The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The two towers is the exciting continuation of the Fellowship of the Ring. While Fellowship seems to focus more on the lands and peoples of Middle Earth, the Two Towers gets down and dirty with all the fighting, wars, and action. The first half of the book is particularly exciting, because it’s the story of Merry and Pippin with the orcs and the ents, as well as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli’s story with the Rohirrim. You really fly through this first half, because of Tolkien’s natural ability to engage you in the story. There’s not some many chapters clogged with history and poetry as there are in the first novel (not that the poetry and history are bad, but really that’s why I read the Silmarillion, I feel the Lord of the Rings trilogy is more of an entertaining novel than a book of history). The only downfall to me is when you reach the second half of the book and read Frodo and Sam’s tale. Maybe it’s just me, but those two really drag the story on. It was a lot more difficult for me to get into their story as it was for me to read about the rest of the fellowship. The part with Faramir is my favorite, but if you watch the extra features from the movie it makes sense why Peter Jackson changed it. Overall this book is great, but the first half far outweighs the second, so in it’s entirety I’d give it an 8 out of 10.