Presenting Author- J.R.R.Tolkien

[Emanuel Hines]

Name of the author:John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Main genre: High fantasy
Main audience: For all ages
Main books: The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Lord of Rings
Short summary of the author:
Tolkien was English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor. He was close friend with C.S.Lewis, who had written Narnia Chronicles. Tolkien´s son Christopher did great work, when after father´s death published a series of works, which were not published yet (for example The Silmarillion). Tolkien can be identified as father of modern fantasy literature. The Times ranked him as 6th on the list "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

For me Tolkien is one of the world´s best writers, he created his own world, language, alphabets and many other things based on his own imagination and with sources from our world. He was working on all books for ages, and I appreciate authors which create one book more years, because you can see author´s evolution through the happening- from the begging till the end. Usually books which had been created during long period have special quality.
Tolkien is also a master for choosing his audience, you can not decide to which audience the books are meant for. The Hobbit is for children, but it can be read by adults also. Other books are harder to decide.
Good points / bad points: Tolkien had special writting style, as everybody has. He is really good at describing nature, things which are happening in the book; there are always so many details in his books. Sometimes this is good and it is the indicator of very good writer, but sometimes it does take away the tension of book, because waiting for something to happen is long.

[Silas Hipolito Crist]

Title of the book: The Fellowship of the ring
Authors: Joh Ronald Reuel Tokien
Series: Lord of Rings
Genres: Fantasy
Short summary of the story: It all starts in small village where live hobbits. They are known as mysterious, happy and always hungry creatures, that do not like to show themselves to anyone pretty much. Everything change when Gandalf, the wizard arrives and disturbs their quiet lifes; or at least Frodo's. Young hobbit is forced to leave his own home and run through Bree and into Rivendell, where meeting is held. The main and most important characters in the Middle Earth meet there to discuss the problem with One Ring; Sauron needs it to achieve his true power and destroy everyone. Finally it is decided that Frodo and his Fellowship shall go and destroy the Ring by walking into Mordor and throwing it into flames.
Good points / bad points:
Good points are many- it is very original and the story was planned in Hobbit. Tolkien uses perfect language and is very good at efecting on any reader. The series are amazingly written; it is not just bare writing and story, it is very well described so the reader can imagine everything. I can't see any bad points; altough some may say that the books are too long.

[Silas Hipolito Crist]

Title of the book: The Two Towers
Authors: John Ronald Reuel
Series: The Lord of Rings
Genres: Fantasy
Short summary of the story: Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins are continuing journey towards Mordor by their own and apparently noticing that they are followed. It happens that the follower is someone very well known to them, it is Smeagol or Gollum as others call him because of his strange noises. After some time they decide to take him with them so he will help that come into Mordor. On the other side is the reamaining of the Fellowship which has been attacked by Uruk-hai. O
Creatures imprison two hobbits and the rest begin the hunt for this pack. Uruk-hai are destroyed by Rohirrim and hobbits manage to escape into Fangorn the forest, where they meet Ent Treebeard.
The rest of the group meet Gandalf again, altough they all though he is death. They travel to Rohan where Gandalf helps Theoden to escape the spell on him. Finally Saruman decided to attack Rohan with full force and Rohirrin take a shelter at Helm's deep. Luckily after hard battle Rohirrin are united with Ents and Saruman is defeated.
Frodo and Samwise meet Faramir and other Gondor Rangers, which help them and give them shelter.
Opinion: I have to say that this is my least favourite part, if I would had to decide. But I still think that it is brilliant. War is very tense and no one would expect such a marvelous ending. Gandalf's arrival is also something very beautiful if you are reading it for the first time. Frodo and Samwise' s yourney can be a little bit least interesting to read, but is corrected when meeting Faramir and with Gollum.

[Silas Hipolito Crist]

Title of the book: The Return of the King
Authors: John Ronald Reuel
Series: The Lord of Rings
Genres: Fantasy
Short summary of the story: Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins are ending their journey tiwards Mordor. They are acompanied with Gollum for some time, until he disappear while trying to kill them with the help of giant spider. He also leads two hobbits to Minas Morgul. Meantime Faramir and his army are defeated at Osgiliath and they return back to Gondor.
Gandalf leads others to Isengard where they finally defeat Saruman and take him the palantir. Then they are heading for Gondor and meeting the Lord of Gondor. There they are preparing for war; Sauron is leading army out of Mordor.
On the path to Gondor Aragorn is acompanied with some of his friends and they all take the path of Dead Men of Dunharrow. They bow down in front of rightful heir of Gondor (Aragorn) and help them to defeat one part of Sauron's army.
Opinion: Third part of LOTR is really amazing and fun to read. So much is happening and I like that Tolkien is switching between the story of Frodo and Sam and on the other side the story of others from the Fellowship. It is nice to see how good defeat evil and many creatures; from humans to elves and ents, are connected towards the evil. It is also magnificent that Tolkien includes many additional content on the very end and some stories from the history are told.

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

Title of the book: The Fellowship of the Ring
Authors: Joh Ronald Reuel Tokien
Series: Lord of the Rings
Genres: Fantasy
Short summary of the story: Frodo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire, inherits the One Ring and must take it to be destroyed in Mordor, where it originated. His quest is accompanied by a company of nine, including humans, a dwarf, an elf, fellow hobbits, and Gandalf the wizard. They embark on a long journey across the Misty Mountains and through Bree, Rivendell, and Lothlorien, meeting several others along the way. The first book leaves us at a point where the group can go one of two ways and must decide which way to go, either together or separately. Ultimately, Frodo and Sam embark on a journey themselves to go East toward Mordor instead of toward Minas Tirith with the rest.

