This is the third and final book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I heavily suggest that you do not read this if you haven’t read both the first and the second books too. Together, they form one very long book.

Much as with the second, the story is not told linearly. You find out how the war is going for the first half, then it cuts back to Frodo and Sam in Mordor. This means that, again, you have a very long wait until the previous novel’s cliff-hanger is resolved! That one was a pretty big one too, so that was very suspenseful.

There are some big shocks in this book which make it quite an exciting conclusion, but, by this point, there was something I’d noticed Tolkien does a little too often. Specifically, a character will be killed off and a big sad event will be made of it, only for them to have magically survived somehow afterward. Once or twice, is okay, but not as many times as it’s done, I can’t help but feel he was a little afraid of killing his characters. This book also features a return of the boring battle scenes that the previous one had, which is a shame.

But, that said, there’s still lots to enjoy in this book. I’ve said before that each of his books tend to have at least one really interesting or really likeable character and this time it is a woman named Éowyn, who had actually appeared in quite a small capacity in the previous book, but here she has quite an exciting role to fill. I was also very pleased with the ending; I shan’t spoil it, but, it wrapped everything up nicely and certainly did not disappoint. On the whole, this book is equally as good as the second in the trilogy, but sadly, not quite on the same level of the first. Anybody who’s read the first two should definitely finish the story with this!

Rating: 8.5/10

Average rating of the whole trilogy: 8.83/10

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This is the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I would heavily suggest that you do not read it if you haven’t read the first. I would also suggest that you do not read this review if you haven’t read the first book, as I’m going to mention things which are spoilers for the first, but not for the second.

Things pick up exactly where they left off last time with Frodo and Sam having separated from the rest of the group in their mission to destroy the ring. Though, oddly enough, things aren’t written linearly. For the first half of the book, you’re given no word of Sam and Frodo, and instead find out about what Aragorn and everybody else did next. I can’t quite understand why this was done; although it does build a fair bit of tension for Frodo’s cliff-hanger which I suppose could be the reason. You’re also treated to quite a shock very early on, which is good, but I shan’t spoil it…

As with other Tolkien novels, there are many interesting and likeable characters to be found in this book. One character I particularly liked was somebody called Treebeard. Treebeard is a type of sentient tree called an Ent, which I thought was a very nice idea. Plus several orc characters are introduced who are very effective villains, being both comical and menacing. We’re also treated to the return of two lovely characters from his previous works, including one particular favourite of mine from The Hobbit, which I was very happy about.

Sadly though, while this book certainly is good, it doesn’t quite reach the incredible levels that the previous one did. Part of the reason for this book falling a little short is the fact that there are several battle scenes. I did not find the battles at all fun to read. Often, when going to read a bit more, I dreaded having to read through another boring segment on fighting. Another thing is, that while the first book (and The Hobbit too) were big, bright exciting fantasy stories, here things begin to get quite bleak which took a lot of the fun out of it for me. That said, this is still a good novel and, if you’ve read the first, you should definitely read this.

Rating: 8.5/10

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This book is the first in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and is also a kind of sequel to Tolkien’s other novel, The Hobbit, which features several of the same characters. While it wouldn’t be necessary to have read The Hobbit in order to understand this book, it would certainly enhance the experience and I would recommend it.

The story starts with Bilbo Baggins planning the celebrations for his one hundred and eleventh birthday. Bilbo now has an heir who lives with him who is named Frodo. Frodo is, it could be said, the main character to this novel. Bilbo pulls off a big stunt at his party so that he can vanish and Frodo inherits all of his stuff, including the ring he stole from Gollum in The Hobbit. Gandalf comes and has a chat with Frodo and tells him that he must begin a long quest in order to have that ring destroyed, because if he does not, some very bad things indeed will happen.

This book has some really excellent characters who you’ll love reading about. First, there’s Gandalf (who also appears in The Hobbit) a wizard who’s very wise, but also quite playful. You always get the impression that Gandalf knows a lot more than he says he does. Then there’s also Strider, a mysterious man who joins the heroes later on in the novel, I like Strider because he’s a very practical, no nonsense kind of hero. He’s just downright cool, really. But, I think the most loveable character in this book is Samwise Gamgee, the slightly bumbling, but utterly devoted and loyal servant of Frodo. Almost everything he does is adorable. There are other wonderful characters too, such as Tom Bombadil, the strange wizard who lives in the woods, but, I’ll stop myself there.

But the best thing about this novel isn’t the story, nor its excellent cast of characters. Very rarely, I would say the best thing about this novel is its setting. This book is so fantastically immersive! It’s just amazing to pick up this book for a while and to escape to Middle Earth for an hour or so. Tolkien is really good at describing nature and there are times where the characters just walk through the woods for a bit, but it’s STILL really, really good to read. There’re also some pretty good links to The Hobbit which show that it is clearly set in the same world, but that a lot of time has passed, and I like that a lot.

This is one of the best book I’ve ever read. Rating: 9.5/10

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In this book, Wells sets out to cover the entire history of the planet up until the 1920s (which was the present day for him). This may sound like something that would be really boring to read, but through his lovely writing style he manages to keep it as interesting as any novel all the way through.

