The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), Darrell Sweet (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: uruk hai, nice hobbits, orc trail, Lord of the Mark, Emyn Muil, Minas Tirith (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

New Line Cinema will be releasing "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in three separate installments, and Houghton Mifflin Tolkien's U.S. publisher since the release of The Hobbit in 1938 will be re-releasing each volume of the trilogy separately and in a boxed set (ISBN 0-618-15397-7. $22; pap. ISBN 0-618-15396-9. $12).
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Tolkien's invention of strange peoples, curious incidents, miraculous doings, is poured out in this second volume of his trilogy as exuberantly and convincingly, in a dreamlike way, as ever. As the story goes on the world of the Ring grows more vast and mysterious or comic. The story is superb." The Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 447 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 12, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345296060
• ISBN-13: 978-0345296061
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (375 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,809,689 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 2 in The Lord of the Rings Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last., August 23, 2001

By	"joeyc923" (Tacoma, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2) (Audio CD)

The magnificence of Rob Inglis' dramatization, both with respect to its place in the Tolkien Legend and in comparision to the present state of the spoken theatre, is quite simply ineffible. Here presented is THE ONLY completely unabriged reading of the Lord of the Rings to be found, and to commuters like me, it represents a long awaited opportunity to become aquianted with the work of a genius without fear of losing precious shards of his masterpiece to the whim of an editor. Worth every moment of the 20 hour listening time, from the endearing character voices to the hearty singing of songs and chanting of poetry that is sure to linger in your mind throughout the day. A purely wonderful experience for both Tolkien Veterans and the uninitiated alike.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Word for Word a True Delight, September 4, 2001

By	C. Williams - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2) (Audio CD)

By all means, choose this unabridged cassette version whether you are "reading" LOTR for the first time or for the umpteenth time! I debated whether to go with this cassette version of LOTR or the newly-released BBC CD set with Sir Ian Holm. Thank goodness for Amazon reviews because after reading that the CD set was NOT truly unabridged (how could they leave out Tom Bombadil?!), it simplified my decision. Rob Inglis is outstanding reader and does a fine job selecting an appropriate voice for each of the characters. I personally find it much more pleasing than a host of voices (of course if Sir Ian had done the entire CD version, I'd be back to a difficult decision). The point for me when listening to a book is to hear the story and use my imagination; too many voices or sound effects can be distracting.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tolkien + Inglis + Unabridged + Perfect Sound = Excellence!, December 27, 2001

By	Just Bill (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2) (Audio CD)

In my reviews of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, both read by British Shakesperean actor Rob Inglis, I wrote that the sound quality on these audio books is crystal clear (neither too high, too low or distorted in any way), Inglis's characterizations are spot-on and the story itself (presented here in the only unabridged version available) is engrossing.

The Two Towers continues the story begun in The Fellowship of the Ring but introduces new characters, more battle scenes and a nearly palpable feeling of impending doom as Sauron and Saruman search for the ring.

Speaking of new characters, I don't think you'll ever find characters more fascinating than Ents. Ents are walking, talking trees found in Fanghorn Forest. Treebeard (a most "unhasty" Ent) is their leader. He's the oldest living thing in Middle Earth. As Inglis read these passages, I could almost picture the unhasty trees talking to Merry and Pippin. And I longed to look into their very old, wise eyes as they did.

The bottom line: The Two Towers (part two of the Lord of the Rings "trilogy") is equal to the previous books in every way.

Which means there really isn't much more that needs to be written. This is, without doubt, the best audio books edition of The Lord of the Rings available.

How do you know if The Two Towers read by Rob Inglis is right for you? Well, if you...

1. Love Tolkien's stories.
2. Have drive time on your hands.
3. Enjoy hearing a British voice.
4. Don't want to here a "dramatized," multi-voiced version.
5. Have already listened to (or are familiar with) The Fellowship of the Ring.
6. Have a cat you'd like to keep company during the day while you're at work (simply load up your CD changer, push "Play" and "Repeat All" and let Rob Inglis serenade your feline)

THEN...

This unabridged audio books edition of Tokien's masterpiece read by Rob Inglis is exactly what you need.