Is anybody with me Lord of the Rings over rated

[mindfungus]

Reading lord of the rings, I loved the movies, the books I find a bit on the boring side. I hear this trilogy as one of the greatest written, I don't see it.

[wally wonder]

check out stephen r donaldson's books, about thomas covenant, must be about ____ books on the matter. maybe they'd be more to your liking? i enjoyed them all, donaldson's as well as that tolkien guy's stories.

[Ranger_Strider]

As a terminalilly ill fan of LOTR, I can assure you that there is much to waded through in reading the actual trilogy. I can also assure you that if you think of it (more) as a study of what makes a place, time, culture, motif, come alive and BE (seem) real it gets more interesting. It is a STUDY in imagination, and yes, that can be a cumbersome weight to bear. I think it will live forever in at least the academic circles of thought alongside the likes of Sophocles and Shakespere.

[luckygehrig]

I have to disagree. Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite book(s). I think Tolkien's an amazing storyteller and the universe he created was huge.

[sam peebles]

No, sorry, not with you. The prose can take a little while to get used to, but it IS the greatest fantasy book ever written.

The movies were great, but not as good as the book. I'm not a purist but I have issues with some parts of it. The elves showing up at Helms Deep...Faramir taking Frodo to Osgiliath...

On the other hand, I'm very glad Jackson got rid of Tom Bombadil.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Yes, sorry I disagree as well, marvellous book IMO, and I've read it many times.

Long days and pleasant nights

[youngfibre]

Certainly not with you, sorry. If its a slow start, i think its because you are being taken from your world and gradually drawn into the world of the ring and its king.

[phidgt]

I think most of us probably read the books long before a movie was ever made. Once you give in to the world that Tolkien created (not Peter Jackson) the stories are wonderful.

[Turd Ferguson]

The Lord of the Rings is one of my top 3 favorite fantasy series, along with The Dark Tower and The Wheel of Time. I know The Dark Tower is not a standard fantasy series, having elements of sci-fi, Western, and horror in it, but it still centers upon a heroic quest, which is fantasy through and through. Back to LOTR, I haven't read it in a while, but I have read thpse books, The Hobbit, and The Silmarilion many times.

[strange]

never tried the actual series, i read the Hobbit and it killed my interest in fantasy for a few years.

[smerdyakov]

nope... sorry :sad:

[Renzo]

Lord of the Rings set too many standards that fantasy writers go by today for it to be overrated. It was revolutionary.

[randallFlaggfan1]

If anything, I believe the Lord of The Rings trilogy is underrated. Sorry...

[Bryan James]

If we didn't have Tolkein, we'd probably be inundated with a lot of cheesy vampire and werewolf stuff!

Oh. Wait. We is.

Anyway, better than endless Elves, I guess.

~BJS

[M-O-O-N that spells Nikki]

Try my best to get into it but failed. I find it extremely boring and dull.

[91rewoT]

I've seen the movies (numerous times) and love them...but have never read the books. I found a copy of "The Hobbit" at work last week and asked to borrow it. I'm going to start on it this weekend, and am hoping to get pulled into Tolkien's world and stay there until the book is done... or my daughter goes into labor...

[GLewman]

boooo!!!! HISSS HISSS!!!...lol...Just kidding. I do have to disagree with you though. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are not only the best fantasy books of all time, but some of the best writing of all time. Now if you want to talk about Tolkein's writing outside of those four books I will be the first to say that they are the hardest and most boring books in the history of writing. I would rather read the Twilight series than read the Silmarillion :)

[sam peebles]

boooo!!!! HISSS HISSS!!!...lol...Just kidding. I do have to disagree with you though. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are not only the best fantasy books of all time, but some of the best writing of all time. Now if you want to talk about Tolkein's writing outside of those four books I will be the first to say that they are the hardest and most boring books in the history of writing. I would rather read the Twilight series than read the Silmarillion :)

Really? Twilight over the Silmarillion? I'm really disappointed in you. I'll admit that the Silmarillion is clunky and ponderous at times, but it's also epic and intense, and provides a deep foundation for the greatest fantasy of all time. I love that freaking book.

[GLewman]

Hi Sam...I'm not a big fantasy guy to begin with so you got me there. I know other people who have enjoyed all of Tolkiens stuff and I may grow into it at some point..It has happened with many other authors :).

