The Two Towers

First things first, this is a great book. I don’t think you need me to tell you that. That being said, this second entry was sadly lacking some of the charm, magic, and wonder of the first book. Instead of Tom Bombadil, Balrogs, and Lothlórien we get a whole lot of grim situations and long conversations.

One of the strangest aspects of this book is the decision to tell the whole story from The Fellowship’s perspective before shifting viewpoints and spending the rest of the book following Sam and Frodo. I could be wrong, but it seems like some of the dry spots in the book could have benefitted from shifting viewpoints from chapter to chapter.

That being said I do think that the meta section near the end where Sam and Frodo pontificate on what it would be like to be in a storybook was super beautiful. Sam realizing that they are indeed part of the larger story was delightful.

Finally, if anyone tells you that Frodo is the main character of this tale you have my permission to roll your eyes at them. This is Samwise Gamgee’s story, and he’s a priceless treasure.

Much better read than the first one..lots of world building.

My favorite book of the trilogy. It's so engaging and incredible to think about the work put into the different races and languages. Years later I still think about Treebeard and the idea of it taking years to speak a single sentence. Love it.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

This book really picked up the pace when compared to the Fellowship of the Rings, in large part because it felt like there were fewer long, extended travel sequences through what amounts to the English countryside (it also probably helps that I was completely unfamiliar with the plot of this, unlike Fellowship). I tore through Book 4 in a day.

I really liked that the characters got divided up because 1) it was nice to have such a variety of plot threads going on, even if they weren't intermingled, and 2) I feel like I'm finally getting to know the supporting cast. (Gimli is such a loyal fellow with an unexpected sense of humor. Dare I say he's my favorite character?)

More specifically:

I enjoyed the Ents immensely--such a creative and interesting invention on Tolkien's part.

The extended sequence in Rohan/with Théoden did drag for me. It didn't help that so many people in Rohan had names that started with "Eo," which made them hard to keep track of.

The battle at Helm's Deep was fine. To be honest, this was what I was expecting of the series. It's a little exhausting, though I really enjoyed the moments highlighting the friendship between Legolas and Gimli.

I loved literally everything about Isengard, from the antics of Merry and Pippin to the intriguing design of the place to the tense verbal sparring between Gandalf and Saruman. (Merry getting upset about being referred to as a "rag-tag" dangling behind Gandalf was one of the comedic highlights of the series.) I only wish the Ent's destruction of the city could have played out on-page rather than been relayed afterwards, but that's a small complaint.

I also immensely enjoyed the adventures of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum (who steals pretty much every scene--I do feel sorry for him, and am fascinated by the Smeagol/Gollum personality split). Some of the traveling did drag on a bit long, but the length was largely offset by the addition of Smeagol and the fact that the scenery was so different than anything else we'd seen so far. The section involving Faramir was a major highlight--so much tension! I really hope we see him again, he's probably my favorite side character so far. (Also, the waterfall curtain was magical.) Finally, the chapters where Gollum took them over the pass were absolutely the most tense so far; I was shocked and saddened by his betrayal (I was kind of hoping for a redemption arc), and I honestly thought Frodo was dead.

Side note: I know I'm supposed to love Sam for his fierce loyalty to Frodo, but his cruelty toward Gollum really rubs me the wrong way. (Though, in all honesty, I would probably not be kind either.) Combined with his passionate love for gardening, I think this makes him one of the most complex characters in the story so far.

The Lord of the Rings is not The Hobbit. If you have tried The Hobbit and didn't love it, you're probably not going to like The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is the epitome of the perfect fantasy tale. The kind you want to sit around a campfire and hear told with dramatic exaggeration. It has a dragon and dwarves, a wizard and one lone hobbit who turns out to be the bravest of them all.

But The Lord of the Rings is

not The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings is The Hobbit's meticulous, older and more serious brother who is going to sit you down and tell you an

epic tale of adventure that spans four ages with maps, appendices and side trips delving into the history of many people and a world of places. If you don't like the base elements of The Hobbit, you're going to hate Lord of the Rings because The Lord of the Rings is just a long drawn out, denser version.

