The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings Part Two)
by J R R Tolkien
Starting out with a two-age synopsis of Part One (The Fellowship of the Ring) this paperback edition of The Two Towers includes 7 pages of maps which are very useful at this stage of the story, where the members of the fellowship split.
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The Two Towers includes books 3 and 4 of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic, opening just after the fellowship of the ring splits up. At this point in the story, it may be useful to have a map to hand, as the geography, while beautifully described, can be hard to follow. Maps (drawn by Christopher Tolkien, JRR Tolkien’s son and literary executor) are included in the book but don’t trace the characters’ routes. For that, it’s worth exploring online, where you can find resources like this one. Book 3 follows the fate of most of the members of the fellowship, and is largely about the coming together of forces to do battle against Saruman, a wizard gone bad. Men, trees and orcs (goblins) feature in a fight, which even if you’re not generally big on battle scenes is gripping.
Book 4, by contrast, follows only Frodo, ‘the ringbearer’, and his friend Sam on their lonely journey to Mordor, the home of the enemy but also the only place where the ring of power can be destroyed. It’s about doing what you least want to do because you must. JRR Tolkien was very emphatic that his books were in no way an allegory for anything, but he did live through both World War I (in which many of his friends died) and II and the idea of duty and sacrifice for a cause is strong.