Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Book Review

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Book Review #13: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy

Days to Read: 30-ish days

Synopsis (taken from Waterstones.ca): Concluding the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the final part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. The armies of the Dark Lord are massing as his evil shadow spreads ever wider. Men, Dwarves, Elves and Ents unite forces to do battle agains the Dark. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle further into Mordor in their heroic quest to destroy the One Ring.

My Thoughts: You have no idea how excited I was at the thought of nearing the end of this trilogy. I have lived and breathed The Lord of the Rings for four months now, and couldn’t wait to finally say I had completed it. This last novel was everything I thought it would be: fast-paced (at least Book 5 was, the story following Aragorn), interesting and, oddly enough, romantic. I absolutely loved seeing the relationship between Eowyn and Faramir unfold before my eyes, but was slightly disappointed when Tolkien merely thrust the love between Aragorn and Arwen at my feet without any prior inclination of a romance between them. On the whole, though, I thought this was the best book of them all.

What irks me about Tolkien, however, is the fact that he always builds up to the battles with endless pages of journeys and discussions; but when it comes right down to the battle itself, he only writes about a page on it. The battle scenes always fall flat. But in the epic battle between the Black Rider and Eowyn, it was written with more description than any other battle. I could see her courage, her greatness and her love for her family and people and was rooting for her from start to finish. I grew to love Eowyn more than any other person (other than Sam) in the novel, and wanted nothing but happiness for her at the end. She was the fearless character the trilogy needed. But more interestingly, I was intrigued by the fact that she couldn’t save her people without dressing up as a man first, as if being a woman wasn’t good enough. In today’s society, feminism and female power is almost second-nature to us. We’re used to seeing female leaders now and figureheads; so it was cool to see how Tolkien’s world viewed women differently. I don’t blame Tolkien for creating a story where men were the primary characters (as some people do); instead, I thank him for showing the strength women can have in times of trouble. We’re not all damsels in distress.

Anyways, I’m digressing.

Simply put, I liked The Return of the King a lot more than I thought I would. After The Two Towers, finishing this series seemed like an impossible task — and I admit, a few times throughout the last novel I thought I would just give up altogether. Many people did give up, so why should I feel bad? But the important thing is that I didn’t. I kept reading and when Frodo and Sam finally reached Mount Doom, I couldn’t have been happier. Gollum played his part well, and while I did think his ending was a little anti-climatic, he did provide a reasonable and satisfying end to the One Ring. The part of The Shire in turmoil caught me by surprise because it wasn’t in the movie, but I liked how it wasn’t just a perfect ending for the hobbits. Nothing in life is perfect, and I liked how The Shire wasn’t perfect throughout the various wars and battles. Saruman saw to that. His death was a little strange and abrupt… I would have preferred if he had lived but withered away.

On the whole, I was pleased by this concluding novel and I am beyond thrilled to say I have, once and for all, completed The Lord of the Rings series!

Rating: 8/10

To view this book, click here.

Books books books!

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So last weekend I went to a book sale that supported a local charity, Calgary Reads… and boy, did I have some fun. I’m a serious shopper when it comes to books — I know what I want, how I’m going to get it and will search for a while just to be content with my purchases. Let’s just say my friend saw a different side me that evening…

But I am far too thrilled with my new books and just had to share with you all my new finds. Read ‘em and weep:

            

         

       

      

            

Needless to say, I’m quite excited to delve into them. Which ones have you read/recommend?

Oh, and I guess I should mention that I got all this for only $48  =)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: Book Review

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Book Review #12: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy

Days to Read: Around a month? Give or take a few days.

Synopsis (taken from Waterstones.com): Building on the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the second part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape the rest of the company were attacked by Orcs. Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin — alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

My Thoughts: Okay, so I realize it took me a long time to get through this story, once again. But to be fair, I had school and a bunch of other things that took up a lot of my time. On the whole, I enjoyed The Two Towers a lot more than I enjoyed The Fellowship of the Ring — it was a shorter story, to be sure, but it also flowed nicer too. I was really excited to get to Gollum’s entrance and I wasn’t disappointed. He was just as manipulative and creepy as the one in the movies. This wasn’t my favourite movie of the series, but I was greatly surprised by the plot of this novel — boy, did Peter Jackson change and shift some things! I’m not sure yet if I liked Tolkien’s choice in having Boromir die in the first chapter of The Two Towers versus Jackson’s idea of killing him off at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. For Jackson, it was a nice way to tie up some ends and get the movie ready for its sequel. For Tolkien, it provided a way for the reader to get back into the swing of things — and what better way to remind the reader of all the horrors that had ensued than by killing off Boromir?

