Denise

'So we come to it in the end,' he said: 'the great battle of our time, in which many things shall pass away. But at least there is no longer need for hiding. We will ride the straight way and the open road with all our speed.'

I loved the previous volumes of LoTR and had been dying to read this one and find out what happened to all the characters I had grown to love (I basically knew what was going to happen as I had seen the movie but the book is pretty different in parts). This one felt way shorter than the other two and the action seemed to cut off abruptly at times and that is why I gave this 4.5 stars instead of 5.

I was hooked on this book no matter whose point-of-view the book switched to. I really loved that you got to see exactly what all the characters were up to and how all their paths eventually crossed. I really loved the parts that featured Pippin or Merry as they really became my favorite characters of this book. I was a bit surprised at all that happened in The Shire towards the end as those parts were cut out of the movie but I really enjoyed them nonetheless.

I tried to read the appendices but only got through a little bit. I kind of wish that the story itself had been longer and that the appendices had been published separately. One day I expect to read through them but I just don't have the time now. I am really glad that I have finally read The Lord of the Rings but I also wish I could somehow go back and read them for the first time again.