The Two Towers

An excellent second part of the greatest fantasy series of all time! The continuation of the story and Tolkien's writing style are truly a marvel. While at times it can be difficult, I still like the style. I would say this is the last step in writing syntax before “modern” modern English since Tolkien was a young man during World War I. And yes, I call it this as not being a scholar of language, unlike Mr. Tolkien.

I read the first half of this book in college, right after reading the first one, but then college got in the way and it fell by the wayside. This was before the movies had been released, but I can say that I'm not a fan of the way Tolkien did the whole first half of the book from the AGL side and then went back to Frodo and Sam. That could just be the modern me used to this in the movies, or even in other book series. And again, it's a personal preference, but some of the sections with just the three characters in an endless march may have been one of the reasons I didn't follow through on this series many years ago. I am glad that the book dropped Gollum's hiss speak shortly after his introduction. That would have been annoying to have to read through for almost 200 pages. The book also gives a much more nuanced view of Gollum, not proving until near the end that he had planned to betray them all along.

One of the things that amazed me is how faithful the Peter Jackson movies remained to the books. Yes, Saruman isn't killed here in the books, and the elves don't come to Helm's Deep in the book. The movies were excellent, but it was great to finally see all the meat in the stories and get in-depth. Heck, it was funny reading the conversation between the orcs in the tower, as if they were an organized army with ranks and a hierarchy. Most more recent views of orcs show them as little more than a mob that simply follows the best killer among them.

Overall, while not as good as the Fellowship, but still well worth reading, and not simply the bridge between Books 1 and 3.