The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien
True story: The Lord of the Rings is actually 6 books, not 3. And I'm counting all 6 because I have that much to say, and because this is my fun project, and also I needed away to balance out the fact that I'm also reading the 900+ page A Dance With Dragons right now too. (side note: way less creepy sex happens in Middle Earth than in Westeros, unless you count the Very Secret Diaries of the Fellowship of the Ring, which I don't)
Anyway, Book 1 of FOTR for you movie fans out there covers the section from the beginning of the movie all the way to that part where the river turned into horses and swept away the Black Riders. It's not much time as far as the movie goes, but the film does skip a lot of stuff in order to get the plot moving along. In Fact, there is a 17 YEAR gap between Bilbo's 111th birthday party and Frodo actually leaving the shire. Because the time frame is considerably stretched out, Sam, Merry, and Pippin have much more to do with Frodo's plans. Merry and Pippin are much smarter in the book and enlist Samwise as a spy to find out what Frodo is up to so they can help him. The three friends conspire with another hobbit to aid Frodo on his journey. It was very nice to get to see Frodo's other companions treated as intelligent characters rather than just sidekicks. The other major omission from the movies is the journey through the old forest on the edge of the shire. This is where the hobbits are nearly killed by old man willow before being saved by Tom Bombadil.
When I read this book in high school, I Hated Tom Bombadil. I had already seen the first film and I wanted the book to get moving to the adventures. Instead we wait 17 years, then when we do finally hit the road, we have to take a detour with some crazy old guy in the woods who jumps and sings nonsense all day. Upon my second reading, Tom has grown on me considerably and I was more appreciative of the fact that Tom Bombadil is the oldest thing in Middle Earth, and one of the most powerful. In high school I had no time for the introduction of a character with that much power who never used it to punchkill all of the evil in Mordor. Instead he saves our heroes from Old Man Willow and the Barrow wights (a much cooler little side event) mostly through the power of silly songs. I guess I'm much more receptive to any character who has immense power and no interest in using it to do anything other than tend his forest and enjoy time with his wife. While Tom is a great literary character, he would have been impossible to include faithfully in a live action movie without losing 90% of the audience.
After the incidents in the old forest, things continue much as they did in the film for most of the rest of this book. Everything takes longer of course (if you thought there wasn't enough walking in the movies, you're in for a treat) but all the major events are the same. The biggest difference is that Arwen is not the one who finds Aragorn and company in the wilderness. Instead they are aided by Glorfindel, an elf so powerful he slew a Balrog in single combat during the first age (see The Silmarrillion or Wikipedia for details). I understand using Arwen in the movies since the books give us almost no female characters, but logically it makes much more sense for Elrond to send out the biggest baddest elves he can to find Frodo rather than send out his only child. (Nothing against Arwen, but she's never killed a balrog in single combat as far as I know)
Anyway, the book ends as Frodo passes out on the other side of the riverbank. Overall, this first book has some really great moments, and some unbearably boring moments. We start out with a great introduction to the world and then we are made to sit and wait through 30 pages of travel planning, which is less interesting than it sounds. Then we hit a spooky forest, but we have to stop and have tea and sing silly songs with some weird guy, list everything we eat and drink, sleep, dream, wake up, get ready to leave, realize it's rainy, go back inside and wait another day, then we finally leave only to get trapped in the one place Tom told you not to go....it's frustrating. Once we get to Bree, the story finally picks up momentum and really flows through the end of the first book.
Pacing/plot: 4/10
world/character building: 9/10
total: 7/10
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