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At Last. Aug 24, 2001 (59 of 64 found this helpful)
The magnificence of Rob Inglis' dramatization, both with respect to its place in the Tolkien Legend and in comparision to the present state of the spoken theatre, is quite simply ineffible. Here presented is THE ONLY completely unabriged reading of the Lord of the Rings to be found, and to commuters like me, it represents a long awaited opportunity to become aquianted with the work of a genius without fear of losing precious shards of his masterpiece to the whim of an editor. Worth every moment of the 20 hour listening time, from the endearing character voices to the hearty singing of songs and chanting of poetry that is sure to linger in your mind throughout the day. A purely wonderful experience for both Tolkien Veterans and the uninitiated alike.
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Word for Word a True Delight Sep 5, 2001 (24 of 25 found this helpful)
By all means, choose this unabridged cassette version whether you are "reading" LOTR for the first time or for the umpteenth time! I debated whether to go with this cassette version of LOTR or the newly-released BBC CD set with Sir Ian Holm. Thank goodness for Amazon reviews because after reading that the CD set was NOT truly unabridged (how could they leave out Tom Bombadil?!), it simplified my decision. Rob Inglis is outstanding reader and does a fine job selecting an appropriate voice for each of the characters. I personally find it much more pleasing than a host of voices (of course if Sir Ian had done the entire CD version, I'd be back to a difficult decision). The point for me when listening to a book is to hear the story and use my imagination; too many voices or sound effects can be distracting.
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Tolkien + Inglis + Unabridged + Perfect Sound = Excellence! Dec 27, 2001 (15 of 16 found this helpful)
In my reviews of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, both read by British Shakesperean actor Rob Inglis, I wrote that the sound quality on these audio books is crystal clear (neither too high, too low or distorted in any way), Inglis's characterizations are spot-on and the story itself (presented here in the only unabridged version available) is engrossing.
The Two Towers continues the story begun in The Fellowship of the Ring but introduces new characters, more battle scenes and a nearly palpable feeling of impending doom as Sauron and Saruman search for the ring.
Speaking of new characters, I don't think you'll ever find characters more fascinating than Ents. Ents are walking, talking trees found in Fanghorn Forest. Treebeard (a most "unhasty" Ent) is their leader. He's the oldest living thing in Middle Earth. As Inglis read these passages, I could almost picture the unhasty trees talking to Merry and Pippin. And I longed to look into their very old, wise eyes as they did.
The bottom line: The Two Towers (part two of the Lord of the Rings "trilogy") is equal to the previous books in every way.
Which means there really isn't much more that needs to be written. This is, without doubt, the best audio books edition of The Lord of the Rings available.
How do you know if The Two Towers read by Rob Inglis is right for you? Well, if you...
1. Love Tolkien's stories.
2. Have drive time on your hands.
3. Enjoy hearing a British voice.
4. Don't want to here a "dramatized," multi-voiced version.
5. Have already listened to (or are familiar with) The Fellowship of the Ring.
6. Have a cat you'd like to keep company during the day while you're at work (simply load up your CD changer, push "Play" and "Repeat All" and let Rob Inglis serenade your feline)
THEN...
This unabridged audio books edition of Tokien's masterpiece read by Rob Inglis is exactly what you need.
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"The Lord of the Rings" trilogy continues... Dec 7, 2001 (18 of 21 found this helpful)
J.R.R. Tolkiens trilogy continues in "The Two Towers", the second book of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The first book, "The Fellowship of the Rings" (read my review on it, too!) end with the breaking up of the Fellowship. The Company is faced with a choice, whether to continue on with Frodo the hobbit to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, or travel to Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, to help fight the evil Sauron's forces. But in the end, Frodo secretly goes off alone with his faithful hobbit friend, Sam, to Mount Doom. The other members split up to try to find them.
Here is where "The Two Towers" story begins. Boromir is killed while trying to protect hobbits Merry and Pippin from the evil orcs. The three other members of the Company, Aragorn the Ranger, Legolas the Elf, and Gimli the Dwarf, set out to rescue them. They realize that the orcs are not of the forces of Sauron, but someone else. Then a member of the Fellowship Gandalf the wizard, whom they thought was killed, tells them that the orcs are working under the wizard Saruman. Before Saruman had been good but had turned to evil and wants the powers of the Ring. Gandalf tells them that Merry and Pippin have escaped are in the capable hands of Treebeard and the Ents. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to instead go to the lands of Rohan to help King Theoden in the upcoming war from the forces of Saruman. Here ends part one of the book. The second part tells about Frodo and Sam's quest to the land of Mordor with the unexpected help of... Gollum!
J.R.R. Tolkien is certainly a genius, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy have such a depth to it! Middle-Earth is so believable with all the legends, history, geography, language, and races so thought out. Reading the books, I was captivated and couldn't put the books down. Probably one of the best books I've ever read, or will ever read.
One of my favorite characters is Legolas the Elf. Elves are so fascinating to me. They're so mysterious, so a part of nature, and a good companion to have. It's so funny how though Elves and Dwarves don't get along too well, Legolas and Gimli are the best of companions and inseparable. Another favorite character is Pippin the hobbit. He's so cheerful, brave, and seems to always get into trouble!
I can't honestly say which of the books if my favorite since they're all fantastic. My suggestion to you is that if you are planning to read the books, you should have the whole trilogy on hand, "The Fellowship of the Rings", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King". Also I think it will be a good idea to read "The Hobbit", which is a prelude to the trilogy and it tells how Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins, go a hold of the Ring. Most enjoyable I think for ages 12 and up since I think the books will be a little complicated for younger kids.
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The Journey continues... Dec 4, 2001 (17 of 20 found this helpful)
This book starts off exactly where, "The Fellowship of the Ring," (see my review) ends. The Nine Walkers of Boromir, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin, Merry and the Ring-bear Frodo set out from Rivendell. After their leader and guide fell into the abyss in Moria (an ancient palace of the Dwarves in the mountains), Aragorn became their leader.
After emerging from the mountains, and passing through the land of Lorien, the Company faced a choice. Should they go to Mordor, where Frodo must go to destroy the Ring, the all-powerful instrument of evil and corruption or travel to Minis Tirith (Tower of the Guard) capital of the Gondor, a nation of Men who are at war with Mordor and its evil ruler Sauron.
The Hobbits Sam and Frodo disappear and depart for Mordor. The other two Hobbits (Merry and Pippin) are taken captive by Orcs, despite being defended by Boromir, who is killed in their defence.
In the first half of, "The Two Towers," the tale of what happened to Pippin, Merry, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn is related. In the second half of, "The Two Towers," the tale of what happened to Frodo and Sam is related. Within the book, I much prefer the first section of it. The reunion of the Hobbits with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas is one of my favorite moments in the book.
In some ways, whenever I undertake to read, "The Lord of the Rings," I dread the second section of, "The Two Towers." Personally, I do no appreciate the pain-staking description of every mountain, rock and flower; I keep waiting for some actual dialogue or action to happen. Tolkien obviously had a vivid, EXTREMELY detailed imagination for he invented every single part of his fictional world of Middle-Earth to be believable. There is a history of behind all the races and some of the races have their very own languages.
The problem that Tolkien may have run into in his epic work is that he lost something in attempting to achieve the grand scale he sought to produce. His heavy use of allusions to persons and events that the reader knows nothing of start off as evocative and then begins to get annoying. However, in terms of good epic length fantasy literature, "The Lord of the Rings," started it and it is probably one of the best novels of the 20th century. One last note, remember, Tolkien originally wrote the story for his own enjoyment, he did not envision millions of people in dozens of languages reading his work.