J.R.R. Tolkien has not just written

a story. He's written an entire world of stories. He pretty much spent a lifetime writing and bringing to life Middle Earth and it's freaking incredible.

Is it perfect? No. But any criticisms don't detract from the highly imaginative work this is - or from my enjoyment of it.

5 stars. It's a classic.

I love The Two Towers. The Ents! Pippin and Merry! Gilmi and Legolas' friendship! I love this book. Split point of views can sometimes suck but I think splitting up the story between Frodo and Sam and the rest of the Company worked really well. The longer divide between them made it easier to follow the story and allowed me time and space to get invested into both stories.

I think it was a really good point to start the rest of the Company's story as well. Frodo and Sam (and a sneaky Gollum) have left for Mordor wrapping up their part for now and Boromir's death and the fallout add drama and action allowing Aragorn, Gilmi and Legolas to really showcase their skills and personalities. Starting with the rest of the Company allows the tension and action of the war to build giving greater urgency and importance to the second half detailing what Frodo and Sam are up to.

So Boromir dies defending Merry and Pippin who are captured and abducted by Orcs. I love that Merry and Pippin are resourceful and sneaky and manage to escape their kidnappers when the opportunity presents. And I really love that Aragorn, Gilmi and Legolas are unwilling to abandon either hobbit. It's interesting to see how fast and far the three of them can travel without unnecessary baggage.

It's also pretty funny when they find their trail.

Being pleased with his skill, he then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. (p. 489).

He was exhausted and hungry, and it is not to be wondered at that, when he had cut his bonds with the knife of his fallen enemy, he rested and ate a little before he crept away. But it is a comfort to know that he had some lembas in his pocket, even though he ran away without gear or pack; that, perhaps, is like a hobbit. (pp. 489-490).

They can tell they're hobbits because who else would stop for a snack - let alone have their snack still in their pockets when they'd left all their belongings behind. Lol. I love hobbits. No matter the danger, if they have food, they're a happy bunch.

Then of course - ENTS! I love the Ents.

‘Almost felt you liked the Forest! That’s good! That’s uncommonly kind of you,’ said a strange voice. ‘Turn round and let me have a look at your faces. I almost feel that I dislike you both, but do not let us be hasty. Turn around!’ A large knob-knuckled hand was laid on each of their shoulders, and they were twisted round, gently but irresistibly; then two great arms lifted them up. (p. 463).

They're so funny. Slow and steady, don't be hasty until you piss them off and then BOOM! I love the first meeting between Merry, Pippin and Treebeard. I love how they're all so fascinated with each other.

Hobbits: But what are you? Who are you?

Ent: I'm an Ent but you can call me Treebeard. But what are you? Who are you?

Hobbits: Well, we're hobbits.

Ent: ....and what is a hobbit?

Hobbits:

‘We always seem to have got left out of the old lists, and the old stories,’ said Merry. ‘Yet we’ve been about for quite a long time. We’re hobbits.’ ‘Why not make a new line?’ said Pippin. ‘Half-grown hobbits, the hole-dwellers. Put us in amongst the four, next to Man (the Big People) and you’ve got it.’ ‘Hm! Not bad, not bad,’ said Treebeard. ‘That would do. (p. 465).

And it cracked me up to find that Merry and Pippin drinking the ent draught has made them grow.

He laid his hand on Gimli’s head, and the Dwarf looked up and laughed suddenly. ‘Gandalf!’ he said. ‘But you are all in white!’ ‘Yes, I am white now,’ said Gandalf. ‘Indeed I am Saruman, one might almost say, Saruman as he should have been. (p. 495).

Gandalf's death and return just doesn't impact me as much having read it before. It's kind of anti-climatic when you know how it's going to end.

Gilmi and Legolas' friendship is also really sweet. I like their one upping each other. It was very amusing. And I liked that they plan to travel together. I would totally read their adventures.

