkien was a genius - he invented languages, for goodness sake!- and this is reflected in his masterpiece. It is flawless, and to this day sets the benchmark for all fantasy literature.
Although over 50 years old now, it still manages to capture contemporary readers with its effortless combination of epic, character, morality, love, romance, duty, friendship, depth of detail, geography, history - hey! the list is almost endless.
The book works on so many levels, which is why it is so popular with all ages, from all walks of life.
The language is a little dated, but only in that you can tell it wasn't written this year, and saying that it is still eloquent and effortlessly charming. It has aged remarkeably well, unlike other early fantasy writers, such as Feist or Gavriel-Kay.
I read somewhere that if Tolkien submitted the Lord of the Rings to a present day publisher or literary agent he would be unlikely to get published! And yet the Lord of the Rings still wins every readers poll going. What does that tell you! Someone doesn't have their finger on the pulse.
Tolkien is the Leonardo Da Vinci of fantasy, as unasailable by contemporary authors as Da Vinci is by modern art. I'm not knocking modern fantasy - i love it - George R. R. Martin, Tad Williams, J. V. Jones, Greg Keyes, Joe Abercrombie, Brian Ruckley, Guy Gavriel Kay - but no matter how writters try to bend the envelope, write something original, non-derivative or not, nothing has ever, or, I suspect, will ever, come close to the Lord of the Rings.
When all the analysis is said and done, it is quite simply a great read; without doubt my all time favourite novel.