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| The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set) | 
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| Author: J.r.r. Tolkien
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £20.00
Buy New: £10.00
You Save: £10.00 (50%)
New (6) from £9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  143 reviews
Sales Rank: 1968
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Number Of Items: 3
Pages: 1500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.6 x 4.2
ISBN: 0261102389
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780261102385
ASIN: 0261102389
Publication Date: March 1, 1999
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
For those who have not read Tolkien's epic fantasy, or for those looking to replace a worn and battered copy, this three-volume The Lord of the Rings box set is a great place to start. Comprising the three novels that make up the Lord of the Rings sequence--The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King--the whole set is presented in matching matt black packaging with embossed runes and coloured rings. Of course, beneath the fancy covers lies a great epic story of good versus evil, perhaps one of the greatest stories ever told. Attractively presented--and at a great price--there really is no excuse not to have this in your collection. So go on, give it a try; once you've entered Tolkien's fantastic imagination, you'll find it hard to leave. --Jonathan Weir
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| Customer Reviews: Read 138 more reviews...
 So over-rated it hurts September 30, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I think my problem with this book(/s) is that I didn't read it when I was a child. If I had done, I may have loved it like I did Star Wars or appreciated the world it creates like I now accept that the World of Warcraft universe is impressive in its size and scope.
As it is, I can't get over how thoroughly mediocre the whole thing is. People talk about it as an epic but what is epic about it other than its incredible length? People talk about the life lessons you can learn from it or its universal themes of good and bad. Really? Are we ever given even the tiniest shred of motivation for any of the characters? Is it ever explained to us why the 'good' characters are good or why the 'evil' ones are evil?
I challenge any one of this books millions of fans to find a single person who read this after the age of 25 and liked it. Or to re-read it themselves without the rose-tinted spectacles of their childhood and explain to me why it is in any way more impressive, inventive or rewarding than most of todays fantasy computer games. These too create whole worlds with plenty of maps and creatures and races and fights and quests and so on, usually with more to their story than: "Walk for 1400 pages then throw a ring into some lava" but none of these are every held up as the ultimate examples of literature.
Like "The DaVinci Code", this book is cited as a masterpiece only by people who simply haven't read enough other books to know better.
shockingly bad September 9, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the single most apallingly overrated nonsense I have ever had my displeasure to read. It starts badly (there never is a plausible reason given why the hobbits set off on this ridiculously dangerous adventure) and just gets worse. The descriptions are turgid, the characterisation unbelievable and the use of language frighteningly dull.
Truth is I have never managed to get past the first of the three books that make up this shockfest. I have always got to the point where the hobbits enter the elvish forest and thrown (yes physically thrown) the book across the room. When I say always I must confess that I have attempted to read this thing three times and always come to the same conclusion - it is too bad to be worthy of my time.
Four points: first I am not afraid to read lengthy novels as I completed Thomas Mann's "Joseph and His Brothers" and Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" this year and found both amazing. Also I am not some bigot opposed to children's literature, "Pinnochio" and "The Little Prince" are delightful and speak more to the human condition than Tolkein ever could. I also found "The Hobbit" to be a near perfect fantasy novel whose characters I could easily empathise with. Finally I delight in fairy tales and recognise the importance of the Elvish folk in some cultures. The truth is this is just badly written nonsense best ignored while you realise there is more magic in "Moby Dick" than in some tale about a magic ring.
 DON'T DELUDE YOURSELF: THIS IS A BOOK FOR KIDS August 14, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
A promising start and then the sheer, tiresome old-skool epic-ness of the thing soon drags things down to a trudge, just before you start screaming to yourself, 'Will anybody actually die in this bleeding thing - especially one or all of those flipping hobbits?'
Too much 'destined-for-greatness', 'goodness-of-the-soul' saccharinity(?). A couple of stars for the scope of the imagination, but none for suspenseful storytelling and the like.
 A challenge, but well worth the effort. April 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a challenge. This is what puts many people off it the first time they open it, especially if they have already seen the movie. The point is, this is not just easy entertainment, like the film was. Yes, they tried in places to put a philosophical gloss on, but took great care to explain this to anyone watching, just in case they missed it.
Yes, there are great long descriptive passages, but they are there for a reason. We are so used to having images presented to us that we no longer seem to find description necessary. This is a pity, because if you give him a chance, Tolkien is one of the best descriptive writers I know. We cannot explore all the detail in a single reading, just as we cannot see all the detail in a good painting in a single quick viewing. The only way to sink yourself into this world is to let the author describe it to you, there would be no point in him writing this book if everyone could just think up their own equally valid version.
The greatest thing about the Lord of the Rings is, like all great art, the fact that we cannot understand and see all in a single reading. People reread it many times, because each new reading reveals something that went unnoticed before. The immense complexity of the characters cannot be shown in a quick and easy way, employed by many fantasy writers of cheap Tolkien-spinoffs, simply by stating something like 'Tom was a very sensitive boy. Having been bullied by his schoolmates, he was constantly on the alert.. blablabla'. Tolkien understood, unlike many of these other authors, that only a very complex combination of deeds, words and thoughts can reveal who and what someone truly is.
If you do struggle reading this, and I can imagine that as I didn't manage to finish it the first time I read it, I strongly recommend an audio book. This may look like cheating as you can simply let it run, and then claim to have read it all. I firmly believe (without reading any experts on this, so I may be eating these words at some later date) that Tolkien was thinking of the great epic poems from the past while writing this. Poems from a completely oral culture. When this is read aloud by a good actor, trees and places appear before your eyes. Passages which may seem dull if you try to tackle them on your own suddenly flow past effortlessly, with your imagination free from fetters to picture the scene.
I don't think this review will ever be read by many people, this has been more of a rant for me than anything else. I do hope more people will be able to find their way to Middle Earth, simply by giving it another chance. It really is worth the effort to see your way past slightly older language than you may be accustomed to, and a style so radically different from usual. But that is something all great art has as well: a unique style, and this work should not be disregarded simply because we are not used to it.
One of the most influential books of all time November 18, 2007
1 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is and always will be a great book. It will cease to be of interest when people no longer think that Hamlet says anything meaningful about the human condition or that Romeo and Juliet tells us nothing about love. I could have given this book 5 stars to reflect its key role in twentieth century entertainment, from books to video games to films, to recognise the meticulous detail of the characters and the staggering breadth of Tolkien's imagination. But instead I chose to give it 1 star because although it is great as the best of Shakespeare it is phenomenally dull in many places because of Tolkiens inability to understand the idea of "pace" and "suspense" and because the characters are so shallow and underdeveloped.
But, that is probably not at all a bad thing. It seems to me that this book is Tolkien's labour of love for European mythology. He perhaps wanted to create for European mythology a sprawling, stolid, timeless classic in the vein of the ancient greek classics. The greek classics are quite dull to read, but oh, the stories! What child doesn't know the name of Hercules or the story of the wooden horse?
In the same way, this is a classic of European mythology, with a cracking (though at times blandly told) story and many memorable (though underdeveloped by modern standards) characters. This book therefore deserves to be read for generations to come, but those generations should take it as it is. It is a great book, but not great literature.
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