J.R.R. Tolkien
Il Signore Degli Anelli

"The Lord of the Rings" is a trilogy, now made famous thanks to the 3 films produced based on it, composed of the three books "The Fellowship of the Ring" (1954), "The Two Towers" (1954) and "The Return of the King" (1955). Created by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, it can be described as an "epic chivalric poem", as written on the back of the novel, halfway between fairy tale and legend; an allegory of the human condition, this work is the progenitor of the Fantasy literary genre. It encompasses Tolkien's ultimate aim with his writings, the completion of the entire creation of the vast world of Arda, which began with "The Hobbit", continued with the "Silmarillion" and the "Unfinished Tales"...

In this vast imaginary world, Tolkien seems to have created languages suitable for each different civilization and people. However, this is not the case: being a great linguistics expert, the writer initially created new languages, and only later did he make his fantastic creatures speak them.

But let's get to the book, which might seem predictable and similar to other current Fantasy stories; this is why I remind you that the aforementioned novel was written in the '50s, and thus at the time it was not predictable at all: it is in recent years that many writers have copied and reproduced it, with little imagination, in every sauce. Nonetheless, it is not predictable or unoriginal even now, because, unlike almost all other Fantasy works, "The Lord of the Rings" does not deal solely with dragons, orcs, or who knows what else, but rather, in a sometimes more veiled, sometimes less veiled way, not too implicitly, it deals with topics that concern everyday life, ranging from philosophical and moral, historical, and obviously linguistic fields.

The story is set in Middle-earth and revolves around a magical ring, in fact, the One Ring, forged by Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom, in which he contained a large portion of his power. The dark Lord lost it during the battle against men and elves, when Isildur, with the sword that was broken, cut off his finger, and consequently took the ring from him, thus making him become a shadow without a body. Isildur went to Mount Doom to get rid of it, and Elrond, then squire of Gil-Galad, who would become king, tried to persuade him to do so. But the Ring managed to make itself desired, and Isildur kept it for himself; this would later cause his death.

The Ring would fall into the waters of a river, and some time later, a simple Hobbit named Déagol would find it, but his brother Sméagol, strangling the latter, would take possession of it, and it would take possession of him, making him its own and corrupting his heart. Sméagol would live a long time thanks to his "Precious", which would meanwhile devour him from the inside, and for 600 years it would be his. Then, however, Bilbo Baggins would steal the fateful object.

Some time later, Gandalf the Grey, arriving in Hobbiton for Bilbo's one hundred eleventh birthday party, would discover the Ring, and have it handed over; with Bilbo gone, the wizard would entrust the ring to Frodo, the protagonist, who with Sam Gamgee would set off on a long journey. They would be joined by 7 members in Rivendell after Elrond's council, and the 9 would be, precisely, The Fellowship of the Ring. They would depart on a long journey through the mountains, then down through the mines of Moria, where Gandalf would fall into the chasm of Khazad-Dûm...

This is a small "sketch" of the first book (The Fellowship of the Ring, to be clear), which I have written to give a general idea of the novel, but I do not want to go into detail, as it would be impossible to summarize the work without undermining the meaning and beauty of the writing. The book concludes with the not-so-obvious victory of good over evil, by the hand of Frodo, who manages to cast the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, thus ending Sauron completely, who nonetheless managed to cause great harm to Middle-earth and dominate for a long time, threatening the forces of good to the last.

Furthermore, the novel contains poems, often also in invented languages, but very realistic and well made, character and landscape descriptions that are careful and interesting, which however are not too rigid, leaving room for imagination, explanations of the ancestries of all kinds of creatures, etymology of words, and explanations of the development of the languages of Arda; besides being very interesting, in every respect, it is also entertaining, sad, and epic at the same time, and is capable of capturing much and immersing you in a reading that is not too heavy, especially if you approach it with the mind ready to fantasize, and with a good desire to imagine and travel in this world that does not exist but always knows how to fascinate and intrigue.

A must-read. The critique is almost entirely positive for this novel and, apart from a few isolated criticisms (which in my opinion are unfounded), it is very well judged and viewed favorably by many, moreover, it has been said to be the best book of the millennium. The films derived from it have received numerous Oscars, the soundtracks are wonderful, and everything amalgamates perfectly in a grand extract of what is Arda.