The company of the Ring is torn asunder. Frodo and Sam continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin - alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.
This continues the classic tale begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its awesome climax in The Return of the King.
'An extraordinary book. It deals with a stupendous theme. It leads us through a succession of strange and astonishing episodes, some of them magnificent, in a region where everything is invented, forest, moor, river, wilderness, town and the races which inhabit them.'
The Observer
'Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century.'
Sunday Telegraph
'The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them.'
Sunday Times
'A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness.'
New Statesman
'Masterpiece? Oh yes, I've no doubt about that.'
Evening Standard
J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.