The Return of the King

Book Three in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Rob Inglis

Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Return of the King is the towering climax to J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy that tells the saga of the hobbits of Middle-earth and the great War of the Rings. In this concluding volume, Frodo and Sam make a terrible journey to the heart of the Land of the Shadow in a final reckoning with the power of Sauron.

In addition to narrating the prose passages, Rob Inglis sings the trilogy’s songs and poems a capella, using melodies composed by Inglis and Claudia Howard, the Recorded Books studio director. This recording also contains Tolkien’s preface to the trilogy, including a prior history of the ring, and shire habitat, history, and folkways.

©1983 Christopher R. Tolkien, Michael H.R.Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R.Tolkien (P)1990 Recorded Books

No Longer Jumbled

The reviews from last year that indicate this book is out of order no longer apply. The chapters of the two books are in the right order, followed by Tolkien's appendices that include extra info. Without this content, these books are much shorter than the previous ones in the series. I especially appreciated these after I finished the saga for the very first time. I signed up especially for Audible to finish the auiodbooks as read by Inglis. His voice is very charming, and I love that he sings all of the songs and performs voices of each of the characters. Story-wise, I was familiar from seeing the movies. The book includes more details regarding the Hobbits after their return to the Shire; although, I might suggest readers bookmark a map of Middle Earth to reference when listening to minimize confusion. It might be easier to follow the battles when reading rather than listening. This was still quite an enjoyable read and a great way to wrap up an epic story.

Audio book chapters are in the wrong order!!!!

This book includes Book 5 and Book 6 of the Lord of the Rings trilogy books. See end of review for the Table of Contents for these two books.

Unfortunately, the audio book starts with Book 1, Chapter 8 !!! In order to start the book at the beginning, you have to start at Audible Chapter 22.

Confused?? If you downloaded the book as 'high quality' and as single download rather than in parts, the chapters are in the wrong order. If you downloaded it in parts, [Content Settings, set the Download Quality, to High Quality and Download by Parts to Multi-Part] you will get three separate downloads (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and the chapters in the right order. If you downloaded it as one piece, like most of us do, read on to figure out how to read it in order. (What you got was Part 2 first, then Part 1, then Part 3.)

In order to read the single part download of The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien in the correct order, the listener must start at Audible Chapter 22 and listen through Audible Chapter 35. Then, go to Audible Chapter 2 and listen through Audible Chapter 20. Then go to Audible Chapter 36 and listen through Audible Chapter 41. (Audible Chapter 1 and Audible Chapter 21 are introductions from Audible about the book.)

Interestingly Chapter 7 of Book 1 and Chapter 7 of Book 2 are adjacent to each other in the audio book as Chapter 35 and Chapter 36. Those chapters are far apart in the tale!

This problem needs to be fixed. It distresses me that I have to slam the rating for a really good book because the audio book is all screwed up.

Here are the chapters of the Tolkien book. When you hear the narrator start a new chapter, he mentions these chapter titles. Also note that Audible usually takes more than one chapter to cover a single Tolkien chapter.

1 Minas Tirith .....The beginning, this chapter, is Audible Chapter 22
2 The Passing of the Grey Company
3 The Muster of Rohan
4 The Siege of Gondor
5 The Ride of the Rohirrim
6 The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
7 The Pyre of Denethor
8 The Houses of Healing ....Audible starts the audio book with this chapter
9 The Last Debate
10 The Black Gate Opens

Book 6
1 The Tower of Cirith Ungol
2 The Land of Shadow
3 Mount Doom
4 The Field of Cormallen
5 The Steward and the King
6 Many Partings
7 Homeward Bound
8 The Scouring of the Shire
9 The Grey Havens

In order to read The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien in the correct order,
- the listener must start at Audible Chapter 22 and listen through Audible Chapter 35.
- then, go to Audible Chapter 2 and listen through Audible Chapter 20.
- then go to Audible Chapter 36 and listen through Audible Chapter 41.

Audible Chapter 1 and Audible Chapter 21 are introductions from Audible about the book.)

Content error. Chapters are mixed up

Content Error. Chapters mixed up. Begins at chapter 8. Can't even find the end of the book.

Many Happy Returns

How strange it feels to give this book only four stars, and feeling generous in doing so. It's been one of the five-star books of my life. I've re-read the Ring trilogy at least a dozen times, read it to my daughter at bedtime 2-3 pages at a time over the span of months. This is my first listen, but I don't think the audio format diminished it at all -- on the contrary, Rob Inglis is rightfully lauded in Tolkien circles for his legendary narration.

I'm tempted to blame the movie, which may have been the best entry in the trilogy, the one that won the Oscar. The tale of how Gollum got the ring starts it off (Gandalf tells it to Frodo in Tolkien's Fellowship), Shelob is saved for The Return (in Tolkien it is the cliffhanger ending to Towers), and much of what happens after Aragorn is crowned is omitted, most notably the Scouring of the Shire, where the returning hobbits liberate the Shire from Saruman.

But it's not the fault of the movie. Asked about Shelob, director Peter Jackson said there was little to propel the story of Frodo and Sam in The Return, and he's right -- the three chapters leading to Mount Doom are just drudgery (for them). Having Faramir charge to his doom to the sound of Pippin singing a sad song is a welcome respite from the repetitive descriptions of so many battle scenes. Showing the Paths of the Dead instead of having Legolas recount it is fantastic. Showing is also better than telling Gollum's backstory -- without that prologue, the book's best character would hardly be seen until the climax at Mount Doom.

