The Two Towers; Book 2

By J. R. R. Tolkien

Catholic-ometer: 5 of 5

Enjoyability: 5 of 5

The second book of the Two Towers chronicles the journey of Frodo and Sam across the lands outside of Mordor; the cliffs, the marshes, and the crossroads, where after discovering that traveling through the black gate isn't an option, they meet the Gondor captain Faramir.  He finds out about the ring, but refuses to try to claim it, or take it back to Gondor with him.  Instead, he lets the hobbits go on their way again, towards Cirith Ungol; where a tremendous spider lays in wait for them.

Over the course of this book, the hobbits meet and befriend Gollum, who, for a while, guides them towards Mordor, but ultimately betrays them in the hopes of getting the ring back.  The book ends with a climactic fight between the giant spider Shelob and Sam; struggling to protect the life of his best friend Frodo.

I honestly think that this book is the best I've read so far, out of the first four.  It has tension, which doesn't really let up at any point during it, and the final battle against Shelob is one of the best in the book series.  I was also very impressed with the strong relationships between the characters of Frodo and Sam, and the constant development of the character of Gollum throughout the book.  His character in particular is both amusing (at times) and also an interesting illustration of what happens to a person mired in, and addicted to grave evil; how they develop when shown kindness, and how easily they betray when tempted again.

I found Faramir to be an interesting character, in a sense, although many of Tolkien's human characters seem to ring a bit hollow to me, perhaps because I personally prefer stories of the fantastic, while he seems enamored with humans (a major thread in LOTR, at any rate, though less in the movies than in the books.)  Faramir doesn't really suffer from this, however, because he has the chance to develop relationships with Frodo, Sam and Gollum, and to show what kind of man he is by the choices he makes.  Because all this effort was put into him, I find him to be a well fleshed-out character, and a boon to this book, rather than a drag.

For this reason, I give the second book of the Two Towers a perfect score.  I'm very impressed with it, and I look forward to finishing the story.