The Return of the King - J.R.R Tolkien

The Return of the King is the third and final volume of JRR Tolkien’s series, The Lord of the Rings. In my opinion, it is probably the most exciting, and most captivating of the books. Tolkien does a good job of keeping you excited even past the climax of the book. Many things keep happening, and it makes you want to keep flipping pages.

Frodo and Sam finally complete their quest in this volume. Many of their dreams do come true, and in the end most of the characters that are yet living find peace and satisfaction, and after several marriages, they settle down to perform their duties and live their lives after the war.

I did enjoy most of the book, although there were parts in which I was bored a little bit, such as the parts near the ending in Minas Tirith. The least interesting to me was the romance between the Lord Faramir and the Lady Eowyn. It was, to be honest, unimportant to me. I would rather read about other characters, such as Aragorn and Eomer. This almost added a new end that needed to be tied. It was one of the things that drew the book out even longer than it already was.

I find it interesting how the Hobbits keep running into trouble along the way, yet they keep their will and strength and move onward. I believe that there is a statement made at the end with the trouble in the shire. The hobbits had seen the greater perils and troubles of the world, and the trouble did not seem great in comparison. And the hobbits did outnumber the ruffians, but they did not gather until a rallying cry of significant leadership. It points out how good leadership is important and vital to the success of a nation or any group, such as the church.

Then, at the end, we come to the appendices. They are by no means necessary to the development and plot of the story, but they do provide much information that is indeed very interesting. If you really enjoyed reading the series and thought it to be amazing, you will enjoy reading this added information. If you liked the series, but don’t think it’s as great as it’s pumped up to be, you probably wouldn’t enjoy them.

If you have read the first two books, I think it would be very hard to walk away without reading this one. If you have not read The Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers, I strongly recommend that you read those two first, as you would likely be lost in this one.

I highly recommend this series, The Lord of the Rings.