As for the Scouring, it is as much a shame to leave that out as it was to omit Tom Bombadil and other Shire-side episodes from the Fellowship film, but the truth is that that is the only good chapter out of all that comes after Mount Doom -- five hours of epilogue after the story reaches its climax ten hours in. Yes, there are many happy returns in The Return of the King, but that is just too much, much of it too tedious.

And then there are three hours of preface and appendices, which you can easily skip, unless you are a die-hard Tolkien completist. Even a longtime devotee like me, having skipped it in most of my re-readings, found it difficult to plow through them in audio, as I felt I must.

Rob Inglis and JRR Tolkien in Perfect Partnership

Where does The Return of the King rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Number One

What other book might you compare The Return of the King to and why?

Two juvenile series -- Oz and Harry Potter, all inspired by the classic Beowolf, came to mind during this book. There certainly seems to be a chain of inspiration among every hero adventure series, no matter the characters or settings.

Which character – as performed by Rob Inglis – was your favorite?

Gandalf

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I both laughed out loud and cried.

Any additional comments?

I listened to the audiobook on a road trip because I was in the middle of reading the books and they don't like you to read while driving. It couldn't have made the travel more delightful. If I could, after this experience, I'd walk around listening to a great audiobook all the time, and never engage in real life again.

Finally!

I've listened to Fellowship and Two Towers on audiobook by the same narrator, and I had been trying to find Return of the King on CD from a bunch of different libraries and no such luck- but now it's finally here!

Rob Inglis does a wonderful job as the reader, and gives the characters their own voice. I've read the books before and enjoyed them, so I knew that I would like this story- but if you have never read the books before then I definitely reccomend listening to this version. :)

Ignore reviews saying chapters are out of order!

The chapter problem was clearly fixed, everything was in order for me. Loved this novel! It was a great conclusion to an excellent trilogy. Only held back by a mediocre narrator.

Just as good as the last 2 simply great!

This book was one of the best books I've listened to and I would recommend it to anyone. The extra information at the end is really interesting and it's nice to know more history behind it all.

Awesome. Just Remember to Bring a Map.

A completely satisfying, surprising, edifying and moving end to the long saga. If you like this kind of thing (and I do) then you will enjoy Lord of the Rings beyond all measure. There is nothing I can say to convince you otherwise if your tastes don’t lie in this direction.

I admit that I tackled it, at least in part, out of a desire to repair an omission. Back in high school The Hobbit and its sequels were all the rage; you couldn’t walk into the meanest bookstore without seeing a poster-size version of Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth. And while I read The Hobbit for a class I never embarked on the three following volumes. Laziness? Yes, in part. But also my aversion had something to do with the kind of people who were reading Lord of the Rings at that time: players of Dungeons and Dragons, geeks of the first water, fellows who would argue for hours about the respective powers of about Gandalf and Sauramon. Of course, these books deal with some very sophisticated themes (temptation and sin, redemption and renewal, the wellsprings of courage and perseverance, the choice of revenge or forgiveness) and it isn’t surprising that 16-year-olds would gravitate to the details rather than see the larger sweep of the story. For myself I’m glad I waited. What some dismiss as a quaint fairy story is in reality a profound meditation on all the themes mentioned above and more.

One practical piece of advice: make sure you have a good map. None that I found online covered every location mentioned in the story. But the one that worked best for me was drawn by Christopher Tolkien and is available at, among other places, the Tolkien Gateway (again, a little too D&D for me, but that's where the map is).

Tolkien has a disconcerting habit of mentioning places and events from the distant past that his characters are well aware of, while you are left guessing. (And, incidentally, no map I found showed every place he mentions.) A passing familiarity with Beowulf and the Norse Sagas made me realize these asides were echoes of those works, touches that made the story sound even more like old lore from a land that actually existed. For those interested, there is a long essay by Tolkien at the end of this recording that covers that lore and history; I skipped it, happy to soak in the towering power of the story without all the enthusiast's details on the different strains of pipe weed or who taught the Hobbits the art of building.

Finally, a note on Rob Inglis’ superb performance. He is a boon companion to have on such a long journey. His sonorous delivery, his unerring ability to reflect the mood of the words he reads, helped bring out the inner meaning of much of the tale.

Great Story, Good Narration

The Lord of the Rings is a true classic and if you have not experienced it (or only experienced the movies) this recording should be a wonderful experience. This recording includes the prefix and appendices (both at the end of the recording), which might be dry for some, but is great for LOTR geeks. Having an unabridged Lord of the Rings on Audible has been long awaited and is terrific. If I had not been exposed to the NPR/Minds-Eye production of this series I would have been pretty happy with the narration. The Minds-Eye production was abridged but was a really excellent performance. Rob Ingles’ narration is very good, and he does particularly well presenting the difficult epic poetry sections, but I did not much like his singing and overall a simple narration can’t compete with the Minds-Eye performances. Nevertheless I was very happy to have this excellent unabridged version. I started out a little unhappy with the narration, but as time went on I just became quite immersed in the story.