RATING; FOUR STARS
The Fellowship of the Ring has broken. Fearing for the safety of his friends and the corrupting nature of the One Ring, Frodo Baggins fled Amon Hen with his faithful gardener, Samwise Gamgee, at his heels. But Frodo had not considered his lack of geography and Gandalf the Grey, as wise as he was, did not divulge his plans for entering Mordor before he fell in Khazad-dûm. The two hobbits quickly become lost in Emyn Muil's tumbling crags and must accept the help of an unlikely and dangerous ally if they ever hope to reach the Black Gates and achieve their goal of destroying the Ring in the fiery chasms of Mount Doom.
Meanwhile Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are not about to abandon Merry and Pippin to Saruman's torture. They set off in pursuit of the Uruk-hai that captured them, chasing the new breed of orc through the rolling pastures of Rohan. But they quickly discover that all is not well in the Westfold and the mind of the land's once great king has fallen prey to Saruman's treacherous enchantments. Aragorn knows that the fight for Rohan is no less important than that for Gondar and it is in Helm's Deep, the ancient fortress of Helm Hammerhand, where the first blow against the world of men is struck in one of the greatest battles of the Age . . .
The Good
Once again, the depth and scale of Tolkien's beloved story is amazing. Tolkien continues to delve into the history and culture of Middle Earth, while outlying the struggles of the free peoples in two distinct parts, which feature Frodo and Sam in one, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in the other. Both parts are as captivating and full of peril and each other and I was quickly reminded of why The Two Towers was always my favourite instalment of The Lord of the Rings when I was younger!
The Bad
I have very few issues with The Two Towers and it is undeniably a masterful work of fantasy, but, once again, I did find it a bit dry in places and the level of Tolkien's description did slow the story down a bit. As I said in my review of The Fellowship of the Ring, however, this was the style of the era in which Tolkien wrote and is easy to forgive for such a captivating and well-loved story.
My Thoughts
The Two Towers is a deep and exciting sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring and continues The Lord of the Rings saga on in an epic manner. It's the best instalment of the trilogy in my opinion and many of the events it contains, such as that of Helm's Deep, are probably better known than many battles that actually happened in real life! It's certainly worthy of its place on my Shelf of Fame and I strongly suggest you try and give the series a go if you haven't already read it!
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