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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
568 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2024
About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
818 books78.8k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 21, 2024
Toujours un plaisir de lire Le Seigneur des Anneaux en anglais.
Plus facile à lire après la lecture du premier tome.
Et il est plaisant de se replonger dedans, encore plus en anglais.
Poésie et magie sont au rendez vous.
Plus facile à lire après la lecture du premier tome.
Et il est plaisant de se replonger dedans, encore plus en anglais.
Poésie et magie sont au rendez vous.
April 27, 2026
3.5 stars.
Good book, but not as engaging as the first one. I wasn't a huge fan of splitting the story basically 50/50. Felt like two separate books. By the time I was heavily invested in the first story, it felt like a weird switch back to Frodo and Sam. I do think Tolkien merged the two parts together well with the sky/sound event happening in both accounts.
It took me awhile to finish the second half, so I'm struggling to remember all the details of the first, but world building continues to be interesting!
Excited to continue on and see how it ends in the final book.
Good book, but not as engaging as the first one. I wasn't a huge fan of splitting the story basically 50/50. Felt like two separate books. By the time I was heavily invested in the first story, it felt like a weird switch back to Frodo and Sam. I do think Tolkien merged the two parts together well with the sky/sound event happening in both accounts.
It took me awhile to finish the second half, so I'm struggling to remember all the details of the first, but world building continues to be interesting!
Excited to continue on and see how it ends in the final book.
April 18, 2026
A lot of interesting plot lines were changed in the movies which has a lot on intent of characters. I like the book’s kindness all in all, especially with Faramir and Smeagol. That scene in the movies was hard to watch, it’s good knowing Tolkien did not mean it like that.
Always worth re-reading a book, it really explains a lot of the lore, intent, and magic behind their actions. In the end, I just really like how they treat Smeagol here.
Always worth re-reading a book, it really explains a lot of the lore, intent, and magic behind their actions. In the end, I just really like how they treat Smeagol here.
November 28, 2024
Okay, I really enjoyed the second book! I felt like it was paced better and the story lines were more engaging. However, my one complaint was that the Treebeard chapter was the longest chapter 💤 lol.
December 17, 2025
Better than the first of the trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews