Regarding The Lord of the Rings

Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky

     Seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone

Nine for mortal men doomed to die.

     One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

In The Lord of the Rings, the epic trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins inherits a simple gold ring that has the power to turn its wearer invisible. Gandalf the Grey, an old wizard, is disturbed by this magic ring and sets off to investigate its history. He discovers that this tiny object has the power to send Middle Earth into darkness.

Pros: Where to start? The characters are all enjoyable - particularly Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Faramir, Eowyn... I could go on for years. The story, world, and creatures are unmatched in the fantasy genre. J.R.R. Tolkien was Catholic and there are many Catholic analogies to be found in the books if one looks for them.

Cons: My only complaint about these books is that it's sometimes difficult to imagine the places Tolkien describes. This, however, isn't a problem in most cases if one has seen the movies.

My Rating: OK (spooky creatures, violence)

Picture from tolkien-online.com