The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I've written before here on the blog that I feel weird about not having read The Lord of the Rings series. I love fantasy, I love classic novels, and these books are pretty much the perfect combination of those two things. I've meant to get around to them for years now and finally be a LotR person, but I haven't felt motivated enough to take on such a long and dense series. I did start my journey almost exactly three years ago with The Hobbit, which I did like, but didn't get any further with it at that time. With the Back to the Classics Challenge asking me to read a genre classic this year, I figured it was a good time to finally return to the series. 

The Fellowship of the Ring picks up several decades after the events of The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins has returned to The Shire and has been living a quiet life with his nephew, Frodo. He still has his magical ring of invisibility that he acquired on his big adventure all those years ago, and uses it from time to time to get out of sticky situations. His life is good, but boring, and he has started yearning to go off on another adventure. On his eleventy-first birthday, he decides to do just that. He leaves his magical ring with Frodo, and heads out into the unknown.

Meanwhile, as life in The Shire continued on more or less the same, the rest of Middle-Earth has not been so lucky. An old evil, long since defeated, has risen again and is seeking to exert control over the country. His name is Sauron, and he has positioned himself in the dark lands of Mordor, where he is slowly building power and followers. He lacks one magical item that would assure his complete victory--a special magical ring. Gandalf, the powerful wizard that assisted Bilbo on his journey to defeat Smaug in The Hobbit, has been traveling throughout the country to learn more about Sauron and find ways to defeat him. He arrives back in the Shire to convey some startling news to Frodo. The ring he received from Bilbo is, in fact, the "one ring to rule them all" that Sauron is searching for. If the ring falls into his hands, he will become unstoppable and all will be lost. He tells Frodo that now he must undertake a terrible and dangerous quest. He must travel across the land to Mordor and destroy the ring by throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom, where it was forged.This is the only way to defeat Sauron and save Middle-Earth.

Frodo is daunted, but accepts the task. He sets out with a small band of trusted hobbits, including Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry), and Peregrin Took (Pippin). His journey is immediately dangerous, as Sauron has already heard rumors about a Baggins from The Shire having the ring and has dispatched nine terrifying servants, the black riders, to overtake him. The party manages to evade them for a time, but the riders are always just a step behind the group, waiting for an opportunity to strike. As Frodo continues making his way across the land, he adds more adventurers to his party to aid him in his quest and protect him from Sauron. Among them are the ranger Aragorn, the dwarf Gimli, the prince and soldier Boromir, and the elf Legolas. Together, this fellowship fights their way across Middle-Earth to try and destroy both the ring and Sauron for good.

This was a grand, epic adventure story, and I could immediately see why it inspires such devotion in its fans. Reading Fellowship felt like sitting around a fire at a medieval inn, listening to a master storyteller. I found myself wishing that I had stumbled upon it as a kid, as I think I might have truly fallen in love with it back in the days when The Chronicles of Narnia and The Neverending Story were making deep impressions on my reading life. As it was, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit, but there were some aspects of it that I struggled with.

On the positive side, the world of Middle-Earth was extremely well-developed, with every town, river, hill, and plant having a long explanation behind it. It's not exactly groundbreaking analysis to say this. This is a high fantasy series, and Tolkien is known for his extensive world building. Even knowing this before I started the book, I was still surprised by the sheer amount of detail present in the setting. The story would frequently pause for long descriptions of land that the characters were currently travelling across, which were impressive and very well-written, often to the point of being overwhelming. It was very easy to picture what the various locations they visited looked like, and all the details made for a very immersive reading experience. Admittedly, it did get a bit boring occasionally. Still, this was probably the most intricately-crafted setting I have ever experienced in a novel, and I truly felt like I was in another world while reading.

 The characters all had similarly detailed backgrounds, which were unveiled gradually throughout the story. Much like with the setting, all of this information felt overwhelming at times, but it also made the characters feel more real. By the end of the novel, I had a clear sense what everyone's thoughts and motivations were. I knew that Sam, when not thinking about Frodo, was probably thinking about food. I knew Gimli would be looking to prove his strength at every opportunity. I knew that Aragorn would always choose the noblest course of action in every situation. The characters weren't all necessarily three dimensional, but they were certainly consistent and easy to like. Frodo and, to a lesser degree, Sam, were the exception to this, as they experienced clear growth throughout the course of the story. One of the themes running throughout the text is the idea of unassuming people being capable of great deeds, and their movement towards bravery and selflessness develops this idea nicely.

On the more negative side, there were a few elements of the story that I didn't enjoy so much. As I mentioned previously, the amount of detail included was overwhelming at times. The plot was pretty slow-moving in general, and all the extra information slowed down the story even further. I eventually got used to the style, but I think that the pacing is a bit too slow for my taste in general. Also, there is a real lack of female characters. The elf Galadriel is the only woman to speak more than a few lines, and she is not present for the vast majority of the novel. There are so many interesting male characters to read about throughout this story, and this is a clear and obvious imbalance. I wish that at least one woman had gone along on the journey as well. 

Still, I liked The Fellowship of the Ring and I can understand why so many readers have fallen in love with the series. It's classic high fantasy, and even though it shows its age in spots, it is still a fun reading experience. Due to all the world-building details and slow pace, it took me a while to get into the story. Once I did, however, I had a good time with it. Frodo's journey to destroy the ring spreads across all three novels in the series, so this one ends on a cliffhanger. I am looking forward to picking up The Two Towers and seeing how the story continues.   

Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2020 (A Genre Classic): 9/12
Classics Club (#43 on my list): 2/4 books in series completed - working towards 74/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2020: 47