[nate_watkins]

I will say, both The Hobbit, and The Fellowship of the Ring started kinda slow for me, I stuck with them and was very glad I did. I think LOTR is a great trilogy. :smile2:

[dharmageek]

It takes its time to get moving but it's a great trilogy, as they said up there I think it's underrated if anything. Also they're the first books I've ever read on my own so I'm probably biased though :love:


On the other hand, I'm very glad Jackson got rid of Tom Bombadil.

I disagree, I think Tom Bombadil was great! I never get tired of reading his few chapters :blush: but it's good he didn't include them in the movie so he didn't ruin my personal image of him

[sam peebles]

I used to think Tom Bombadil was great, but the deeper I dug into Middle Earth, I realized that he's out of place in Lord of the Rings. He just doesn't fit well in the mythology, and especially not in the story of Frodo.

[Frazzwell]

I loved LOTR! I was much younger when I read its entire. I also enjoyed the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and was surprised to see someone mention that trilogy. "Dune" and the trilogies that followed were surprisingly entertaining, although the movie made of it was a disaster!! If you saw the Dune movie, please do not judge the book by the movie content! The story is deliciously intricate in all its plots and turns!

[sam peebles]

I loved LOTR! I was much younger when I read its entire. I also enjoyed the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and was surprised to see someone mention that trilogy. "Dune" and the trilogies that followed were surprisingly entertaining, although the movie made of it was a disaster!! If you saw the Dune movie, please do not judge the book by the movie content! The story is deliciously intricate in all its plots and turns!

I've read the first two of the Covenant books, and will pick up the third eventually. They're pretty good. I love the first Dune book, think it's one of the greatest fantasy books of all time (I don't really consider it scifi), but I've read quite a few of the sequels, maybe up to book four or five, and didn't think they were half as good as the original. And of course, Lord of the Rings is the best out of them all.

[dharmageek]

I used to think Tom Bombadil was great, but the deeper I dug into Middle Earth, I realized that he's out of place in Lord of the Rings. He just doesn't fit well in the mythology, and especially not in the story of Frodo.

Well I think Tolkien had written "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" before LOTR and afterwards just found a way of squeezing him into Middle-Earth so that's why he might feel kinda out of place. I love that he's very mysterious with the ring not affecting him and all, and he might just be a Maia or something, he doesn't feel that out of place to me.

[ChickenStu]

Gotta disagree. I adore The Lord Of The Rings

[smooth operator]

LOTR is not an easy read. That does not lessen its greatness. Tolkein spent a very long time creating another world - its cultures, languages, geography and people. I hope that you will not dismiss his epic because it is takes some effort to read it.

[Spooky Chick]

Sorry but saying LOTR is overrated because it's difficult to read and has a lot of descriptions is like saying Shakespear is overrated because it's written in olde English...
With both writers you have to get into the style of speech and writing to be rewarded with the story, but if you had been around to read them at the time they were written they would have been a lot easier to read.
Every time I have read a fantasy series I always end up comparing it to LOTR and they always come up short. Dark Tower is the exception of course!

[sam peebles]

Well I think Tolkien had written "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" before LOTR and afterwards just found a way of squeezing him into Middle-Earth so that's why he might feel kinda out of place. I love that he's very mysterious with the ring not affecting him and all, and he might just be a Maia or something, he doesn't feel that out of place to me.

I know he wrote Adventures of Tom Bombaldil before, but that's not good enough for me. And to pass Tom off as a Maia or something is not good enough either. Saruman is a Maia. So is Gandalf. Both are subject to the ring. One becomes corrupted, and the other has to restrain himself not to physically contact it. Even Sauron is a very, very powerful Maia, above the order of Saruman or Gandalf, and yet the destruction of the ring is his demise (something I think that is missed in the beggining of the Fellowship...there is some discrepency there, but we won't get into it now)...

So Bombadil would have to be a Valar, not only a mere Maiar. In which case he is out of place in Lord of the Rings and my point is proven. I think it likely that is what he is exactly, one of the great Valar, as only they would be able to place the ring on their finger, laugh and not disappear. It's also not unlikely that a Valar (if not many) would still remain in Middle Earth. That's fine with me. I just don't think they have any place in the telling of the Lord of the Rings, and in Bilbo's Red Book.

[Hicks]

As someone interested in reading good fantasy, I'm having trouble finding much I like...

I personally do not like LOTR. Some reasons why: I don't care what happens to the characters (those hobbits just won't stop singing), I don't like page after page of description about what's on the dinner table, reading it feels like watching paint dry/reading a children's book. But that's just me, not everyone likes a certain book. It was too long when I was twelve, too boring when I was twenty-two. I gave it another shot when the movies came out. Somewhere in the middle (about at the same place than before) I had to tap out. It's rare for me to put down a book I've started. They stayed true to the story when filming; I fell asleep watching the movie.

