Literature: The Two Towers
A couple weeks ago, I finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers.
Short of it is... I really enjoyed it. Just like with The Fellowship of the Ring, I found myself annoyed about how much the movies changed and took out. I can forgive cutting out parts and changing elements to make that work, but some of the changes just seemed... unnecessary. The Ents were portrayed almost as dim-witted and comical in the movie, but in the book, they were far from it. Sure they took time to make a final decision, but they were not unaware of what Saruman was doing to their forests and they were pretty angry about it even before Merry and Pippin showed up. The Ents in general were pretty wise and were in much larger numbers than the movie illustrated. There's also the handling of Gollum and his internal struggle. The planned betrayal of Frodo and Sam came well before Faramir was introduced. And then there's Faramir... in the movie, he was shown to be tempted by the ring, and was taking Frodo and Sam back to Gondor much as Boromir would have. He was was made out to be a lesser version of Boromir in many ways and essentially living in his older brother's shadow. This was not the case in the book. Faramir was not tempted by the ring and refused to take it to Gondor. He had already suspected that Frodo had this item early on, and once confirmed, he chose not to see it, touch it, or take it. He was portrayed as very wise and careful in his decisions and judgements, and was also realistic about his brother's faults. There were more instances... Eowyn and King Denethor and such, but those didn't bother me quite as much.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. Very much so, though I'd suggest watching the movies first (because of the depth of the books). Would I read it again? Yes. Is it a favorite? I'd say yes.
Short of it is... I really enjoyed it. Just like with The Fellowship of the Ring, I found myself annoyed about how much the movies changed and took out. I can forgive cutting out parts and changing elements to make that work, but some of the changes just seemed... unnecessary. The Ents were portrayed almost as dim-witted and comical in the movie, but in the book, they were far from it. Sure they took time to make a final decision, but they were not unaware of what Saruman was doing to their forests and they were pretty angry about it even before Merry and Pippin showed up. The Ents in general were pretty wise and were in much larger numbers than the movie illustrated. There's also the handling of Gollum and his internal struggle. The planned betrayal of Frodo and Sam came well before Faramir was introduced. And then there's Faramir... in the movie, he was shown to be tempted by the ring, and was taking Frodo and Sam back to Gondor much as Boromir would have. He was was made out to be a lesser version of Boromir in many ways and essentially living in his older brother's shadow. This was not the case in the book. Faramir was not tempted by the ring and refused to take it to Gondor. He had already suspected that Frodo had this item early on, and once confirmed, he chose not to see it, touch it, or take it. He was portrayed as very wise and careful in his decisions and judgements, and was also realistic about his brother's faults. There were more instances... Eowyn and King Denethor and such, but those didn't bother me quite as much.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. Very much so, though I'd suggest watching the movies first (because of the depth of the books). Would I read it again? Yes. Is it a favorite? I'd say yes.