The Fellowship of the Ring ~ J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings #1)

★★★★☆

Buddy read with the queen herself

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

(I recognize that everyone quotes this but that's because it's freaking good)

I feel like there's little that hasn't already been said about this iconic book, but here's my thoughts regardless.

I have seen all the movies already, multiples times, and love them a lot, so I already knew the plot and the world going into this, but there were just enough differences that I honestly don't know which I liked more. The movies were better at action and suspense, but lacked where characters were concerned (especially for the hobbits), while the book was often low-key boring, with long-winded dialogue scenes and lengthy musical numbers, but had a lot of great character moments. When it comes down to it, I love each for different things, though they tell the same story.

I think if this book had had slightly better pacing, I probably would have loved it. The humor was on point and the hobbits are #relatable but other than that, it was not as astounding as I was expecting. I am definitely going to finish the trilogy, but this first installment didn't completely wow me.

Also, Tom Bombadil is iconic

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