The Fellowship of the Ring- Review
I'm going to start by saying if you gave this book and series anything less than a perfect score you better be able to back it. I've seen too many posts attacking the originator of modern Epic Fantasy by giving it low scores or attacking it for a myriad of reasons. The Lord of the Rings is the GOAT of Epic Fantasy, and you won't come to fully appreciate the fantasy genre as a whole if you attack LOTR.
It wouldn't be far off to say that The Fellowship of The Ring is the single best entry book of a fantasy series published to date. The immediate transformation of the mind into Middle Earth is all encompassing. Tolkien's writing isn't necessarily extravagant at times but you are immediately transferred into the Shire or The Prancing Pony, or Rivendell, without much effort. You feel the sense of foreboding darkness right from the get go and it's powerful.
One thing to mention that gets left out of the movies (which are some of the best movies ever made) is the entire sequence of seeing the Hobbits in the Old Forest. I mean how can you leave out Tom Bombadil. Side note if you hate Tommy B, vacate this page immediately, no Tom B. hate allowed. Even with the near 4 hour run time of the extended editions we don't get any Old Forest scenes and I will always be bitter about that. A lot of good exposition and foreshadowing in the book in these chapters, and some good characterization of the squad.
We also get insight into the Elves and the role they play in Middle Earth.
It has been difficult to find another series that so expertly accomplishes this level of world-building, I mean near the end of the book we even get a glimpse into the Mines of Moria and the Balrogs. I mean this really couldn't be better. This is what most modern books fail to do. LOTR takes you immediately out of the shitty modern world into the world of Middle Earth. Damn, it feels good to read these again after more than a few years.
Also Aragorn is a goddamn badass, like one of the best characters in all of fantasy.
If you give LOTR a low score but give something like Name of the Wind a perfect score, hand in your fantasy card. Im not gatekeeping, but your priorities are all sorts of messed up if you dont acknowledge this as the epitome of epic fantasy.
Also don't give every other book a perfect 5/5. Looking at your Fantasy Blog review site with multiple reviewers. Very, I repeat, Very few books are worthy of 5/5 rating, but the FOTR is, as is the The Two Towers and The Return of The King.
5/5