Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. B3

Name: Jason Taylor
Class Period: B3
Book Title: Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Author: J.R.R Tolkien
Pages: 416
Rating: ****
Recommendation: People that would be interested in the lord of the rings books are people that don't mind heavy reading for a small thing. The author goes into a lot of detail about how something is said or done. Also the way the people in the book speak is in a medieval European kind of speech.

Summary: The book is split into 2 parts, the 2nd telling the story that's happening around Frodo and Sam, and the 1st telling about the other main characters and kingdoms like Aragorn and the Elves. The First Major battle of the book and series is the battle of Helmsdeep, where Sauron and Sauromans forces launch an all out attack on an ancient fort held by humans. The human alliance won this battle. After this the 'good guys' march off to an important battle at Isengard, where the traitor Sauroman lived and died, the Ents fight along the humans and the rest of the 'good guys' because the Isengarders are killing trees. The 2nd part of the book Frodo makes his way through the great marshes to the black gate with Sam, along this route they meet Gollum who is known for many nasty and funny trickses. Eventually gollum tries to have Frodo and Sam killed by Shelob, a giant spider that is older then Sauron himself. Sam saves them both by using the elven blade 'sting' to stab and fight, and the phial of Galadrial to scare it off. Shelob does get Frodo knocked out, Sam mistakes him for dead and takes the ring and soon finds out that Frodo is not dead and is now captured by orcs who think he is an Elven Warrior.

Explanation of Rating: I give 4 stars because its very good but it gets boring after a little bit of extensive detail that could be better left out. You could skip some paragraphs without missing any of the general story plot that happens. When a book is split into two that happen at the same time, such as this, even though it is one of the best ways of telling the story of two people in different places, it can get bad results. The ending of both parts but especially the second part leave the reader hanging, and by the time you read the next book you forgot what happened in the previous corresponding part because they alternate.

Favorite Passage: "Smeagol won't grub for roots and carrotses and--taters. What's taters, precious, ed, what's taters?" -Pg 294 (Ch: Of herbs and stewed rabbit)
It's an awesome passage that is not only funny, but shows how little Gollum/Smeagol cares about and knows about vegetables and 'taters' Sam Later says: "Po--ta--toes"