Jorijn Kuster

3/5

It is a wonderfully rich and well thought out world and story. For which I love this book and the world Tolkien created. The way the story is told is not quite for me.

The general feeling was a mix between ‘quite dull' and ‘interesting bits'. Most parts read slow, laden with text that does enrich the world, but does not progress the story (much).

I don't mind all the details and descriptions of the world, I do quite enjoy the story told in such a detailed world. But the balance was a bit off for me.

It feels like the characters are a means to tell the story. They're all quite shallow. It seems they are not much more than a name on the page with a character trait or two.
The way it is told you get a sense of what they are feeling or thinking sometimes, but not much. Neither is there very much dialog between them. As a reader I feel quite disconnected from the characters. I can imagine how tough or perilous the journey would be, but it doesn't quite hit me.

It is a very creative book, taking the scientific advancements of the time and propelling it forward a hundred years and more. It had me googling fascinating theories, inventions and apparatuses from that time. It must've taken a great deal of research.
It envokes mystery and wonderment and it must've been incredible to read in the 1870s.

And that was the problem for me. At this day and age, the book loses a large part of its sense of wonder. And sadly that is the most interesting part of this book for me.

After about 1/4 of the book, the biggest mysteries were solved. Then it turned into a travel journal. Here it felt like the story stopped progressing. Interesting and fascinating places are visited, some stuff happens, and we get the occasional list of information. But it felt like most of it had no relevance or reasoning other than to fascinate the main character (and the reader) about the submarine world.

The wonderous adventure is largely nullified by the modern world and the thin story and characters are not able to make up for it.

Nonetheless I am happy to have read the book. I can't help but wonder how incredible it must've been to read at the time when it was written.

4.5/5

In short:
This was a very enjoyable read. The most enjoyable of the three for me. Things happened at a slightly faster pace, I felt things were more tense and exciting.

I actually enjoyed the bits that were different or new to me (as seen in Peter Jackson movies), rather than slow or boring. I particularly enjoyed the bits were we get a glimpse of the lives of the Orcs through Sam and Frodos adventures, Sam's rescue of Frodo, and the retaking of the Shire. That was fun to read.

There were still slow bits. Characters were still quite shallow, but you get to see that the journey has changed them.

Having finished The Lord of the Rings now, my overall reading experience is quite positive. I really enjoyed it, more than I expected I would.
I am happy to have read a piece of Fantasy history.


Random thoughts:

The characters do get better throughout the books. And you see the interaction change between them. But as a reader you don't get to read what has changed them and the relationship with their companions. My assumption is the gruelling journey and hellish events has changed them, but you have to fill that in yourself and don't get to witness much of the change in character.

The best thing about these books is the fantastically detailed world, with all its thought out histories.
The worst is the depth of the characters. But I knew that going into the books. It didn't lessen my enjoyment much.

I was afraid that the books would have no exciting bits at all (that was my experience with The Hobbit, where I felt everytime you were told the next section would be dangerous but that Bilbo would come out fine on the other end. And then you were told the next part of the adventure in more detail knowing all would be well. That was not at all the case here, things were exciting at times.

It is a bit of an older book, and it is noticeable that is written in a different time with different values and views. I don't think that affected me much, but it is something to realise and be aware of.

Reading the three books was a journey, the first was definitely the hardest to get through for me, and the second half of The Two Towers (the Frodo and Sam half of the book) were a bit of a grind sometimes, as nothing much would happen besides detailing the world one slow Hobbit step at a time ;)

A journey for the fellowship and a journey for me!

4/5

With The Two Towers I had the same struggles as with The Fellowship of the Ring. However the story picked up pace. There was a sense of urgency at times. Which resulted in more enjoyable reading experience for me.
Here I felt that all the information shared in the first book was a good foundation to continue the story.

Having read this book, it also improved my thoughts and opinions on the first.

It still had its dull moments. The characters are still quite shallow (but I did not expect this to change)

3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed the series immensely, but for me this was the weakest of the three books. The book ties up a lot of loose ends (all?), which it does well, but this made it feel unfocused to me. Many (all?) things do come together in the end for a satisfying ending, albeit a bit abrupt.

It felt like a long intense rollercoaster, but with many intermittent chain lifts that slowed the story down quite a bit.