The Fellowship of The Ring By J.R.R. Tolkein review by: Daryll B.

Have you ever read a book that just seems to make you want to be in that book, that story? Some people say no, that they would never want to give up their life right now for anything. The one book in particular that makes me want to be in that story is The Fellowship of The Ring.

In this story, the setting is described as what some people may say as perfect. There are green meadows, dirt roads, huge expanses of forest, and kingdoms all in what is called Middle-Earth. All of this is set up in the past making it much more enjoyable. Why read about the present when “you are in it?”

In these meadows and forest are the characters Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Pippin, and Gandalf. All of these characters are very convincing in the book, but they are not human! They are all hobbits with the exception of Gandalf who is in fact a wizard. They all have struggles in their lives that would be considered, in our time, very troubling at the least. Out of all these characters that are forever in my head my favorite is Gandalf. You may not know it, but Gandalf being a wizard, is very “wise”. In the book I perceive him as powerful, smart in a twisted way, having a very peculiar sense of riddles and knowing what to always say. You can never completely understand what he is saying until you read the rest of the book and even then you don’t understand all of it! One of his actions that is widely known in the book is making fireworks. He made some at Bilbo’s party that made every hobbit at the party scatter like ants. The firework looked and acted like a dragon!

While all the fun at the party is going on the plot thickens. It so happens that a ring Bilbo found (in the previous book The Hobbit) is a ring of power. This very ring that Bilbo has is passed on to Frodo. A huge war was fought over the ring including the person who made it. With that ring he could control almost anything. His name was Sauron. When he was finally defeated the ring went through many owners until it ended up with Frodo. Whoever wears the ring becomes invisible. Even though the creator of the ring was defeated he is still alive because he cannot die if the ring is still in this world, and searching for the ring. He now has an army and is looking for it meaning to take it by force. When Fordo is told of this he realizes that it has to be destroyed or have the whole Middle-Earth enslaved. Although he knows this, he is reluctant to take the journey away from the Shire he has always known. Frodo finally decides (with the help of Gandalf) that he must take the journey to get rid of the ring! Sam has to take the journey with him because he heard all of what they said while “working on trimming the grass under the window”. Although they don’t know it there is a greater threat pursuing them that could kill them all to get the ring to its master. If you want to know what the threat is and how it would kill them read the book.

I would highly recommend to read this book because the plot goes much deeper the farther on in the book, making it seem that there really is another world other than ours. Not only that but it makes you think of what is going on, and all the mysteries compel you to read more making it no child book that tells you exactly what is happening and what is going to happen.