Anish: This book is a vast, VAST improvement on the last one!

People: Really? And yet you rated it 4 stars while you rated the last one 5 stars!

Anish: Yeah well, for me this book had a couple of problems...

People: Really? Are you even serious? Do you not know what you have just read? Who you've read?

Anish: I do know that and it has nothing to do with penmenship but...

People: For shame, Anish, for shame! What do you have to say for yourself?

Anish: This is what I have to say...



First

even though you both almost killed me with your reading speed

Fall of Boromir

“What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today? What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.’ ‘Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought. His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought. His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest; And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.”

Return of Gandalf

“I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. I can see many things far off, but many things that are close at hand I cannot see.”

Battle of Helm’s Deep

“You must go to Edoras and seek out Théoden in his hall. For you are needed. The light of Andúril must now be uncovered in the battle for which it has so long waited.”

Fall of Isengard

“A king will have his way in his own hall, be it folly or wisdom.”

Frodo and Sam

“Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?” ‘‘Yes, my boy” ‘‘I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”

Faramir

“And here in the wild I have you: two halflings, and a host of men at my call, and the Ring of Rings. A pretty stroke of fortune! A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality!”

“I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: ‘‘Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!’’ And they’ll say: ‘‘Yes, that’s one of my favourite stories.”

“Sam sat propped against the stone, his head dropping sideways and his breathing heavy. In his lap lay Frodo’s head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam’s brown hands, and the other lay softly upon his master’s breast. Peace was in both their faces.”

“But I shall miss them. We have become friends in so short a while that I think I must be getting hasty!”

