Few years back, I chanced upon a movie series. That changed my whole perception of movie watching experience and I have already loved the series ever since; even after countless re-watches. That was 'Lord of Rings'. Being a die hard fan of animation and fantasy, this opened a while new world in front of me. I had a book version long back but it was damaged and had to stop reading halfway. Recently I purchased a new collectors edition and immediately pounced on the first book of the adventure.
The story centers around the adventures of the hobbit, Frodo Baggins. Frodo was living a carefree life in the village of Shire along with his uncle Bilbo Baggins. Once Bilbo disappears from the village leaving behind a ring for Frodo. Gandalf the wizard asks Frodo to set out on a journey and meet him halfway with the ring and discloses that the ring possess dark powers of that of Sauron, the dark lord. Accompanied by his friends he sets out on an adventure travelling to newer places, meeting new friends and foes along the way and finally reaching the Elves land and there by forming the 'Fellowship of Ring' in order to destroy the ring. The situations that lead to the journey, the aftermath, the formation of the fellowship and initial journey to peril sets the pace for 'Fellowship of the Ring'.
The first thing that attracted me to the book was the amount of imagination that has gone forth and that too given the times when the book was written. Each and every page oozed with a new experience and the author takes his own sweet time setting out the character pieces and the places. One major highlight was how the places and surroundings were described. Reading page after page, I was able to picturize the whole book happening in front of me. Each character has its own space and glory right from Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, Merry, Pippin to Gandalf, Boromir, Strider, Sauron, Legolas, Gimli. Even Boromir who comes well past halfway mark gets his space to be a part of the story. Even though I had watched the whole lord of rings series a lot of time; this was still exciting. But I would not tell that the movie is a page by page adaptation of the book. I felt Tom Bombadil, Strider and Gandalf were the best of all. Certain characters like Tom Bombadil were missing in the movie. How I hoped there was space for the character in the movie! Setting up whole new worlds that too with maps makes me wonder at the sheer brilliance of Tolkien.
There has been a huge surge in fantasy these days but none has ever excited me more than Lord of Rings. I have always loved the movie series. But after reading the book; as any book lover would tell, I would favor the book any time. However superb the special effects were; the book was more richer in content that the movie. But having said that, the movie was the one that introduced me to the middle earth world of Tolkien and is the reason I am able to put a face to most of the characters. I have to thank Peter Jackson for that. I would recommend this to any one who likes to travel in the magical world of fantasy. For me always, Tolkien is the 'father of fantasy genre'.
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