attack of the appendices

a wonderful story delivered by true talent, followed by a wearisome but necessary slog through the appendices, which serve as additional lore to both the six Lord of the ring episodes and to The Hobbit.

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3 people found this helpful

the ring revisited

the narration, acting and storey telling from Andy Serkis was second to none. excellent

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Just Epic.

Loved every minute of these books. Andy was brilliant in his mastery of different voices and capturing the moments of fear, excitement and love perfectly

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classic LOTR trilogy read by serkis is outstanding

Serkis makes this classic come to life. The most immersive performance I have ever heard. Only serkis could have found a way to make this classic even better.

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All such things must end

"...the world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them. 'It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden,' answered Éowyn. 'And those who have not swords can still die upon them.'"

So we come to the end of our journey with The Return of the King; the Lord of the Rings book with all the endings. The destruction of the ring happens about halfway through the book, so you might think that Peter Jackson had it right by altering the pacing and plot points.

The later half of the book is mostly about goodbyes, new beginnings and change. It's also about the after effects of war, and the healing and mending that's required. It's about honouring the dead while looking to the future, and about how war and adventure can change ones perspective. It's a more satisfying and full ending than the rather rushed, multiple fades to black that we got with the film. It's also bittersweet and a little laboured but ends were it should, with the Hobbits, and ultimately with Samwise. They were always our window into this world of wizard's, kings and magic rings, humanising the story, and serving as it's heart. Sam in particular is the most down to earth, with his love of gardening and his sadness at losing keepsakes from home. He is also the one who thinks most often of Shire and is most able to fit back into that life after returning.

Gandalf, he who instigated the quest and has been pulling strings for an entire age, is the last of the fellowship to say farewell to the Hobbits, whilst on the road back to the Shire.

"I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you.”

They don't need him anymore and perhaps because of their humble nature they don't yet see themselves as Gandalf sees them. All four have been changed by their adventures, each in different ways (although the differences are less marked between Merry and Pippin). This is made apparent in the penultimate chapter, The Scouring of the Shire. Forget Tom Bombadil, this is the most glaring omission from the films (along with the Cirith Ungol chapter and Sam's rejection of the ring, where he imagines himself as an all powerful gardener) as it's what we've been building towards for the Hobbits. The Shire being under direct threat is a fitting, penultimate chapter.

Tolkien didn't like allegory but it's easy to see the Hobbits as soldiers returning from a war, as Tolkien himself did. They then use the skills they learned to deal with a very real threat, whilst also dealing with the physical and psychological effects of said war. It's powerful stuff and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the books and only knows Tolkien through the Jackson films.

What a shame Amazon haven't taken the gift of the Tolkien licence and amended this omission with their own take on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Scouring of the Shire included. At least it would have been Tolkien in more than name.

But I should probably talk about the audiobook now. Serkis finally nails the tone with this one, it's a (mostly) wonderful reading. Returning weak points are the singing and the fact that Sam and Merry's voices are hard to distinguish when they're back together.

There are also a few new characters who Serkis gives voice too. Beregond and son have been given strong Scouse accents (think Craig Charles by way of Steven Gerrard) and it's really distracting. I also found Serkis's Witch King to be more comical than threatening. There's none of the hissing malice or cruel intellect, he sounds like a stupid monster. Having said all that the reading of the rest of that chapter is superb and really emotional.

Another highlight is The Passing of the Grey Company, which gave me goosebumps. Aragon starts to come into his own, the creeping horror, Eowyns thoughts laid bare. It's all so good. One of his best written chapters and really well read.

Taken as a whole the Serkis audiobooks are a fine update to the Inglis ones, and better in a lot of ways. It's just a shame about the singing and a few of the voices, but the Gollum stuff is worth the price of admission alone. I also found I could appreciate Tolkien's writing in a whole new light when listening to the story. While it wasn't quite like reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time, it came damn close.

Appendices:
Durin's Folk is by far the best of the appendices, being the most like an actual story and not just a long history of names and battles. There's substance to it, more so than in the story of Aragon and Arwen. Both are nice epilogues to the Return of the King, it's just a shame that the people of Rohan don't get similar treatment. The House of Eorl appendix is a rather dry summary of the history of Rohan, in brief, up until just after the end of the third age. Then we end with Appendix B, which is another nice little epilogue, mostly concerning the elves.

I also have to question why Serkis doesn't use his Aragon voice in the story of Aragon and Arwen. He uses his Gandalf and Thorin voices in the Durin's Folk appendix, so it's an odd choice.

The appendices are certainly a mixed bagged; at times they're totally engaging, at others they bore me to tears. I have similar feelings about The Silmarillion, although I tend towards the latter; it's too disconnected, unstructured, dry and cold, with no strong narrative thread or humanising Hobbits (sorry, Amazon's The Rings of Power™, but shoehorning multicultural Hobbits into a story you've made up, isn't the answer). The highlights of the appendices are definitely the sections featuring characters we know, especially when Tolkien writes it as a story. I just wish the Hobbits had a similar epilogue, despite the satisfying ending to tRotK. That's down to Tolkien's brilliant writing and world building. I just want to spend more time in the middle earth of these books, with the characters I've grown to love.

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Loved it

What more needs saying about this book. Ends the amazing trilogy and includes extras for true fans.

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AMAZING

i loved lord of the rings for years but Andy Serkis reading the collection was great!

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Andy Serkis is the man

What a range of voices. You can hear the work and passion he puts into his craft. Loved the performance for one of my favourite stories of all time. Highly recommend!

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Brilliant!

Andy Serkis does a fantastic job of bringing this wonderful safe to life. His voice throughout is fantastic

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Remarkable effort by Andy Serkis

Wonderful production of a wonderful tale. But the laurels go to Andy for the outstanding work he put into this.

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