Is it overrated? I don't think so. Tolkien put the elements together and created the form of "epic" fantasy, creating a genre within a genre. George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, David Eddings and so on, all rooted in LOTR.

Tolkien did a great job. The work took him literally decades. Even if you don't like the book, respect his gigantic impact on fantasy and reading since.

[Homer403]

Funny,some parts of the story I enjoyed and some I did not! I liked the hobbits!! Always looking for reasons to have a happy party! Enjoying the simple things in life! Good food,good friends etc. There were,I thought,too many characters.And the movie was way too long for my liking! I think the DT series put LOTR to shame!!

[Daniel Lee Severn]

The Lord of the Rings is one of my top 3 favorite fantasy series, along with The Dark Tower and The Wheel of Time. I know The Dark Tower is not a standard fantasy series, having elements of sci-fi, Western, and horror in it, but it still centers upon a heroic quest, which is fantasy through and through. Back to LOTR, I haven't read it in a while, but I have read thpse books, The Hobbit, and The Silmarilion many times.

I'm with you on these three choices, Dark Tower, LotR, and WoT(Even though I'm only in book eleven) series are my top three as well. I'm also a big Harry Potter fan and even though you can't exactly call it a series, the Cthulhu Mythos, is right up there with The Dark Tower.

[Lily Sawyer]

LOTR put me to sleep when I was a teenager. I picked it back up two more times since, and the same thing happened. These books simply aren't for me. I haven't had any interest in seeing any of the films, either.

I know; I'm no fun.

(But I sure do love me some Stephen King.)

[Ben Staad]

To be honest I didn't read this entire thread but I love LOTR. I read these books when I was younger and feel in love with them right away. To me this is one of the best if not best series of books ever written and they haven't lost there appeal to me as I've gotten older.

[AndyDufresne]

I wouldn't call it overrated (it's been far too influential to be called that) but I can definitely see some instances where the story doesn't make a lot of narrative sense. You get the feeling that Tolkien had no idea where to take the story until halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring. The first half is mainly about Hobbits singing, eating and drinking in Hobbition, singing, eating and drinking (and dancing naked, for some reason) with Tom Bombadil (probably the weirdest character ever written), singing, eating and drinking in Bree, and singing, eating and drinking in Rivendell. During the meeting it seems that Tolkien finally knows what he wants, and the story gets a lot more focus after that. But the first part can really be a chore to get through.

[Ben Staad]

I wouldn't call it overrated (it's been far too influential to be called that) but I can definitely see some instances where the story doesn't make a lot of narrative sense. You get the feeling that Tolkien had no idea where to take the story until halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring. The first half is mainly about Hobbits singing, eating and drinking in Hobbition, singing, eating and drinking (and dancing naked, for some reason) with Tom Bombadil (probably the weirdest character ever written), singing, eating and drinking in Bree, and singing, eating and drinking in Rivendell. During the meeting it seems that Tolkien finally knows what he wants, and the story gets a lot more focus after that. But the first part can really be a chore to get through.

Hmm...It's been about three years (maybe even four) since I have read this so maybe a re-read is in order. I never thought that the plot lagged before but I will keep an eye out for this the next time I read the series.

[dsurrett]

Tolkien and Lord of the Rings is to fantasy what Stephen King is to horror fiction, maybe even more. Tolkien invented whole worlds and languages. I think the books are great, even though I'd agree that they drag at parts, most notably crossing the swamp and climbing the stairs. King didn't invent horror fiction (and yes, I know he is great in other genres as well) but he took it to the next level and made it more mainstream.
Tolkien and King have influenced more readers and writers than anyone else in their genres in the last 30 years in my opinion. Without Tolkien, you probably wouldn't have all of the fantasy authors and series that have followed him. King opened the door to other horror writers as well.
LOTR is still my favorite movie series, and I don't see how anything will ever pass it, unless a studio was willing to shell out enough money to do justice to the entire Dark Tower series, and I don't see that happening.
So while I respect your opinion, I have to disagree and say that LOTR isn't overrated.

[muskrat]

I like when Pickwick passes out drunk in the wheelbarrow and wakes up in the pigpen--wait, wrong book.

[DebA913]

I personally do not think that the Lord of the Rings is overrated. Fabulous story!!! Take your time when you read, and realise that written language was some what different when these were written. Sure you might have to work a little harder, but it's worth it!!!
And the movies weren't bad either.