‘Twenty-one!’ cried Gimli. He hewed a two-handed stroke and laid the last Orc before his feet. ‘Now my count passes Master Legolas again.’

‘Twenty-one!’ said Gimli. ‘Good!’ said Legolas. ‘But my count is now two dozen. It has been knife-work up here.’ (p. 536).

‘Forty-two, Master Legolas!’ he cried. ‘Alas! My axe is notched: the forty-second had an iron collar on his neck. How is it with you?’ ‘You have passed my score by one,’ answered Legolas. ‘But I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your legs!’ (p. 543).

Although the meeting of Gilmi, Legolas, Aragorn, Pippin and Merry in front of Saruman's is hilarious as well.

The king and all his company sat silent on their horses, marvelling, perceiving that the power of Saruman was overthrown; but how they could not guess. And now they turned their eyes towards the archway and the ruined gates. There they saw close beside them a great rubble-heap; and suddenly they were aware of two small figures lying on it at their ease, grey-clad, hardly to be seen among the stones. There were bottles and bowls and platters laid beside them, as if they had just eaten well, and now rested from their labour. One seemed asleep; the other, with crossed legs and arms behind his head, leaned back against a broken rock and sent from his mouth long wisps and little rings of thin blue smoke. (p. 556).

‘And what about your companions? What about Legolas and me?’ cried Gimli, unable to contain himself longer. ‘You rascals, you woolly-footed and wool-pated truants! A fine hunt you have led us! Two hundred leagues, through fen and forest, battle and death, to rescue you! And here we find you feasting and idling – and smoking! Smoking! Where did you come by the weed, you villains? Hammer and tongs! I am so torn between rage and joy, that if I do not burst, it will be a marvel!’ ‘You speak for me, Gimli,’ laughed Legolas. ‘Though I would sooner learn how they came by the wine.’ ‘One thing you have not found in your hunting, and that’s brighter wits,’ said Pippin, opening an eye. ‘Here you find us sitting on a field of victory, amid the plunder of armies, and you wonder how we came by a few well-earned comforts!’ ‘Well-earned?’ said Gimli. ‘I cannot believe that!’ (p. 557).

‘You do not know your danger, Théoden,’ interrupted Gandalf. ‘These hobbits will sit on the edge of ruin and discuss the pleasures of the table, or the small doings of their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and remoter cousins to the ninth degree, if you encourage them with undue patience. Some other time would be more fitting for the history of smoking. (p. 558).

The nature of hobbits in general amuses me. They're so resilient when you put food and pipe weed in front of them. Or just food.

The three were soon busy with their meal; and the two hobbits, unabashed, set to a second time. ‘We must keep our guests company,’ they said. ‘You are full of courtesy this morning,’ laughed Legolas. ‘But maybe, if we had not arrived, you would already have been keeping one another company again.’ (p. 561).

Merry and Pippin: Duh. Food. Pipe-weed. What else would we be doing? We're hobbits!

Then of course you have the second half with Sam and Frodo and a sneaky Gollum travelling to Mordor. The second half is a lot more intense. Sam and Frodo are weary. They're hungry. They're thirsty. They face impossible odds. And they're in so much danger it's not even funny. Well...except when it is. Sam provides just the right amount of comic relief, lightening Frodo's load just that tiniest bit and making me chuckle with his bravery.

‘I’m going to try it,’ he said. ‘Very good!’ said Sam gloomily. ‘But I’m going first.’

‘You?’ said Frodo. ‘What’s made you change your mind about climbing?’

‘I haven’t changed my mind. But it’s only sense: put the one lowest as is most likely to slip. I don’t want to come down atop of you and knock you off – no sense in killing two with one fall.’ Before Frodo could stop him, he sat down, swung his legs over the brink, and twisted round, scrabbling with his toes for a foothold. It is doubtful if he ever did anything braver in cold blood, or more unwise.

‘No, no! Sam, you old ass!’ said Frodo. ‘You’ll kill yourself for certain, going over like that without even a look to see what to make for. Come back!’ He took Sam under the armpits and hauled him up again. ‘Now, wait a bit and be patient!’ he said. (pp. 606-607).