The earlier chapters are some of the most interesting. It’s here where he talks about the formation of the Earth in space and the most primal forms of life. He then goes on to talk about the evolution of creatures up to the dinosaurs and their untimely extinction and then onto the earliest clear ancestors of humans. Sadly, with this being ninety years old, the science will not be completely up to scratch and a much more detailed/accurate picture of these very early years in Earth’s history could be painted in a modern book, but nonetheless, you still get a good idea of how these things happened.

Another thing I was particularly fond of was the way in which he covered the origins of the world’s major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.) I found it very interesting to discover the context in which they came about as it helps to give a better understanding of them and their belief systems. I also liked that Wells was, usually, quite neutral when discussing them too, treating their beginnings simply as historical fact, rather than going into any debate about their legitimacy (although it is there very slightly, at times, but not much.)

On the whole, reading this is a very good way to give yourself a better understanding of history and the way in which things are connected. Of course, being a history of everything means it never goes into an event in extreme detail, but that’s not a bad thing, if it did, it would be an entirely different thing. There’s also the fact that some periods of history aren’t quite as interesting as others, so you won’t be enjoying it equally all the way through. Wells says that he wants the book to read in the same way as a novel, while at the same time giving us a history of the planet, and I believe that he has done that rather well. Anybody with even the slightest interest in history should read this book!

Rating: 7.9/10

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This novel introduced to the world the very popular character, James Bond. Of course, he’s not the only one; M and Felix Leiter both debut in this book and both would also go on to be prominent figures in the world of James Bond. Otherwise, though, this novel is quite removed from the thing people would usually think of in regards to James Bond.

The story starts with James being sent on a mission to go to a casino and bankrupt a gambler named Le Chiffre because he is known as a man who has been aiding the Russians for the (then current) Cold War. Of course, in between card games, James sneaks around secretly gathering information and whatnot too. Along the way, he is also aided by a woman named Vesper Lynd with whom he shares a degree of sexual tension with.

Sadly, none of this, for me, made for a particularly exciting story. The writing style is completely joyless, and James himself hardly provides any kind of emotional gateway into this gritty world of Cold War espionage. I found scenes of him chatting with villains while he plays baccarat to be plain boring. I will admit though, that things did begin to pick up towards the end of the book, perhaps around the final quarter, but I can’t really tell you how without spoiling the plot. Even once it has improved though, the shift is from boring to depressing, which is hardly the best way for a story to progress. So while you feel nothing but boredom for the first 75%, you’ll feel sad for the final 25% but, hey, at least you’re feeling something!

So while this novel is the book that gave the world James Bond, there really is very little to it, it’s actually one of my least favourite books. Don’t be put off though! Later books in the series are a lot better than this one. Rating: 5/10

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This is, perhaps, the best known of all of Dr. Seuss’s picture books. As is very common in his books, everything is written in a beautiful rhyme scheme designed to help children learn to read and it flows through the whole thing rather nicely.

The story starts with a young boy and his sister Sally who are stuck inside and quite bored due to heavy rainfall outside. The illustrations really shine at this part; the atmosphere of being stuck in on a rainy day is really captured perfectly. But things take an unexpected turn when the main character, the Cat in the Hat, suddenly arrives with all kinds of crazy things for the kids to do. Their pet goldfish, however, has other ideas and thinks the Cat in the Hat is quite reckless and I have to say, I agree with the fish.

The book is nice enough, but I can’t say I found myself especially drawn in (as I have done with other picture books.) There’s a moderate amount of suspense when you’re wondering if the two kids will get into trouble because of the silly old Cat, and occasionally things get so bizarre that you can’t help but smile. I also quite enjoyed the very ending. Other than that, there’s not that much to the book, there are other much better picture books out there, and, indeed, even better picture books by Dr. Seuss.

Rating: 6/10

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This novel follows the life of its titular character: Jane Eyre. The whole thing is written in the first person, as if an older Jane had decided to write down all that had happened in her life up until that point. At the start of the novel, Jane is only a child and you hear all about her time at school and her life at home. Once she’s finished school, she goes on to become a governess, which is the period of her life where the majority of the story takes place. For me, this is a little bit of a shame, because I found her childhood to be one of the best parts to read. But unfortunately, it seems that this same quality couldn’t be maintained throughout the novel.

But, anyway, Jane works as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she teaches a young girl named Adele Varens (who’s pretty nice). But the main focus is not Jane teaching this young child, but with the mysterious head of the house Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester is a character who, at times, seems unusual and interesting, and, at other times, seems weird and annoying, he has a rather unusual relationship with Jane (especially for the ninteenth century!) and it can occasionally create tension between them.

The story, especially Mr. Rochester’s secrets, certainly had some unexpected and exciting twists and turns, but at the same time I think it was all too long. It’s as if every time you read a new plot development, you then read several chapters of monotony before you get on to the next development. This is quite a shame, as reading all the boring bits is quite off putting and I imagine that a lot of people might just give up on it because of that, but I’d suggest that anybody who does read it should keep at it! If you’re getting through a particularly tiresome segment, try to console yourself with the thought that some genuinely enjoyable reading is probably just around the corner. If you can look past the unnecessary padding (which was probably only done to get it to fill three volumes, as was the fashion at the time) you have a novel with some real emotion and characters who, love them or hate them, you’ll want to find out what happens to them. Plus, to Brontë’s credit, the whole book has this kind of wintery atmosphere to it (even though it’s not only set during the winter), this isn’t something I can easily point out or identify, but it certainly helped during the less exciting parts.

Rating: 7.9/10

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