The Lord of the Rings, book 5 - The Return of the King, part 1
Book 5 covers the events from Gandalf's Arrival in Minas Tirith through the beginning of the last stand outside the gates of Mordor. It doesn't include anything about Sam and Frodo. Which makes a huge difference when the mouth of Sauron shows Aragon Frodo's mithril vest. The last time we saw Sam and Frodo, Frodo was captured and Sam was locked out of the tower where he is being held. So as far as the reader knows, middle earth is screwed. The book ends with the apparent death of Pippin and every other major character. So take that George R.R. Martin, Tolkien was being dark and messed up first!
Backing up a bit, this is the book where the nations of Middle Earth totally kick ass without the deus ex machina of a zombie ghost army. In fact, the ghosts that Aragorn raises to fight for him are released as soon as they help him take over the pirate ships. See, the ghost army was a nice asset but the reason Aragorn needed to take the paths of the dead was because he saw the threat of the ships in the south. They were going to cut off access to Minas Tirith for Gondor's allies in the south, just as Sauron sent a small army to block the aid of Rohan. It's not a bad strategy. Unfortunately for Sauron, the riders of Rohan are shown a secret trail by the men of the forest, and Aragorn continues to be a hundred times more awesome than he was in the movies.
I understand the movies needing to trim characters, and I'm sure it was easier for movie audiences to follow one faceless horde of ghosts than to follow the numerous allies that Aragorn is able to bring to Gondor's aid, but Peter Jackson really screwed the pooch on getting Aragorn right. He's not a relateable, brooding character who isn't sure of himself; He's heir to the greatest kingdom in middle earth and is descended from the guys who beat the crap out of Sauron in hand to hand combat. He's so terrifically capable of getting things done that his very existence scares the Dark Lord into rushing his plans and losing focus on finding the ring. Make no mistake, Sauron is afraid of Aragorn, NOT the stupid sword that cut his finger off! You want a character you can relate to? Good, that's what the hobbits are there for. Stop turning Aragorn into a moody teenager.
The one other thing that makes me sad about the movies (which are still awesome) is the use of those zombie ghosts. As cool as it looks, and as much time and money it saved not having to design armor for the numerous men who ride to war with Aragorn, it steals the victory from our characters. In the book, the story is about the people of middle earth coming together with each doing their part. The ghosts' part is to commandeer the ships, since they can fly over water and stuff. Then the armies come together and defeat the forces of Mordor by their own strength and valor. It shows that Middle Earth is not as weak as Sauron thought and gives the reader hope. The ghosts take that all away. It makes sense for the movie, but it still feels like cheating. The story is about the characters, not ghosts and a magic sword.
Anyway, this book is freaking awesome! Tolkein does a masterful job of slowly building the tension until you can hardly stand it, then he delivers with the best battle scene I have ever read. It's epic in scale, but takes time with smaller, character moments like Eowyn and Merry killing the Witch King of Angmar. (fun story, he could only be killed by Eowyn once Merry stabbed him with the sword he found in the tomb of the Barrow wight in book 1 because of very nerdy and awesome reasons I won't go into here)
My favorite non battle moment of the whole book though, is Aragorn losing his patience with the crabby old herbalist in the house of healing after the battle. If you've ever been in a desperate hurry only to have some moron waste your time with useless blather instead of just getting the thing you need, you can relate. This is the way Aragorn should be relateable, he hates dealing with fools as much as the rest of us.
Well, we've made it through some breathtaking action and ended on a doosey of a cliff hanger, so I'm sure book 6 will move just as swift and not waste our time with endless descriptions of walking through a wasteland, right? right?
10/10
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