Review: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm so thankful for these books.

Many, many years ago, teenage me thought Lord of the Rings was somehow related to a flea circus. Where did that thought even come from? Honestly my mind works in mysterious ways. Either way, it meant this book held zero interest for me.

Then, mid-2001, I saw a preview for the first film and it looked right up my alley. Of course, being the loyal book nerd I am, I vowed to read at least The Fellowship of the Ring before seeing the film.

So it was that I first read this book, and began a lifelong love affair with the series. I read it a second time before the second film was released, a year later.

I remember loving the book but, having seen the film too many times to count, events were beginning to blur in my mind. I remembered the book as dense, full of words I didn't understand and long explanations about things I didn't really care about. I remembered everything up til Rivendell being something of a chore to get through.

It's a good example of why it doesn't hurt to re-read books, particularly if decades have passed.

This third read has been such an incredibly enjoyable experience. Having become a little obsessed since those early years, I relished all the little details this time around and got so much pleasure out of being fully immersed in this world. Tolkien had a gift of painting detailed pictures with only a few words, and it draws you into the world completely. There's never too much revealed about what any one person is thinking, and yet we learn their characters so completely. They are developed brilliantly and each has their own journey.

It's certainly a darker sort of story, with this cloud of evil constantly hanging over them all, but I think that's what makes the relationship between the characters so strong. There are some really beautiful moments when they turn to one another, or even when they annoy each other but stick together all the same. The relationship between Gandalf and Pippin is particularly priceless. Sam is basically Frodo's servant at the beginning of the book, but becomes his most trusted and loyal friend. Boromir is proud of his ability to protect others, and Aragorn is a reluctant leader who leads well all the same.

The book is divided into two, and the first is certainly not nearly as action-packed as the second. There is a lot of travelling in much the same vein - they walk, they rest, they eat, they sleep, they set out again - but there is also a lot of world-building, and telling of the history of the rings. The songs and poems can get a little tiresome but they're also an efficient way to touch on histories relevant to the story, so I had a lot more tolerance for them this time around.

The second book is one adventure after another, as the Fellowship makes their way south through perilous terrain. It's impossible to predict and there is always more information to latch onto. There is also just a lot of fun to be had in learning about these characters and watching them interact.

So much about this story is epic, and the world is rich with detail. At the same time, Tolkien really did work magic in packing so much lore and action and adventure into a nice, tidy size. He doesn't waste time with pages of character musings - he just tells the story, with the passion of someone fully immersed in this world.

I love everything about it, and I'm glad I felt the urge to re-read it because I got so much more out of it than I did in my teens. Sure, there are some things due to its age that may rub people the wrong way in this PC age - not enough women, Sam being a slave, all of the characters being white, etc. - but if you just relax into the story none of that stuff matters. It's just an epic adventure.

It also gives me such great respect for what PJ did with the films, and how he managed to be so faithful to the parts of the story that really mattered. The adaptation of this book to film is a work of genius. Both mediums are epic and brilliant in their own right and I will never stop loving them both equally.

Tolkien created an entire world, with detailed maps, races, and history. This book begins the expression of that, and the detail is what makes this story so powerful and enduring. It has timeless themes that can be interpreted by successive generations.

It's a classic, and one that only gets better with each read. It absolutely changed my world, and for that I will never stop being thankful.

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