The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring 

The Fellowship of the Ring is book one in a series of three from J.R.R. Tolkien. It is the latest novel to be checked off my constantly growing to be read list. Which I fear I may never check everything off of. But it is certainly fun to try! 

I always enjoy a great book, and this is a good one. It has been so much fun to read and listen to these with my husband, Nathan. Do you ever read books that your significant other loves? I think this is something everyone should do. 

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Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring? Come on in and let me tell you about it! 

About The Fellowship of the Ring 

Begin your journey into Middle-earth…

The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power—the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring—the ring that rules them all—which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. 

Thoughts on The Fellowship of the Ring 

My husband, Nathan, is an avid reader and has always owned The Lord of the Rings books, and had them long before we were married. But I had never read them myself until now. I’m not entirely sure why I’ve never picked these books up and read them, as they’ve literally always been available to me. 

I decided to listen to this book in audiobook format, which I don’t normally do. But Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum in the movies, narrates it. Andy Serkis also had a role in the show Andor, a Star Wars spinoff. I could listen to Andy Serkis talk all day long, and it made listening to the books really enjoyable for me, and much better than just reading them alone. 

If you are not normally a fantasy book genre lover, I highly recommend listening to these in audiobook format. It is a ton of fun to listen to, and actually helped me pay more attention and follow along. 

What I love about this is that I could listen to the books and then Nathan would play a scene from the movies along with it, so I could follow along. We ended up watching the movies again after we had read the books as well. I must admit that I liked the books so much more than the movies because the movies left out some really fun parts, in my opinion. But then again, those parts didn’t add anything to the movies, it was more random parts. But I loved those too. 

From Nathan 

I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was 11 or 12. And in the intervening 30 years, I’ve probably re-read the books at least once a year. Their influence on fantasy culture cannot be understated. Nearly every modern fantasy story borrows at least some elements from Tolkien. I could go on and on about how much I love the world of Middle-earth, but today we will just talk about the first novel: The Fellowship of the Ring.

If you’ve read The Hobbit, Fellowship begins with a nearly identical plot structure. There are some hobbits living in a sleepy area of Middle-earth called The Shire, quite oblivious to the goings-on elsewhere in the world. The hobbits are content to live their own simple lives. But then the wizard Gandalf comes in and sets our protagonists off on a grand adventure for which they are quite unprepared.

The main character, Frodo Baggins, is the nephew of The Hobbit’s protagonist, Bilbo. On the occasion of Bilbo’s birthday party, Bilbo decides he’s had enough of the Shire, and leaves all of his possessions to Frodo: his house, his money, and a small golden Ring that Bilbo acquired on his previous adventure.

This Ring, it turns out, is the prized possession of the Dark Lord Sauron, although Bilbo was quite unaware of it. And agents of the dark lord are veering in on the Shire, eager to take back their master’s prize, and kill anyone who stands in their way. Frodo has no choice: he too has to leave the Shire and keep the Ring out of the enemy’s grasp.

Through many adventures and narrow escapes, Frodo and his companions’ first taste of the outside world is fraught with peril. But somehow they all persevere, bringing the reader along one of the most thrilling adventures in all of fiction.

Final Thoughts on The Fellowship of the Ring 

Tolkien’s skill with language paints a vivid picture of Middle-earth, often spending entire paragraphs just describing a forest or a mountain or a river. I had no trouble visualizing every location that our heroes visited, even before Peter Jackson’s trilogy of movies were made.

Any reader of fantasy novels, or any author aspiring to write their own fantasy, must begin with The Fellowship of the RIng. It is the very foundation of the genre. If any book deserves the title of “must read,” it is this.

We are both calling The Fellowship of the Ring a five star read. Now coming from Nathan, this isn’t surprising. Coming from me, I’m actually surprised. But Tolkien did an amazing job at creating a memorable fantasy world and it kept me wanting to learn more about it. Andy Serkis did an amazing job as well in bringing every single character to life in narrating these books. To say that I am impressed by both is an understatement. 

Discussion 

Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring yourself yet? Are you a fan of the series? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

About the Author 

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on 3rd January 1892. After serving in the First World War, he became best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, selling 150 million copies in more than 40 languages worldwide. Awarded the CBE and an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University, he died in 1973 at the age of 81. 

Purchasing The Fellowship of the Ring

If you are interested in buying the paperback version of The Fellowship of the Ring, click here.

For the hardcover version, click here.

For the audiobook version, click here. 

Click here for the Kindle version.

Click here for my favorite Kindle I currently own.

More From J.R.R. Tolkien 

If you’ve enjoyed my review of The Fellowship of the Ring and want more, check out these other books! 

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers 

The Return of the King 

The Silmarillion 

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