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Cover of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings

  • 1193 pages · about 20 hours
  • First published 1954
  • 253 editions

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1 About this book

Originally published from 1954 through 1956, J.R.R. Tolkien's richly complex series ushered in a new age of epic adventure storytelling. A philologist and illustrator who took inspiration from his work, Tolkien invented the modern heroic quest novel from the ground up, creating not just a world, but a domain, not just a lexicon, but a language, that would spawn countless imitators and lead to the inception of the epic fantasy genre. Today, The Lord of the Rings is considered "the most influential fantasy novel ever written." (The Encyclopedia of Fantasy).

During his travels across Middle-earth, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins had found the Ring. But the simple band of gold was far from ordinary; it was in fact the One Ring - the greatest of the ancient Rings of Power. Sauron, the Dark Lord, had infused it with his own evil magic, and when it was lost, he was forced to flee into hiding.

  • Fantasy
  • Fantasy, epic
  • Quests (Expeditions)
  • The Lord of the Rings
  • Middle Earth
  • Gandalf (fictitious character)
  • Bilbo Baggins
  • Media tie-in

2 What to expect

The epic quest to destroy the One Ring, across a richly built world. Long and slow in places, with songs, histories and appendices for readers who love detail.

Good for readers who want: epic fantasy, a quest, and a very long read.

3 About J.R.R. Tolkien

1892–1973

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and academic philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955). From 1925 to 1945 Tolkien was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College, both at the University of Oxford.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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