Hi, everyone, I'm back! After a month of limited Internet access, it feels great to be posting again. The uprooting process is over, and the planting process (which will take considerably longer) has begun. Which is to say, we've moved and are settled into our new house now, so hopefully I'll be able to post regularly from now on.

Well, I finished The Lord of the Rings for the fourth time about two months ago. What can I say? It was spectacular - again. I've read it four times now, and I'm pretty sure I'll never get tired of it. That being said, I'm not quite sure how to review it. How do you critique a work of genius - especially when you don't fully understand it yourself? All I can do is try my best and see what comes of it.

Hopefully all of you are at least somewhat aquainted with the story of The Lord of the Rings. For those who aren't, it can be summarized like this: a hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Bilbo's younger cousin, if you remember my review of The Hobbit) inherits a magic ring that Bilbo found on his adventures. This ring turns out to be the Ring of Power, the most precious possession of the Dark Lord Sauron and the source of his power. Frodo must destroy it in order to keep Sauron from enslaving the world.

When I first read that story, I was ten years old. I didn't know much about writing then and had only just discovered my passion for doing it myself. In fact The Lord of the Rings was what finally rescued me from the benighted world of Left Behind: The Kids and Frank Peretti books. But I didn't need much experience or knowledge about writing to appreciate this masterpiece. The story, the characters, and the detailed world they were set in enchanted me at once, and I never recovered.

Now I know enough about writing to say that J.R.R. Tolkien's is some of the best I've ever seen. The Lord of the Rings has so many characters and so many subplots that it could get very confusing in less skillful hands, but Tolkien ties everything together perfectly. His descriptions of people, places, and events are so vivid that I can see the story as if it were happening right in front of me. The language he uses is much darker, deeper, and grander than it is in The Hobbit - perfect for an epic as vast as this one. But it's his imagination that truly marks J.R.R. Tolkien as a genius. Middle Earth is, by far, the most three-dimensional fantasy world ever created. Every place that the members of the Fellowship pass through has its own atmosphere of wonder, terror, melancholy, or homeliness - and, thanks to Tolkien's detailed descriptions, it all seems incredibly real. Plus, if you look at the appendices at the end of The Return of the King (I highly recommend doing so, they're quite fascinating), you realize that Middle Earth has a history, geography, mythology, a timeline, a calendar, multiple languages complete with alphabets and grammar, and detailed geneologies of every character. It boggles my mind that any human mind could think of it all!

But even though it's these kinds of details that show J.R.R. Tolkien's brilliance, I don't think it's what has made his books so enduringly popular. It's the story, and the characters, that captivate us. Which leads me to begin discussing the worldview of The Lord of the Rings.

Before I say anything else, let me make it clear that The Lord of the Rings is not an allegory. Probably because J.R.R. Tolkien was a Catholic, and a close friend of C.S. Lewis, some people seem to interpret his stories allegorically. This is a mistake, because Tolkien himself said that he disliked allegory. In fact the only serious blot on his character that I've ever heard of is that he tried to persuade C.S. Lewis not to publish The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (I'm not positive whether that's true or not, so don't get too mad at him yet.) However, there are many parallels that can be drawn between The Lord of the Rings and the Christian life.

Several times during the story, things happen which appear to be astonishing coincidences - such as Bilbo "just happening" to be lost in the goblin tunnels when the Ring leaves Gollum, and to pick it up in the dark. Yet J.R.R. Tolkien consistently gives us hints that there is more going on than just good luck. About Bilbo's discovery of the Ring, Gandalf says, "Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it." Though this is the most obvious, there are many other examples of this throughout the trilogy. The lure of the Ring can also be compared to the temptation of sin. Almost every character, from the smallest to the greatest, has some sort of encounter with it, and although their characters are most clearly revealed by how well they resist its power, no one is strong enough to ultimately overcome or destroy it on their own. Several characters also display different aspects of Christ-likeness; and the overall themes of courage, loyalty, and hope in the face of impossible circumstances, as well as the clear distinction between good and evil are very consistent with a Christian worldview.

Overall, The Lord of the Rings is a beautiful, epic story that takes place in a fantastic world, yet tells about things that everyone - particularly every Christian - can relate to. And isn't that what fantasy books are all about - getting us to look beyond the surface of our everyday lives to see the same ideas we all live by in a new way? J.R.R. Tolkien does this better than any other fantasy writer I've ever read - except C.S. Lewis, of course. If you read The Lord of the Rings from a Christian perspective, you might be surprised at how much you can learn.

Now I know a lot of people who haven't read this trilogy, or haven't finished it, because it's too long and full of detail. Some say it's tedious. I've never found it to be tedious, and I happen to like all the details, but I do agree that it's very long, and it might be difficult if you're not used to reading books like that. Even so, I would encourage you to read it. Get it on tape (unabridged), or ask a parent or experienced reader to go through it with you if that makes it easier. Whatever you do, I can almost guarantee it'll be worth the effort. Also, if you don't think you need to read The Lord of the Rings because you've seen the movies, you're wrong. I'm not saying the movies are bad. They're actually my favorite movies of all time, and I think the film-makers did an amazing job with them. But they don't do justice to the books, simply because no movie can ever do justice to the books. There's just too much good stuff in them to pack into a movie. If you haven't seen the movies yet, I would recommend watching (and buying!) the extended versions, but only after you've read the books all the way through.

Well, there are still a million great things about these books I haven't mentioned, but to keep you from getting too bored with this long post, I'll let you find them out for yourselves. But I can't end this review without saying something about Sam Gamgee. He's Frodo's gardener, the first person to be added to the Fellowship of the Ring, and the only one to accompany Frodo all the way to Mordor. And he's not only my favorite character in The Lord of the Rings, but probably my favorite character in all literature. He's not wise or majestic or good at fighting like many of the other characters, but he's incredibly brave and loyal. He sticks to Frodo no matter what, and he keeps him going even when all seems lost. He never completely loses hope, not even when the circumstances seem hopeless. I could go on and on, and I still wouldn't adequately describe his character. You'll have to read the books to see just how amazing Sam is. Sorry, I just had to praise him in front of you.