Book Review: The Fellowship of the Ring
The first instalment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy epic.
It’s been a very long time since I last attempted to read The Lord of the Rings. I was a young teenager when I first picked up a ratty old combined edition paperback that was the size of a brick, and this was naturally off the back of the Peter Jackson movie trilogy. Back then I got as far as about halfway through The Two Towers when I crashed out, finding the Entmoot mind-numbingly boring. I tried again while I was at university, but DNF’d at almost the same point all over again! Frustrating! However, I am a much stronger reader now than I ever have been, and so I thought the time was right to try again. My paperback was mouldy, though, so I grabbed this incredible Alan Lee illustrated edition hardback boxed set of individual volumes for a discount. I was hoping that the reading experience would be so much improved that I would more easily enjoy it, and so far that has been true. However, I never had a problem with The Fellowship of the Ring. But I didn’t realise how much of the original story I had forgotten, or had been superseded by the Peter Jackson adaptation. So it has been a marvellous experience seeing all the changes that the adaptation made.
Blurb
Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power—the means by which he intends to rule Middle Earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring—the ring that rules them all—which as fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-Earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
The text of this edition has been fully corrected and revised in collaboration with Christopher Tolkien and is accompanied by nineteen watercolour paintings from Alan Lee.
Review
First off, this edition is absolutely gorgeous. It’s by far the nicest edition of any book I own, and the illustrations within are incredible. Alan Lee is an amazing artist, and the book is full of his watercolours. The text within is beautifully set, and elven runes are reproduced and coloured in red, along with chapter titles and page headings. The paper is wonderfully thick, and the illustrations are on the same matte paper as the text. Personally I don’t much like it when books use that glossy paper instead, so this is excellent. It all makes for a very comfortable and enjoyable reading experience.
Aesthetics aside, the story holds up well. Fellowship has always had a very strong start with Bilbo’s party and the foreboding reveal of that his ring is the One Ring that Sauron seeks. Lots of people have a problem with the diversion with Tom Bombadil and it had been so long since I last read it that I had begun to believe that it was, indeed, out of place. Reading it again, I don’t see it. I really like the segment in Tom and Goldberry’s house and his rescue of the hobbits from the Barrow Wights. It’s not a pointless rambling diversion at all! Simply another thing they meet along the way, and he does serve an important purpose for them at this stage of the plot.
I will say, though, that there is a lot of “telling” in the book where a modern day editor would definitely insist on “showing” instead, and that’s perhaps an aspect of the pacing that the Peter Jackson movies “correct” for. For instance, the Council of Elrond goes on quite long, and Gandalf regales them regarding his delay and capture by Saruman. There’s no break away to Gandalf’s point of view as he goes on this adventure. Even though the story is clearly written in the omniscient style, the point of view never breaks away from the central members of the Fellowship. We don’t see Saruman building his army, marking them with the White Hand, and sending them to Amon Hen. We are told only (with a single sentence) that Aragorn suspects that the Enemy has not been idle while they stayed in Lorien, and then, boom, there’s the orcs and Uruk-hai of Saruman. That’s not to say any of this is bad, but it’s an interesting observation. I don’t want to make too much of this about the differences between the adaptation and the original work, but it’s something I had in mind while reading. It’s unavoidable at this point, really. The only chapter that I thought was a bit tedious was the one immediately preceding the chapter of the Council.
Also, there’s not enough of Arwen. Like, nothing at all, actually. I very much support what the movies did in rearranging things to give her a much more prominent role. This is another instance where breaking away from the main Fellowship POV would have been useful, seeing Aragorn and Arwen’s relationship while they were together in Rivendell. But alas.
The songs and poetry are marvellous, the prose is beautiful (it’s a bit unfair how good it is, really), the lore is deep, and the journey is always interesting with twists and turns. There’s a lot of description in the book, perhaps bordering on the self-indulgent, but not to the level of the joke about Tolkien going on and on for pages describing a single tree. However, the Company (weirdly they’re never called the Fellowship) are always coming into new places on their arduous journey, with new landmarks and features, and Tolkien really wants us to know the direction their path is taking at all times. Far from being tedious, I have a new appreciation for, and have been savouring these things.
The journey through Moria was harrowing, the Balrog was vivid and intimidating, and Gandalf’s fall was still heart-breaking.
One thing that I found amusing after Lothlorien was the realisation that the elves do not see themselves as magical creatures. The hobbits talk and ask about the “magic of the elves” and the elves reply “we don’t know what you mean by that”. Sam gets given an elven rope and asks if it is a “magic rope”, and the elves basically get confused and just say that it’s how they make things. Absurdly light boats that have a mind of their own and will never sink? Not magic, it’s just how it is. And thinking on it some more, it’s a profound observation of Tolkien’s that creatures just do what is natural for them. Elves don’t “do” magic when they craft, they just make things in a way that comes naturally for them, and it’s everyone else that perceives it as magical. I imagine in the real world that a lot of human crafts would be seen as being imbued with magical properties to other animals, if they could express such a sentiment.
Overall I am very much enjoying this re-read, and as at the time of writing this review, I’ve already jumped into The Two Towers (mainly because Tolkien knew exactly what he was doing by ending Fellowship right in the middle of the bloody Amon Hen scene. You have to continue into the next book!) But The Two Towers will be the true test of this re-read. Will I make it through to the other side this time and finally make it into The Return of the King? I am excited to find out.
