Book Cover

I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.

Previous Middle-earth book reviews:

• The Two Towers
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

# Review

The story culminates into the final crescendo as the forces of good and evil collide. Aragorn and the rest of the companions must assist Minas Tirith from the onslaught of Sauron’s forces while Frodo and Sam venture deeper into the heart of Mordor.

I was warned by a friend that the portions about Frodo and Sam’s adventure would be extremely tedious as Tolkien goes into great detail explaining every stone and pebble in Mordor. To a certain extent Tolkien does go into great detail about the landscape of Mordor but, unlike the previous book, the Mordor portions felt more exciting and more focused on the struggles of Frodo and Sam.

Overall this was probably my favourite book from the trilogy; it has everything, from heroic battles to internal struggle against evil. It even has a romance subplot. The book also came with substantial appendices which further explore Middle-earth lore, from the different histories to seemingly mundane things like how calendars work in Middle-earth. The appendices were not required to enjoy the story but I enjoyed skimming through them nevertheless.

# Conclusion

My favourite book from the trilogy.

# Overall rating: 8.4

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