One ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them. Review on Fellowship of the Ring, The - J.R.R. Tolkien

A lot of people talk about how great Lord of the Ring is.

I find Lord of the Rings fascinating but I think it should be great more for the effect it created did and path it laid than for the style of writing or the story.

before JRR Tolkien brought out the Lord of the Rings, elves, pixies, imps, trolls, fairies and all other magical creatures were generally evil. They were featured in fairy tails as malevolent beings fond of playing amoral tricks on normal people.A very few tales showed them as beings who were good.These were the exception rather than the rule.

Tolkien brought in a whole new world(called Middle Earth) and spawned a whole new set of ides.

He classified the magical races into good and bad. The goodly races were elves,dwarves,hobbits and ents. The evil races were orcs and goblins and trolls.

THe humans in Tolkiens world could be good or bad and generally acted according to their own interests.

Tolkien's world was massive in his depth. I have never before read any other author who could build up a world from the ground up and even create a mythology and whole new languages with their own symbols(in tolkiens case runes).

The trilogy he is known for begins with the Fellowship of the ring.It is actually the sequel to the Hobbit(tolkiens first book).If you can; read the hobbit first.but its not necessary since the characters in the hobbit and the events in that book don't really play a role.

The fellowship of the ring is set in a world called Middle Earth where the main protagonists are beings called halflings(to others) or hobbits(to themselces). A lot of people might decide to forgo reading the book saying'' Why should I read about short people when I want someone I would be able to admire more(think Conan here :o) )' I know I did at first. While I read the book I realised that I could fill my thirst for adventurous tales by following the exploits of the companions of the hobbit.

The companions(1 wizard of unknown but frigtening power, 2 humans warriors, one elf bowman and a dwarf who fights with an axe) and 4 hobbit form the fellowship of the ring. Their task is to destroy a ring which contains the power of an extremely powerful malevolent being called Sauron. Due to the magic inherent in the ring it can only be destroyed where it was made and it was made in Mordor where Sauron is in power and around which he has placed many orcs.ALso hunting the ring outside Mordor are Beings called Ringwraiths who can inspire terror just by their presence.

They are small in number so that they can pass through the wild lands to Mordor without attracting too much attention. Though small they command resilience and a host of skills that you will come to admire as you read the book.

All in all buy the trilogy (and the hobbit if you can) and treat yourself to a world of magic and mystery. A world that many have tried to imitate but with little success.

The Fellowship is a wonderful starter book to the Lord of the Rings.It reveals much about the history of Middle Earth and why things are the way they are.The reader is taken from the shire from which the hobbits come to the Rivendell last outpost of the elves to the Mountains of Moria where the true dangers of the quests are seen.The pace is fast and the description graphic. The way each character is fleshed out is amazing.

However the beauty of this book is that it hints at so much more and you are desperate to finish the book so you can go on to the next and find more out.Be warned though.If you fall in love with this book you most likely will read beyond the Lord of the Rings to find out answers to how things came to be.Remember Tolkien had decades to firm up his ideas.There are many more books that go before the Lord of the Rings with events described therin which dwarf the exploits of the hobbits from the Shire.