Catholic-ometer: 4 of 5
Enjoyability: 3.5 of 5
Finally, after finishing the last of the six "books" of the Lord of the Rings, there is a selection of appendixes at the back. The appendixes provide some backstory for some of the races and characters, some information on the languages, cultures, family trees, etc, of Middle Earth.
Unfortunately, this section gets even drier than most of Tolkien's other writing; particularly when he discusses languages and historical records. Still, it's not without it's high points, providing some history for Aragorn and Arwen, as well as some interesting stories about the dwarves and their feud with the orcs, and about the man after whom Helm's Deep was named. There's also a passing reference to the Silmarillion, which I may also undertake one day.
Still, many of the characters in these parts of the story are vain, prideful, thirsty for revenge, and generally act out of self-centered motives, but they all suffer losses appropriate to their vices. The only reason I even bother to bring this up is that there's no Gandalf-like central hero in these parts of the story; nobody to show how things should be done right.
The point and a half down in enjoyability come almost entirely from the fact that the appendixes read like an encyclopedia. The content is very entertaining, but the format is not. I don't feel there's any point in disguising that.
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