Well, its only been a few days, but hey, I can blog as often as I like! On topic, I think I shall start reviewing things on a weekly basis every Monday, either books, movies, or video games (I have some decent reviews for games if you wanna check that out). Reviews will be scored out of 10, as seen on game scores on pretty much every game related website. So today, I review The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the book), because, well, I love it. Let me tell you why...

Return of the King is very different from most books, in that it doesn't follow the standard, beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, reslolution, but rather has a path that branches up down and all around, which is strange, but fitting and necassary. There are what I determine to be three climaxes, and two resolutions, and the action and tension is all over the place.

The first portion of the book is dedicated to Aragorn and company, as well as Pippin, Merry, and Gandalf. Aragorn and his fellows must conquer the Paths of the Dead, Merry rides with Rohan to Gondor's aid, and Gandalf and Pippin ride to and later defend Minas Tirith from a huge orc invasion. All these come together for one final battle at the Black Gate in order to distract Sauron and his forces and give Frodo and Sam a shot at disposing the Ring. Lives are lost, hearts broken and healed, drama and action is to be had, but thats only the half of it.

At the same time, Frodo and Sam begin their journey into the heart Mordor after Sam makes a daring rescue to save Frodo from being held longer by his orc captives at Cirith Ungol, an orc outpost at the border or Mordor, for what I assume to guard this less popular path into the Sauron's realm. This half of the story is also a bit of a survival story, but not in half-baked way; Frodo and Sam are starving and deyhdrated within this land of heat and ash, and are constantly on the lookout for any water. This doesn't detract at all from the main focus of getting to Mount Doom, but its a nice touch. It was probably done so well because of Tolkien's war experiences. By the end Frodo and Sam are crawling up the slopes where flaming rocks are smashing into the ashy earth around them, nearer and nearer to death. I won't continue, because I don't want to spoil everything, but trust me when I say it doesn't end at Mt. Doom.

This book is really about Sam and Aragorn. Aragorn is obviously the king of which the title refers,but Sam is a bit less profound. Sam is the bravest, strongest at heart, but the ending really showcases it was Sam's story all along. This book was the most exciting of the lot, and I swear I didn't breath once when Sam and Frodo were at the Cracks of Doom. Ieven got teary eyed once or twice.

Just like the other LotRs and The Hobbit, this book is chock full of dialogue and vivid details of the amazing wonders of Middle-earth, and Tolkien does well in creating this other realm within your head. RotK is far darker than any of the other LotRs, but in the unlikliest corners is hope to be found for our heroes. The characters are also extremely unique and show the better or worse of their traits on these hours of depair, and by the end you'll slog through the ennormous Appendices just to find out what happens next to all of them. They all devolop relationships that you understand so very clearly; Other books can't even hope to achieve this level of empathy for the sakes of others friendships.

There isn't a whole lot to say because there really isn't any bad... at all. So, if you're into fantasy and haven't read LotR (if so, what is wrong with you?) grab the whole set at the library or Barnes and Nobles, or any other book retailer.

10/10