Good points / bad points: Tolkien writes with an immense amount of detail, which shows the imagery with which the story plays out in his mind. For me, there is a bit too much detail. The action happens very quickly, and the rest involves the details of traveling this way and that. The map in the back of the book helps to place what he is referring to, but it's also difficult to flip back and forth constantly. He also likes to include poetic songs, which are pretty but easy to skip over. Ultimately I can see why this story has become a classic and I will read the other two books as well.

**Book Bout points:
- This entire story is an adventure and and exploration of different lands. They spend most of the time discovering new lands, meeting new people, and never knowing what's in store for them next.
- A few of the prompts apply to this book, including 'book with a map anywhere in it', 'book featuring a forest', and 'book featuring a long journey'.

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

Title of the book: The Two Towers
Authors: John Ronald Reuel Tokien
Series: Lord of the Rings
Genres: Fantasy
Short summary of the story: A continuation after The Fellowship of the Ring, Merry and Pippin are carried off by orcs, and Aragorn is determined to find them. The members of the fellowship meet the riders of Rohan and Theoden, King and Lord of the Mark of Rohan. Merry and Pippin manage to get away from them and meet Treebeard and the Ents in the Forest of Fangorn, which Saruman is also trying to destroy. Gandalf returns as Gandalf the White, the Battle of Helm's Deep occurs and the orcs are defeated. Gollum leads Sam and Frodo to Mordor and struggles to resist the urge to take the Ring. We meet Faramir, who is Boromir's brother and seems to be on their side. They also encounter and defeat a giant spider, Shelob, who paralyzes Frodo. The orcs take Frodo away and Sam carries the Ring.

Good points / bad points: SO much happens. I didn't realize how much until attempting to write a summary. Still, there is a lot of boring travel detail along the way. I was very entertained toward the beginning and struggled to keep reading as they travel toward Mordor. The end becomes captivating again. We meet a lot of characters, which adds depth to the story, but there is also a lot of random name dropping that made my brain hurt. There's a lot in here I just skimmed through to get to the plot development.

**Book Bout points:
- The same adventure details relate to this as in Fellowship: the entire story is an adventure and and exploration of different lands. They spend most of the time discovering new lands, meeting new people, and never knowing what's in store for them next.
- This one definitely involves a forest.

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

Title of the book: The Fall of Gondolin
Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)
Series: Kind of - Stories of the First Age of Middle Earth
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Short summary of the story (from Goodreads):

In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes, and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar.

Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo’s desires and designs.

Good points / bad points:
Good points:
As a Tolkien fan, though perhaps not an outright enthusiast, I quite loved the fact that the book exists, even if, at times, it is difficult to read. The book brings forth the First Age of Middle Earth and tells the story of Gondolin and its fall, something that shaped Middle Earth forever. I also like the inclusion of romance (something that for me is usually a negative as it is often done poorly), as it strengthens the story significantly. It also includes a glossary, additional notes, a family tree, and a list of names with descriptions so it is easy to keep track of who is whose son giving much-needed context, especially to those readers not familiar with Tolkien's work.

Bad points:
It is hard work reading it, but one that ultimately pays off. You can really see that Tolkien did not manage to finish it before his death and a lot of it is suddenly cut off, or messages hidden between passages that you need to find for yourself. Someone said that reading this book is like "teaching yourself to enjoy the excitement of multiple possibilities and not settle into the ease of a definite answer.". Some readers might enjoy that, but others, like me, would prefer more definite answers or ends, even if they were lost to the test of time. They might not be what the original author intended, but better than having something unfinished or left to the unsatisfying end.

[Silvana Mandeville]

Title: The Hobbit
Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Genres: Fantasy
Summary of story: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Good and Bad Points: This is one of my favourite fantasy books that I love to re-read many times. It's a really great book to read if you love adventure. Though, some people might find it boring at first or hard to readㅡlike me, who at first found it really hard to readㅡit's a worth book. The best part of this book is in the beginning when Gandalf meets Bilbo and Bilbo gives him a 'Good Morning'. How Tolkien wrote a dialogue for Gandalf is quite witty. The book also has its humor inside, the best one is when they escaped from Mirkwood when Bilbo realized that he wasn't in the barrel which made me laugh a lot. I like Bilbo, he is humble and loyal, just a simple Hobbit. I mean, for some who have been mistreated kind of times would just leave the company and go back home. But, Bilbo words, "What would they do without me?" proved that he is really loyal and a good one. Thus why, he is my favourite character from the book.

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

Title of the book: The Silmarillion
Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)
Series: Kind of - Part of Middle Earth Mythos
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Short summary of the story (from Goodreads):

The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Good points / bad points:
Good points:
I am a sucker for historical world-building and Tolkien is a master of that. This book explains in rich detail the mythology and many tales behind the stories of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth as a whole. Since the book was published after Tolkien’s death, it has a different writing style, but I was not as bothered by that as I thought I would be. I do think that this book is best suited for small doses, a story at a time. If you are a Tolkien buff, you will enjoy it, but better read The Hobbit and LOTR first, just in case.

Bad points:
Out of all Tolkien works, this was the hardest book for me to read. It reads really slowly, but it is not boring, as some people say. You just need to know what kind of book you are reading. I fully knew that The Silmarillion is not a novel, but more of a world-building almanac of Middle Earth. Still, I had a hard time with this book, and its non-linear, not-always-chronological storytelling, but perhaps this is a bad point for me and not the book.



edit - Septem-bean beans sent! - Tarma