My Thoughts on The Fellowship of the Ring

 

I will not even attempt to "review" this book as anything I have to say won't do it justice. However, I will share some of my thoughts about it. I will admit that I have only seen a smattering of the movies, so most of this read was a mix of  "oh yeah I remember this scene" and "omg what the heck!?" 

I do love how Tolkien lays it all out there but keeps things quite mysterious. I was swept away by the journey the Company took. I love me a good fantasy read, but this one so far has been amazing (kind of a duh statement I know) The grouping up of the main characters felt both planned and like a merry group of complete randos all at once. The way that Tolkien paced the story was excellent. There were just enough dropped hints to the past that kept me intrigued. I haven't read The Hobbit or the Silmarillion yet, so the sprinkling of explanations and "refreshers" on the history of Middle Earth were much appreciated. 

There was just enough back story on the characters to give me a good idea about who they were and to sort of understand why they were placed in the group. Obviously the main focus was on Frodo and Sam, but I did get a little pinch of "aww" about Boromir and his storyline. The rest of the characters were fun. Obviously Gimli is a sarcastic dude and I do love how his relationship to Legolas developed over the course of the book. So while this is an ensemble cast, the whole of the group felt natural and well developed. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Completely kicked my own ass for having not read it already. I won't drag this out for too long because everything that I want to say has probably been said before by much more skilled reviewers. The Fellowship of the Ring was a deeelight to read. I can't really compare the movies to the books (yet) but I think the old saying "the books are better" really does apply here. 

I have finished The Two Towers, so my thoughts on that will be posted soonish. 

Got any thoughts on these books? Lemme know!