The Return of the King

Trade Paperback, 440 pages

English language

Published Aug. 13, 1983 by Houghton Mifflin.

ISBN:: 978-0-395-27221-3
OCLC Number:: 53126739

(2 reviews)

In celebration of The Hobbit's fifteenth anniversary, the authoritative edition of its stirring sequel, The Lord of the Rings, is elegantly presented in handsome, uniform editions. In the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, 111-year-old Bilbo Baggins (hero of The Hobbit) passed along his magical ring to his orphaned nephew, Frodo — unwittingly setting its original owner, the horrible Gollum, on his trail. Lest the ring fall into evil hands, Frodo sought to destroy it at the Mountain of Fire in the enemy land of Mordor. In the Second Part, which recounts his perilous journey, Frodo succeeded in taming Gollum and enlisting his aid; the creature's treacherous nature, however, soon reasserted itself. As the Third Part opens, Frodo has been captured by orcs, and the task of destroying the ring — and saving the world of Middle-earth — falls to his plucky servant, Samwise. --back cover

127 editions

Paranoid Fish reviewed The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, #3)

Second Try

3 stars

When I first tried to read “Lord of the Rings” I was only a kid, perhaps twelve years old, and I got very bored during the first half of volume two, so I didn’t read any further and forgot about it for a while. Looking back now, I was maybe a little bit too young back then. So now, forty years later, being someone who just can’t stand having only read half of a famous book, I’m back again at it; but I must say, it is still quite boring at times. Even though it’s considered “High Fantasy”, there’s still a lot of Sword & Sorcery in it (which I usually don’t like very much), there are endless descriptions of walking through landscapes and of military operations, and there is, to my taste at least, still too much glorification of heroism. I will definitely finish it this time, but it …

When I first tried to read “Lord of the Rings” I was only a kid, perhaps twelve years old, and I got very bored during the first half of volume two, so I didn’t read any further and forgot about it for a while. Looking back now, I was maybe a little bit too young back then. So now, forty years later, being someone who just can’t stand having only read half of a famous book, I’m back again at it; but I must say, it is still quite boring at times. Even though it’s considered “High Fantasy”, there’s still a lot of Sword & Sorcery in it (which I usually don’t like very much), there are endless descriptions of walking through landscapes and of military operations, and there is, to my taste at least, still too much glorification of heroism. I will definitely finish it this time, but it is straining and less fun than I thought. Still, what’s impressing to it, and that’s what I think made it so famous, is Tolkien’s love for details in imagining middle earth, his verbose world building; his storytelling however I find rather lengthy and mediocre. (Disclaimer: Written by a non-native speaker without any use of AI – may contain mistakes and awkward formulations)

Luca Broggi reviewed Il Ritorno del Re by J.R.R. Tolkien (Il Signore degli Anelli, #3)

La chiusura

4 stars

Si chiude in maniera scorrevole quest'opera. Scorre bene e non ci sono ostacoli inutili o insormontabili. Bella anche la fase finale presso la contea, anche se mi è sembrato un po' scisso dal resto. Storia meravigliosa ma.. posso dire che Gandalf meritava una caratterizzazione un po' migliore? È sempre così piatto.