While this wasn’t my favourite novel in the series (yes, I’m almost done The Return of the King now), I did enjoy it. I loved the chapter when Frodo and Sam get tricked into entering Shelob’s lair. It was descriptive and made me feel as if I was right there with them (which I thankfully wasn’t, seeing as how I’m deathly afraid of spiders). I was, however, mega-disappointed with Tolkien’s description of the battle at Helm’s Deep; it wasn’t as extravagant or interesting as I had expected it to be. However, there was a greater emphasis on the Ents’ war on Isengard which I enjoyed. I was introduced to new characters that I loved in the movie (Faramir, Eowyn, Theoden, the Ents and Gollum) and I was interested in getting to their parts in this saga. Eowyn was less memorable than I had expected her to be — but then I remembered that Tolkien wasn’t a fan of making females a bigger character than he needed them to be. It was an intriguing start though to the figures of Rohan and I began looking forward to reading the last book to getting a fuller development. I think the thing I loved most about this novel was that at the end in Shelob’s lair, Sam was given total control and took centre stage. He’s always been my favourite character in the series and I was proud to see him make a stand and rescue Frodo in every way possible. All in all, this second novel could still have been tighter (a common complaint with this trilogy) but it wasn’t as boring as The Fellowship of the Ring.

My Rating: 7.5/10

To view this book, click here.

Top Ten Books You’d Like To See Made Into A Movie

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TopTenTuesday1

This meme and blog post theme was created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books You’d Like To See Made Into A Movie (in no particular order):

 10) A Great and Terrible Beauty/Rebel Angels/The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Hands down, I love this series — the sweeping romantic landscapes, the rich historical notes, the mesmerizing characters… Ahh. A few years back I heard through the internet grapevine that they were considering making A Great and Terrible Beauty into a film and I was really excited. Of course, I’d be nervous with the casting and directorial choices (in my opinion, no one can act like Ann more than I can, even if I’m not an actress) but I would still love a movie adaption. Please and thank you!

9) The Giver by Lois Lowry

This novel was a thrill to read when I was in elementary school and I’ve always wanted to see the world Jonas lived in. His introduction to the past world was remarkable and I would love to see his viewpoint go from black and white to colour as the story continues.

8) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I recently heard that they are making this novel into a movie, and you cannot imagine how happy I am about that. However, I also learned that Lily Collins is rumoured to be cast as Cary, and I cannot begin to describe my disappointment with this casting. And apparently the young man from Sweeney Todd is playing Jace, which again I’m not too ecstatic about. I still love this series and would love more than anything to see a movie come from it, so fingers crossed it goes well!

7) Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

This novel was amazing when I first read it and I still enjoy it to this day. I always had fun picturing Zane and Danica in my head. And I absolutely loved the shapeshifting aspect of it too — from humans to birds and snakes — and I think it would be cool to see it all happen onscreen. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see Zane in real life?

6) The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I realize this novel is written by Stephanie Meyer and after the atrocity that became of the Twilight films (sorry Stewart), and you’d be hard put to find someone who would be interested in another book-to-movie adaption of another one of her novels. But this was a fantastic novel, seriously. I loved the perspective, the intriguing storyline, the science fiction and the romance. It took a long time to read, but it was so worth it. Maybe one day a movie adaption will come out of it.

5) Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

I know this film was already made but it was entirely unacceptable for me. Therefore, I’m demanding a re-do. The story was changed so much that it lost all its magic for me. Ugh. REMAKE IT!

4) Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Nancy Werlin’s beautiful novel was actually a source of inspiration for me because it gave me the idea to use a favourite song and create a story around it. The fact that this story has a mythical element to it is something I would love to see on screen. But the movie would have to follow the book to a T, but still have those unique additions by the director to make it stand a bar above the book.

3) The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

This is one of my favourite dystopian novels and I loved reading it in grade 12. And it’s only fitting that, since dystopia is all the rage right now, they should probably make this novel into a movie. It’s got a great plot and really makes one think, which is a perfect combination for an interesting movie.

2) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Again, this novel is the epitome of dystopia. All other novels like it today (such as The Hunger Games) are all compared to this classic novel. So, like I previously mentioned, why don’t they make this into a big movie? Not like the TV movie they did years ago… something I bit nicer please.

1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This was one terrifying novel and the warped point of view made it even more haunting. I would kill (no pun intended) to see a movie version of Death’s perspective on the Holocaust — I would especially love to see who plays Rudy, seeing as he’s my favourite character in the novel!