The Return of the King

Image courtesy of
www.booksamillion.com

The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkien
1955

The Summary
The Return of the King serves as the gripping conclusion to an epic event.  Here, all questions will be answered and all fates will be decided.

Will Frodo and Sam reach the fires of Mount Doom?  Will the Fellowship survive the relentless malevolence of Sauron?  Will Minas Tirith and Middle Earth fall to the Dark Lord - or will the King finally return to his rightful throne?

Read on and see for yourself.

The Good
J.R.R. Tolkien provides an intricacy and detail to his novels like no other writer (or so I believe).  His villains are more maniacal, his heroes more courageous, and his characters more vibrant than any other.  His novel leaves you with a lasting impression of its magnificence.

And, in the conclusion of his saga, his writing can be no more magnificent.

More importantly, as the climax of his trilogy, Tolkien delicately balances his story between two vastly dissimilar endings.  The Return of the King could just as easily turn into a tragedy as conclude happily.  The suspense he sets - and the breathless moments of expectation - will thrill you and leave you cheering.

The Bad
Once you begin your descent toward a resolution, you will long to reach its conclusion.  After three books (four, counting The Hobbit) and, no doubt, more than a thousand pages, an ending is a well-deserved reward. But Tolkien is a crafty fellow.

Just when you think you've reached the final pages....BAM!  Tolkien throws in an additional chapter, before giving you the conclusion you so richly deserve.

Like I said, he's crafty.

The Ugly
It's the end of the road, so to speak.  All is said and done, and it's finally time to say good-bye.

This is the saddest point of any series:  the point when we must close the book, end the adventure, and bid farewell to the characters we love.