Book Review: The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Following directly on from the preceding events of Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers serves as the second entry into J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy series The Lord of the Rings. Serving as a direct continuation of the events that previously transpired, Two Towers covers the exploits of the Fellowship now they lay separated across the central regions of Middle Earth. It's a book which focuses on two core sub-plots; the first of which is Aragon and his companions as they seek to search for Merry and Pippin and end up embroiled in a quest to aid the lands of Rohan in overthrowing the dark wizard Saruman and his army of Uruk-hai. The other sub-plot follows Frodo and Sam as they venture out on their own to Mordor, dealing with all sorts of treacherous situations including the addition of Gollum who has come seeking the One-Ring.

The sub-plots while told separate to one another aid in focusing the core narrative of this series to it's final stages. I enjoyed how creative Tolkien was capable of being by telling these stories in an individual sense but all the while proceeding to one core goal. They work brilliantly as self-contained narratives which do a fantastic job in fleshing these characters our while outlining the ever growing darkness that threatens all of Middle Earth. Aragon and his companies quest showcases a great level of adventure by aiding in the defence of Rohan. Merry and Pippins segments reflects their quick-witted capabilities and courage in helping the Ents of Fanghorn Forest overthrow Isengard. Frodo and Sam's journey showcases an endearing sense friendship as the duo brave the unknown in order to accomplish the one true goal of venturing deep into the heart of Mordor and destroying the One-Ring. It's a story rife with so much depth and quality that I have nothing negative to say about it. Tolkien knows how to define and further the stakes of his world and the story he has unfolding across it, it's a truly unparoled story in the fantasy genre.

I also find myself having less negatives to say about Tolkien's tendency to waffle on in this entry too. Don't get me wrong, there's still the odd bit here or there where I think the guy went on far too long explaining one individual section. For the most part however, he keeps the story focused way better here than in the previous book. I think in retrospect The Fellowship of the Ring felt notably padded because it had to do a lot of heavy lifting to do in terms of world-building. In Two Towers case Tolkien already had the benefit of having the world set up by this point and was purely focused on escalating the core narrative while adding new elements when and where necessary. In light of this the pacing and writing structure of the story felt like a definite improvement.

Speaking of pacing, I really enjoyed how engaged the two individual stories were able to keep me throughout this book. The events of Two Towers are definitely more action orientated with a lot of chapters dedicated to big fights and dramatic moments and you really can't help but get absorbed by it all. It made getting through the book's lengthy page and word count less tedious because I was just so happy to keep following the events of these characters journeys as they continued to proceed further on.

The Two Towers does everything the bridging entry in a trilogy would be expected to do and more. It follows on superbly from the dramatic ending of Fellowship and proceeds to develop these characters and their journeys even further; all the while setting the stage for the final entry. The world of Middle Earth has never been at it's most volatile and Two Towers showcases the lengths our heroes are willing to go to stop the Dark Lord once and for all. This is a fantastic world and a fantastic story J.R.R Tolkien has written, and I cannot wait to experience it's conclusion.