Jonathan Kirkmeyer > Recent Status Updates

Incredible book so far!

The battle of pellenor fields was incredible. Truly one of the peaks of the story.

Yeah, Denethor is the worst. Can’t help but feel bad for him a little? Maybe? Pippin is great. Gandalf is great. Gondor is falling, though. Dark times.

Incredible tension when Aragorn is summoning the Oathbreakers, as well as everyone preparing to essentially fight to the death against Sauron’s forces.

Enjoying the introduction to Denethor and Minas Tirith in Gondor. Peregrin getting to be in the service of Gondor is interesting as well.

Shelob’s Lair and The Choices of Samwise were such good chapters to close TTT.

Book Faramir is such an incredible character. Honestly the first one I’ve met where I’m like “the movies missed the mark on this guy”.

Honestly, the first part of TT was a bit of a slog. The second part of it, book four, has been much better going for me. I think it’s just taken me a while to get used to the detail-rich way in which Tolkien wrote. You just have to accept it and embrace it and the story becomes much more enjoyable. Loving the higher stakes with Gollum being re-introduced.

I’ll be honest- reading the chapters about the four making it through the Old Forest was a bit of a slow process, and it just seemed so sad and hard, but when Merry and Pippin were stuck in Old Man Willow and all seemed lost, Tom Bombadill shows up and the rest and relaxation that the hobbits got from there from him and Goldberry was such a beautiful release of that tension.

I get it. I get the hype.

The increasing tension in this shortly following my finishing of TWOK is just so well done. You just don’t know what is going to happen next.