Book Chat Saturdays || -The Lord of the Rings- by J.R.R. Tolkien

Hi guys! Today—as promised, or at least alluded to—I have for you a book review. As I think I mentioned in my book haul last weekend, I'm planning to start these reviews with the books I mentioned in my 10 Influential Books tag video—which you should go watch if you haven't seen it yet, so you can see what's coming up in this series =P—so the first book that I'll be reviewing is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

**All cover images from GoodReads**

I'm pretty sure that the Lord of the Rings is so much a part of popular culture now that I don't really need to go into what it's about, but that could always be my own bias talking, so I'll try to admit that there's a possibility that there are people who know nothing about this book, or the movies that were made based on them, and I'll attempt to summarize the concept of this beautiful novel.

What it's about: The Lord of the Rings is a classic high-fantasy novel, which follows a fairly large cast of characters (though no where near as large as some of today's books/shows, such as Game of Thrones) through their adventures and trials in Middle Earth, and is in many ways a book about good and evil, but the complex and beautiful world that Tolkien sets his story in makes it so much more. I guess it's about how the good races come together—elves, hobbits, dwarves, men, etc.—to stop the forces of evil: Sauron, orcs, goblins, ring-wraiths, etc... I don't want to accidentally give anything away, so I'll leave it there.

My Thoughts: Spoilers... I freaking love LotR! It is quite literally my favourite book of all time. The story, the world, the words and the way that Tolkien wrote is just so beautiful; this book is like my comfort food. And by the way, I should have been more clear by now, but I keep saying this is a book, and not a trilogy, because it is, even though it is usually presented in three volumes/books, and the three parts have their own names. But yes, it's all one book.

If you love fantasy novels, then LotR should really be a must-read for you, because in so many ways, Tolkien was practically the father of the genre, and so many of today's fantasy novels borrow from or build on his work both knowingly and unwittingly. Also, if you are a lover of description and imagery, Tolkien is the author for you; his scenes and characters are beautifully and painstakingly described, sometimes to the point that it bores people, but I personally love it! If you're all about the character or plot driven novels, then LotR might be a bit of a tough read for you, but if you're an experienced reader of classic literature, then I doubt Tolkien's style will be a problem for you!

I also wanted to briefly describe why I included this novel as one of the books in my list of top 10 most influential to me. I already mentioned that Tolkien and LotR set the stage for a lot of today's fantasy, and thus that is one way in which it has been very influential, but the tag was supposed to be about what I felt influenced me... That said, my love of the fantasy genre grew out of reading first the Hobbit and then the Lord of the Rings with my mom in elementary school... It wasn't until after LotR that I read Harry Potter, and then further went in search of other fantasy novels, and fantasy largely remains a favourite genre for me, be it novels, shows, or movies. In a similar way, I also feel like it opened me up to the world of historical fiction, since Middle Earth is somewhat Medieval or pre-medieval. But in general, I feel like the novel has had a huge impact on me, especially considering I keep going back to it (and the movie adaptation), and how this story and Tolkien's words feel like home to me...

And now that I feel like I've written Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings a very public love letter, I'll stop gushing and leave you for this week. I'm sure that I've forgotten a thousand things I would have liked to say about this book and author, but I'll stop because I feel like I'm just rambling! I'll finish by saying: if you love classics, fantasy, historical fiction, and/or the LotR movies, please consider reading this book if you haven't already! =P

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So let me know if you've read the Lord of the Rings, and what you thought about it, whether you agree or disagree with me. I'll try not to let my feelings be hurt if you hated it! =P

I hope you all have an awesome weekend! Thanks for reading!