First off, Acknowledgements!A very huge and heartfelt thank you to The cheery lady who has a great name and The guy who has the same box set as mine for inviting me to buddy read! In all honesty, this has been my most fun and engaging BR by far and now I certainly hope to finish this series with both you folks! :DAnd Avinash, a special thanks to you, for standing strong in a gentlemanly fashion when we disagreed about a certain thing. Much love to both you guys!!Let’s start by saying that I will be pretty hard pressed to add anything more than what I already said in the review of The Fellowship of the Ring. Yet, let me try, for one shouldn’t stop trying for fear of failing, should they?Let’s talk story first.There is SO MUCH story in this book, crammed inside the pages that it seems like a surprise that all of that happened in just one book! And it’s really hard to give a synopsis of a book like this bcz that in itself would make a huge review and I intend to talk about the book rather than the story. So I will give out the major hits!The mighty fall too. Boromir….ah Boromir! The poor chap who paid dearly for the mistake he made. A mistake whose punishment shouldn’t have been death. And yet, it is. The man of Gondor, dead. Defending the hobbit friends Merry and Pippin, taken by orcs. Is he redeemed?Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, in pursuit of the orcs, end up in the Fangorn forest where they are met by none other than beloved Gandalf! And yet it’s not the Gandalf the Grey of old. This is Gandalf the White, on a mission to stop the enemy. To do what he may with the time afforded him. Can he make a difference?The war is afoot and the people of Rohan must make a stand. The mettle of men must be tested! Will they survive?Saruman the wise, the treacherous, safe in his tower, who joined forces with Sauron must now be brought low. A major ally of the dark lord must be snuffed. But who dares? But help does have a way of coming from unlooked places. And it does. Will Saruman be rid of?The duo must go on. Into Mordor! To find a way they must also make an alliance that seems unlikely to result into anything good. And yet what choice do they have? On and on, they must go. And they do. With naught but friendship to guide them in the darkness and fear that presses in on them. Do they get anywhere though?Boromir’s brother. A captain leading his people on a tough mission who happens to cross paths with Frodo and Sam. The one grieved by his brother’s death. The one who has now the One Ring at his disposal, for the taking. Should Faramir fail like his brother did?Let’s talk book.What makes an author write? I mean I get that they want to tell stories and yet this is not a story that Tolkien has produced. No. This is an experience. A world that is just as detailed and every bit as real as ours. He has put in so much, created so much! He produced greatness! Why? What was the motivation?Was it to earn? Was it to just tell a story that he had? Was it the praises from the reader? What was it? I think, in my very small and humble opinion, it was immortality. I think it was his want to leave a mark upon the world in order to cheat death. Isn’t that something that has driven many?And hasn’t he been immortalized? I’d say he’s cheated death and he has had the last laugh! For as long as there will be readers, I am sure these books will survive.When I picked up this series, I bought the box set mostly on an impulse, despite almost DNF’ing my first venture with Tolkien in form of The Hobbit. I didn’t like it. Yet, something told me that I was probably not matured enough as a reader to handle that book when I picked it years ago. So I picked this series, many books later. With only a few chapters into the first book, I knew my gut was right!First thing that I loved about this book was that it started right from where we left off in the first one. I am not a big fan of cliffhangers being drawn out. That was the first thing that this book did right and from then on, it kept ticking most of the boxes that needed ticking.The writing is so exhaustive, so detailed that at times I felt overwhelmed. And to a certain extent I believe that this is one of those books whose sheer intensity and depth and details simply cannot be soaked in totality at your first go. One HAS to read it a couple of times to be fully aware of all the little fillers and specifics that have been used to populate this world of Middle Earth. One doesn’t not simply read this series once! Sorry, I just had to do that! We had to do it, didn’t we precious, oh yes we did! :PWith an exception of one chapter about the Ents, which was super slow but just according to the story, the rest of the book is very well paced and it’s always moving forward. So much is happening, so much is being described. This is not a book for light reading. This is immersive. The book ends with yet another cliffhanger of sorts and has setup the stage very nicely for the final instalment. It’s very rare to find books in a series that are an improvement on the preceding books. This one does that. I am in total awe of this author and I salute him for having creating something like this…something so enormous and so beautiful. Tolkien is something different. I don’t think comparing any author with him is fair on the other author. Not that comparison is fair in itself but I don’t think any author should be measured against Tolkien.There are songs and poems in the book that are very well done indeed and they just add to the charm of everything else. It gives the world a history, a sense of being ancient. The words and dialogues are gems and reach deep inside.The character of Gollum is extraordinarily well done! It sounds exactly like what a creature like Gollum should or would sound like. There is the malice and insanity and indifference and even so, there is a small part of the good old Sméagol that has survived. But I think, the character of Faramir takes the cake! I mean this is the only character that was so on point! He sounded just perfect. A guy whose heart is heavy with the death of his elder brother and yet duty forces him to stand fast in his stead and lead his men. To serve his nation and take up arms. A guy who clearly looked upto his big brother and yet, he turned out better than him, turned out to be someone who never lets go of his honor. Someone who has a level head on strong shoulders! I absolutely LOVED Faramir and Gollum! If anyone rivals those two, it is my dear Sam! Who else could it ever be? Sam, the loving and doting Sam!And yet, for all its greatness, this book isn’t unblemished either.Just like the last book, this one too, has many places where the dialogues from the characters come off as funny in a sad or dangerous situation. It kind of kills the mood in a way and although Tolkien more than just makes up, it still does happen. Legolas is the most useless character in my opinion as his words, few as they are, mostly miss the mark by a big margin. This is a letdown. A small one and yet, it is.Another thing that is lackluster was the battle sequence. The battle of Helm’s deep was not intense enough for me. It felt a little loose, I guess? And too short. Way too short. The siege could have been bigger. Another letdown, small one again and yet, still there.But the one thing that really put a dent in this book for me personally is this.Frodo and Sam, the whole thing, is based on friendship. The way Sam sticks around and takes care of him and everything. It’s the kind of friendship that probably doesn’t exist and yet we all wish for! Which is why Sam is such an awesome character!For me, friendship is based in trust and faith and most importantly, respect. Equality. Two people from any background can be friends as long as they respect each other, treat each other equal and trust each other. This is all that friendship asks for. This is how I feel.So imagine the dent it puts in the shining image of friendship of Frodo and Sam when Frodo calls him his servant! In this book, I can’t count how many times, in the narrative, Tolkien refers to Sam as Frodo’s servant. It starts to sound like Sam is duty bound to Frodo, which he is NOT, in anyway. Sam did not need to come along except that he wanted to! To be there for Frodo! To not leave him alone in his troubles. But Frodo never stops Sam from addressing him as Master!To my eye and mind, that’s disrespectful. It’s not treating someone as your equal. And this…this leaves the whole relation of Sam and Frodo feeling lesser than it is!Excuses will always be there. Excuse can be made for made for almost anything. But if you can’t call a spade a spade bcz of excuses then you is lying, my man! And lying aint my scene.Tolkien, through Frodo, degrades Sam, even if it is just a touch. But he does. Sam was never his servant. It irked me personally and no explanation resolves the crime of calling your friend, one like Sam, a servant and disrespecting them. None exist in my books and to that end, I will deduct one star. Wrong is wrong, even if it is Tolkien who commits the deed.This, again, brings me to my original stand. The LOTR movies are better than the books. The movies have changed and corrected all that is wrong or lackluster in the books and it has taken this series to a whole new level. For me, this is one rare occasion where the movies are better. Peter Jackson, you glorious bastard, you created magic!Yet, this book is one of the finest pieces I have read! I really like this series, so much so, that I didn’t expect it and I can’t wait to get to the final part! This is a goodbye to Middle Earth for now. Despite the couple of small and one major flaw, I love everything in this book. Burárum! Too long have I ranted! I should stop and sign off!