👶👶👶 The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is with great trepidation that I write this review, knowing that the great majority of readers will likely not agree with me. I consider myself a fairly well-read individual, and I am well aware of Tolkien’s legacy as the “Father of Fantasy Fiction”, however, I struggled through this novel.

In no way am I minimizing his contribution to English literature, as I realize that his imagination is above reproach, his rhetoric, truly impressive. However, I truly detest monotony, and this novel is laden with it. I trudged through the overly-detailed descriptions of the geography. The characters seemed to languish during the prolonged events, and very little progress was made through the entire novel. Also, the ever-growing list of names for the same character or location was exhausting! I just can’t understand why so many aliases were necessary, other than to create complete confusion.

To some degree, I feel that the same effect could have been accomplished (even to adequately set the elaborate scene), in ¾ or less of its current length.

When all is said and done, I cannot, in good conscience, rate this novel less than 3 stars; the impact of his work on literature and his extraordinary imagination are priceless.

Read 12/31/15