Pure Tolkien!

This is a 13 part dramatization of Tolkien's work, not a "reading", but full BBC acting work caught for the magic of your mind. It comes in a gorgeous sleeve box, with an inner sleeve that protects and hold four sleeved dividers. Each sleeves fold out to contain 3-4 CD ROMS. They are covered with maps of Middle Earth. It lists the actors, and the narrator Gerald Murphy is absolutely perfect. Ian Holm (playing Frodo here!), the late great Robert Stephens and a cast of couple dozen well chosen readers of the roles. The Price is a STEAL...I cannot believe it doesn't cost three times this price.

This is NOT a reading of the books but an abridge full radio dramatization. So please understand the difference before assuming these are just the books read. This is full acting, with sound effects, music, etc.

A true experience for any Tolkien fan. A perfect gift for your Tolkien buff.

Marvelous adaptation of the book

This is a marvelous dramatization of the Lord of the Rings. Overall, a much, much better adaptation of the book than the visually gorgeous but otherwise very disappointing movie trilogy. The acting here is mostly superb, and dialogues are almost always straight from Tolkien's pages. The renditions of Frodo, Gandalf, and above all Sam are truly great. Aragorn would also be very convincing, if it weren't for the actor's voice, who has a funny way to pronounce the letter "s"! Anyway, this is a trifle, and the overall rendition is great. Here you will not find any of the silly and gratuitous adaptations that somehow spoiled the three movies. In particular, Merry and Pippin are not presented as two half-witted comical characters, but they are presented in all their complexity. And you won't have Liv Tyler played the stupid and intolerably ethereal role created for her by Hollywood. And you won't have to endure the unbelievably stupid scene were Gollum convince Frodo to "abandon" Sam, or the (sadly) legendary sequence where Frodo, after losing the ring (and his finger inside it...) FIGHTS WITH GOLLUM ON THE BRINK OF THE PRECIPICE, AND OF COURSE IT LOOKS LIKE THEY BOTH FALL, AND OF COURSE ONLY GOLLUM FALLS, AND OF COURSE SAM RESCUES FRODO GRABBING FRODO'S HAND JUST ONE SECOND BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. The BBC is production does necessarily cuts much (no Bombadil, no Ghan-Buri-Ghan, for example), but what is left is 95% pure Tolkien, and 5% transition between narratives. Peter Jackson and his pals should have looked here for the book's adaptation.
I have already listened to the full box twice, and I will surely do it again. If you enjoyed the book, and you would like to "hear it" come alive, especially if you have been disappointed by the gratuitous concessions to Hollywood misery imposed by Peter Jackson and his pals, you should definitely purchase this box. Especially because another alternative, the UNABRIDGED version of the book, is not so good, as the reader's voice is very ill-suited to the epic tone of the trilogy. I know there are also partial renditions of the book read by Tolkien himself, but I do not know those.

Very well done

I have probably listened to this over 30 times since I was a teenager, it is that good. The voice acting is second to none. It is interesting especially now after viewing all three movies to be able to come back and experience the story in a different way, although Ian Holm as Frodo throws me off now since I'm used to him being Bilbo. Some of the songs are a bit annoying, but they are few and far between, and the end goes on for quite a bit. Overall though, I would reccomend to any fan of the book.