The Return of the King

Lord of the Rings, Book 3

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Andy Serkis

Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

This brand-new unabridged audiobook of The Return of the King, the third and final part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings, is read by the BAFTA Award-winning actor, director, and author Andy Serkis.

The armies of the Dark Lord are massing as his evil shadow spreads even wider. Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Ents unite forces to battle against the Dark. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle further into Mordor in their heroic quest to destroy the One Ring. The devastating conclusion of J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic tale of adventure, begun in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.

©1983 Christopher R. Tolkien, Michael H.R.Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R.Tolkien (P)2021 Recorded Books

Narration

The narrator isn't my favorite. Particularly the voices he uses for Pippin and the Witch King are unbearable. Very breathy.

Amazing

I loved the story and narration. I was engrossed from beginning to end. Will listen again.

LOTR and Tolkien fans......U MUST!!

simply put.....INCREDIBLE!!!! Andy Serkis is pure brilliance ( as usual ) He puts you right smack in the middle of the story.

Immersive

Well done on all points! Tolkien and Serkis go together like bread and jam, as my gaffer used to say.

trilogy

fantastic story telling by Andy Serkis with all three books. the best I've listened to yet

THE CHAPTER DIVISIONS DONT MATCH THE BOOK CHAPTERS

Perfect writing. Perfect narration. I can listen to this over and over.

My only complaint is that the Audible chapter divisions do not match the book's actual chapter divisions

everything you would expect

Andy Srrkis is brilliant the story is of course we know what it is This is worth your time

Wonderful

I wasn’t sure about Andy Serkis reading this, but I am most pleasantly surprised! No…he doesn’t do a great job with female voices, but then again, there are not a ton of female characters anyway. He doesn’t have a lot of character changes in voice either, but the man can build an atmosphere like few others I’ve ever heard. He can make the hair stand up on your neck, or bring the bitter tears to your eyes. I’ve read this series probably hundreds of times, but this was my first time hearing someone read it to me and I loved it! Well done indeed!

Excellent Narration

I loved it as I did all the previous books in this series. Andy Serkis does an excellent job as narrator. He gives each character a voice.

Return of the Master

This is my second reading of this trilogy (not counting the movies) and I wondered how the books would seem to me decades after my first experience of it. By this third volume, I had tired some of the violence and patriarchy of the whole thing. HOWEVER, what never stopped fascinating me was Andy Serkis and this amazing performance.
He played Shmiegel (sp?) in the film (through computerized animation) so I knew that character was already developed. But there must be 50 characters that have significant dialog throughout the trilogy and Serkis becomes all of them. By the third volume we know the voices of the characters who have been with us throughout the saga and as if by magic Andy Serkis gives us our favorites and our enemies in their complete quirky personalities and habits.
Tolkien is a known literary master and his stories are not for everyone, but I would recommend listening to this volume or any other one, or all the books from The Hobbit, just to experience the brilliant performance of Andy Serkis.