Book Bearings
The Return of the King
Book 3 of The Lord of the Rings
- 495 pages · about 8 hours
- First published 1955
- 286 editions
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1 About this book
The Return of the King is the third and final volume of The Lord of the Rings. As it opens, the armies of the Dark Lord Sauron are about to fall on Minas Tirith, the chief city of Gondor. Gandalf and the hobbit Pippin ride there to help its defense, while Aragorn and the riders of Rohan come to its aid by different roads. Far to the east, Frodo and Sam, worn out and nearly without hope, make their way across Mordor with the Ring. First published in 1955, the volume closes with long appendices on the history, peoples and languages of Middle-earth.
- Hope
- Magic
- Fantasy
- Adventure
- Fantasy, epic
- Quests (Expeditions)
- Elves
- Hobbits
2 What to expect
The last volume of The Lord of the Rings: the war for Gondor in the first half, Frodo and Sam's final journey through Mordor in the second. It is the grandest and most sorrowful of the three, with great battles written in a high, almost biblical style, and it does not hurry its long closing chapters. It cannot be read alone, and a good part of the book is appendices.
Good for readers who want: epic fantasy, the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings, and battles with a bittersweet close.
3 About J.R.R. Tolkien
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by J.R.R. Tolkien
5 Similar books
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- Eragon by Christopher Paolini
- The Gunslinger by Stephen King
- A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin