The Lord Of the Rings- A Book Review

"The English speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord Of the Rings and those who have not", to quote a review of The Observer. How true!! the book is an example of what a man's imagination can achieve. It can create entire races, their mythology, language, customs, traditions, passions, fears... thus J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings became a creative equivalent of an entire civilisation. It is the book that transcended several genres.

Difficult to classify it into a genre, it is at once a great fantasy, a drama, a heroic romance and a novel of gigantic proportions. To use a single, but often cliched word, An Epic.
The novel begins in the village of shire, in middle earth, where a hobbit Frodo is entrusted with a golden ring by his uncle. The ring is more than what it seems to be and soon Frodo embarks on a perilous but great adventure to destroy the ring; for it is the one ruling ring made by the evil lord Sauron with which he could bring the entire world under his dominion.

The story might now seem ordinary, what with all the 'saving the world' drama that Hollywood throws at us. But read the book to be transported into a world filled with surprises and an adventure that you will never wish to end. Tolkien weaves a magical net around us with exquisite details of the world that Frodo and his friends are in. Be it the beautiful shire, or the rich Rivendell, or the dangerous mines of Moria, or the grandeur of Gondor or the bleakness of foul Mordor, Tolkien conjures them all as vividly as if we were travelling with Frodo. His genius for capturing the beauty of his fictional world keeps us enthralled.

The book was released in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King which some people erroneously consider to be a trilogy. If you are an avid reader and if creativity delights you, do not miss out this book. Tolkien proves that man's imagination has no boundaries. He is, indeed, a master craftsman.