The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings, #3) (Señor de los Anillos)

by J. R. R. Tolkien

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I really, really dislike the feeling of: “Oh thank goodness, this is over” when I’m reading a book, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that was the way I felt after completing this trilogy. For a series so renowned and beloved, The Lord of the Rings is incredibly boring… and honestly? The Return of the King is the worst culprit of them all.

Why?

The Return of the King has the greatest potential for excitement, but the least delivery of the trilogy. There are so many cool things that are happening here, but the parts I found I was personally really enjoying were not the parts that went into detail. For example, there’s a bit where the Rohirrim charge against the forces of Mordor. This has epic battle potential, right? Add to this the fact that this scene has Éowyn’s BIG MOMENT. Fans of both the books and films should know what I’m talking about here. This battle comes to us from Merry’s POV, and the depth of the fighting and that glimmering moment of Éowyn’s defiance and courage and complete badassery are drowned out as Merry and a small platoon of soldiers go to weep over Théoden. There’s death speeches and mourning and meanwhile somewhere behind it all there’s another important body, and there’s a WHOLE BATTLE GOING ON and we don’t get to see it. Because we’re singing funeral dirges and talking about the succession of the kingdom

I found this so frustrating.

Some characters certainly had their moments – Sam, in particular, was given the opportunity to shine and I really appreciated his role in this journey. Other interesting characters, such as Legolas and Gimli, seemed to fall to the background here. A great deal of time and attention is devoted to the hobbits and to Aragorn. Which is all well and good. Aragorn’s storyline in particular has importance here. But I found myself so frustrated with the conversations and talking about their plan instead of actually tuly being immersed in the fulfillment of them. It was difficult to appreciate the characters here when their version of the story were boring me.

*sigh*

So, to give a little technical background: this audiobook recording of The Return of the King is about 18 hours long. This is more or less on par with the rest of the series. For those familiar with the film adaptations, that ending occurs at about halfway into the book. It left me scratching my head as to what could possibly fill up the next eight hours.

As it turns out, the second half of the book is all about closure for the fellowship. The various members go their separate ways, and we follow the hobbits back to the Shire. This wind down lasts about four hours. The last four hours are the appendices.

I didn’t wait and listen to the appendices, guys. I’m sorry, I’m just not that interested in the minutia. I feel like I got plenty of closure and heard more than enough about the various races and languages and histories in the course of the trilogy.

The ideas and everything behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and especially this last installment are SO COOL. But the way it’s written… it feels like there’s a movie going on behind you, and you can hear it through a muffled screen, but you’re staring at a blank wall. It tried my patience, and in wanting so badly to be in the moment of the action, I was unable to appreciate the cultural nuances Tolkien was trying to impart about Middle Earth.

FORTUNATELY.

I understand that this is largely a me-problem. Tolkien’s writing (not just his stories) has a huge fan base all over the world and his works have captured the hearts and imaginations of multiple generations. I remember really enjoying these the first time I read them in middle school, so perhaps time and experience have jaded me.

EITHER WAY.

I really recommend to every fan of this genre to give the books a go. They will enrich your experience of Middle Earth and they are fantasy classics and deserve appreciation.