Plus his revelations about his rope.

‘I’m coming down to you,’ shouted Sam, though how he hoped to help in that way he could not have said.

‘No, no! wait!’ Frodo called back, more strongly now. ‘I shall be better soon. I feel better already. Wait! You can’t do anything without a rope.’

‘Rope!’ cried Sam, talking wildly to himself in his excitement and relief. ‘Well, if I don’t deserve to be hung on the end of one as a warning to numbskulls! You’re nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee: that’s what the Gaffer said to me often enough, it being a word of his. Rope!’ ‘Stop chattering!’ cried Frodo, now recovered enough to feel both amused and annoyed. ‘Never mind your gaffer! Are you trying to tell yourself you’ve got some rope in your pocket? If so, out with it!’

‘Yes, Mr. Frodo, in my pack and all. Carried it hundreds of miles, and I’d clean forgotten it!’ ‘Then get busy and let an end down!’ (p. 608).

It's bleak but Sam sure knows how to lighten the mood. I like Faramir. Gollum is such a creepy character though. All he's my preciousss. I gotta say I just keep picturing a cross between Dobby and Voldemort. Especially since he goes all split personality on them.

I loved Sam and Frodo's discussion about their tale becoming immortalised in the songs and lore.

Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: “Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!” And they’ll say: “Yes, that’s one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?” “Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s saying a lot.”’

‘It’s saying a lot too much,’ said Frodo, and he laughed, a long clear laugh from his heart. Such a sound had not been heard in those places since Sauron came to Middle-earth. To Sam suddenly it seemed as if all the stones were listening and the tall rocks leaning over them. But Frodo did not heed them; he laughed again. ‘Why, Sam,’ he said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”’

‘Now, Mr. Frodo,’ said Sam, ‘you shouldn’t make fun. I was serious.’ ‘So was I,’ said Frodo, ‘and so I am. (p. 712).

I like that Frodo appreciates Sam. He deserves it. He's doing everything he can to keep Frodo on his path. He's very loyal. And Frodo's right, I just want to hear more about Sam. "That's what I like, it makes me laugh." And Frodo definitely wouldn't have gotten far without him. And the confrontation with Shelob (the giant spider..ugh) just proves it. Sam is absolutely magical. He's fierce and brave and determined. Although poor Sam. Thinking Frodo's dead when he's not. He really beats himself up for it. I didn't like that.

He sprang forward with a yell, and seized his master’s sword in his left hand. Then he charged. No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate. (p. 728).

Now splaying her legs she drove her huge bulk down on him again. Too soon. For Sam still stood upon his feet, and dropping his own sword, with both hands he held the elven-blade point upwards, fending off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob, with the driving force of her own cruel will, with strength greater than any warrior’s hand, thrust herself upon a bitter spike. Deep, deep it pricked, as Sam was crushed slowly to the ground. No such anguish had Shelob ever known, or dreamed of knowing, in all her long world of wickedness. Not the doughtiest soldier of old Gondor, nor the most savage Orc entrapped, had ever thus endured her, or set blade to her beloved flesh. A shudder went through her. Heaving up again, wrenching away from the pain, she bent her writhing limbs beneath her and sprang backwards in a convulsive leap. (p. 729).

And once again it's the perfect place to wrap up this volume.

Sam yelled and brandished Sting, but his little voice was drowned in the tumult. No one heeded him.

The great doors slammed to. Boom. The bars of iron fell into place inside. Clang. The gate was shut. Sam hurled himself against the bolted brazen plates and fell senseless to the ground. He was out in the darkness. Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy. (p. 742).

I adored it all. I loved getting to explore the other characters in more depth. I loved getting to see Frodo and Sam travel to Mordor. It was just fantastic, fast paced, action packed, character driven - it has it all.

5 stars.

NOTE: All references refer to the following omnibus edition. Tolkien, J. R. R.. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. (2005) HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.