The Return of the King

The 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.

©1954, 1966 The Tolkien Estate Limited (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"The story moves on with a tremendous narrative rush to its climax...extraordinary imaginative work, part saga, part allegory, and wholly exciting." (The Times)

"A triumphant close...a grand piece of work, grand in both conception and execution. An astonishing imaginative tour de force." (Sunday Telegraph)

"His astonishing inventiveness remains to the end and is continued in a series of appendices" (The Guardian)

It sounds like a full-cast production

I think by now it's pretty pointless to give a blow-by-blow account of JRR Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings (LotR) considering that it has become so firmly entrenched in popular culture. But I do feel I need to share a few of my thoughts and feelings about the Andy Serkis reading of all three books, which total approximately whopping 65 hours of listening pleasure combined.

I've been threatening for years to revisit the trilogy. I first read it around the tender age of 12, one heady summer holiday that had my mom complaining I spent too much time indoors when other kids my age were working on future basal cell carcinoma on Cape Town's beaches. I knew from the moment that I first read these books (I own the hardcover centenary edition, now sadly sans dust cover, with Alan Lee's illustrations) that I wanted to be an author who wrote about elves and dragons, and created worlds I could get lost in. The Peter Jackson films remain among my firm favourites.

So, yeah, LotR inhabits a very special place in my heart. It was my gateway to becoming a SFF author, and it's one of the few epics that has left me in tears at the end. Every time those elves go West. Sam's almost anticlimactic "Well, I'm back" at the end always slays me – that we can embark on these earth-shattering adventures and still return to merely being ourselves. We are forever changed on the inside, even if we present a face to our friends and family that appears the same as always. I can peel back so many layers.

The problem with LotR, is I simply don't have the time to sit down and read the entire thing, but I do have time when I'm doing mindless menial things like washing dishes and driving, to listen to audiobooks. Audible has been a lifesaver, and The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, as narrated by Andy Serkis, are absolute gems.
It's one thing to read Tolkien, and have an appreciation for his exquisite style, but it's quite another to hear a gifted actor such as Serkis breathe life into the story so that it feels as if my earballs are giving me a full-cast production. Of course, as always, Gollum steals the show.

I feel as if I've reconnected with the work in a different way through having listened to this rendition of one of the greatest works of fantasy literature in my personal library, and if you find the idea of sitting down with a dead-tree version daunting, you can't go wrong with these three chaps. Granted, it took me about three months to work through all of them consecutively, but they served to remind me why I keep returning to Tolkien's writing. His wordplay remains exceptional, and very few authors come close to how he describes the beauty of nature. (I realise I'm one of those individuals who won't tire of endless descriptions of bloody trees, okay?)

Nothing short of extraordinary

A wonderful audio production concludes the finest audio book experience ever. Andy Serkis’ performance cannot be praised enough. Highly, highly recommended!

The world is divided into those who have listened to Lord of the Rings read by Andy Serkis and those who are going to.

There is no way to describe how wonderful this experience was. Just get the book and listen to it.

Andy is The New King

Andy reads Lord of the Rings like Peter Jackson made the movie. It’s purely amazing!!

Incredible performance.

I listened to the 3 LOTR audio books by Andy Serkis. It is just an incredible performance. He does more than a hundred different voices for all the characters, he sings, and puts all love and emotion to the narration to the point that you just stand on the edge of your sit. I sometimes played the book before bed and I couldn't sleep because the book and his narration were just so exciting I had to continue! That is the power of Andy's performance. I understand it may not be for everyone, for the book is performed more than just read, and sometimes he goes a bit over the top, and not all the voices I happened to like (which is me being a bit unfair because he invented and gave life to more than 100 characters with distinct voices, who could even do that!?). But independently of that, which is just subjective opinion, what Andy Serkis did with all 3 books is just absolutely amazing. He is a master of this craft, and this may perfectly be one of the best audiobook performances ever.

Andy Serkis is a voice actor master

This performance of the Lord of the Rings is the definitive audiobook recording. Get it.

Better still

A fitting ending to a great saga.
Less songs (wich I think is a good thing), less Treebeard and Gollum, they can be tiresome to listen to.
The epiloge drags a bit too much, Tolkien did a thorough job cleaning all (and I mean all) loose ends, and I didn't finish the appendix, nor I think they are neccessary, but is a good thing there are here if you want more background about the world.
Tolkien deserves all the praise and some of the criticism, but is a timeless work of art nevertheless.

THANK YOU ANDY SERKIS!

Thank you Andy Serkis for narrating this timeless classic, of JRR Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings! Your performance is magical, transporting the listener and reader into Middle earth, making them part of the story.

Fans of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, this is a must listen! Tip: Listen and read along the story at the same time! 🙂📖🎧❤

A amazing tale by an awesome narrator

Tolkien work is amazing as it is filled woth adventure, wonder and detail. Narrated by Serkis makes this audiobook a perfect experience.

Best audio performance ever!

Amazing, Ive listened to nothing that can compair itself to tgis performance! Lotre is still Lotr and the same story as always. But amazing work