The Return of The King (1955)

All of the LOTR books are incredible, but this one is still the best. As I believe LOTR are the best books ever written, I guess that makes this THE best book ever written, the standard by which all others are judged, especially epic fantasy. I love how everything that was set up throughout the other two books finally comes together in this one. Tolkien was the master of world building, and created a place so many people wish they could go. ( )

I’m torn with my judgement for this novel. While RotK is my favorite film, the source material felt unedited and too dense. I believe it remains one of the greatest works of fiction and contains an amazing story despite being hidden in Tolkien’s vast world building. Story wise, I prefer Peter Jackson’s retelling in the extended edition. I do, however, tremendously respect the original work though it’s entirety felt too academic for my taste. In a fantasy I would like to read for escape, not for the details of what happened to a stone years after the focused events. Again, I appreciate Tolkien and love his world but more could have been left to the imagination. Explanation got in the way of art for this reader. ( )

Part of a 3 book box set ( )

On the whole, I love this series by Tolkien. Considered individually, this is my least favorite out of the three books (or four, if one includes The Hobbit). There are nearly 800,000 ratings for The Return of the King, so I highly doubt I have anything original to add into the mix. I did give this story a lower rating because it seems unbalanced. The battle scenes dominate this book. Oddly, there seems to be plenty of time for the characters to chat among all this chaos and destruction. On the upside, many of the conversations are quite touching and even though I know what happens in the end, it still makes me tear up. Although Frodo is a favorite character, I think the real hero of this story is Sam, who never falters and somehow remains untarnished by 'the ring.'

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Audiobook Rating: 5 stars for outstanding narration by Andy Serkis
Original Publication Date: 1955 ( )

I love this audio version narrated by Andy Serkis. Hard to imagine that all the various characters were not in the room with him reading the story. ( )