The Two Towers

Well, this one is MUCH better than the film. I think it's the structure. From what I remember, the film darts about between the different plot threads, to try and keep the timeline in sync, which the book absolutely does not do. I can see why they decided to go that way - it's the more usual structure for a film - but it makes the Battle of Helm's Deep INTERMINABLE. It basically lasts for the whole film.

Instead, you get half a book of The Gang, chasing down some orcs, making friends with some Ents (Ents are just fabulous, aren't they?), battling a bit, overthrowing Isengard, riding to Rohan; THEN you get half a book of Frodo and Sam trekking into Mordor, making a few friends of their own, and so on.

Any attempt to try and keep the two timelines in parallel in your brain is probably going to involve a notebook. There are clues, but you have to be paying attention.

I still think there are just too many words. Too many songs about legends I barely care about, too many unintelligible Elven declarations, and far too many detailed descriptions of land - mountains and plains and horses and cities and sunsets and acrid smoke clouds, and good heavens, is something going to HAPPEN soon?

But it is a good book. The characters are people, which isn't a given. It's much easier to tell Aragorn and Boromir apart than in the film, even though I know one of them was Sean Bean, and the other clearly wasn't. The plot is complex, the baddies are nuanced (well, sometimes), and as long as we don't get into representation of women (which we will DEFINITELY be getting into when the 19yo is next trapped in the car with me), it's a good book.