Book · 1954
The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien
A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.
What does Reddit think of The Lord of the Rings?
The Lord of the Rings pulls 3684 mentions, the highest total in this batch, split fairly evenly across r/Fantasy (1953), r/suggestmeabook (941), and r/printSF (786). r/Fantasy can't stop relitigating whether Bilbo and Frodo's restraint with the Ring makes them the real heroes or whether that credit belongs to Sam; one commenter says the "dead weight" framing of Frodo "infuriates me," since Tolkien's own hero framing was actually about Aragorn, not Sam (↑429). Elsewhere, it gets used as the yardstick for "technically better" prose, with one reader admitting they still prefer rereading Brandon Sanderson, whose books let them ignore "the finer issues" Tolkien doesn't (↑434). r/suggestmeabook treats it as a single unit rather than three books, "the lord of the rings as a single book" pulls ↑611 on its own. Plenty of the highest-upvoted Fantasy threads are actually about the Jackson trilogy's production history, not the text. Mention volume has stayed remarkably flat, never dropping below 428 in any tracked year.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · the Frodo-vs-Sam hero debate
- · single-novel vs trilogy framing
- · technical mastery vs rereadability
- · Jackson-trilogy production lore
Common praise
- + One direct comparison calls it 'technically better' than even beloved page-turners like Sanderson's work (↑434, r/Fantasy).
- + Bilbo and Frodo's restraint with the Ring gets cited as proof their heroism is about strength of character, not the object itself (↑973/↑458).
- + It's still the default single answer in epic-fantasy asks, one comment just reads 'the lord of the rings as a single book' (↑611).
Common criticism
- − The Frodo/Sam hero debate refuses to die; one commenter has to relitigate that Tolkien's 'real hero' framing was about Aragorn, not Sam, saying the wrong take 'infuriates me' (↑429).
- − Even fans admit they enjoy Sanderson's writing more, since it lets them read 'without noticing the finer issues' Tolkien doesn't paper over (↑434).
- − A lot of the highest-upvoted r/Fantasy threads are actually about the Jackson movie trilogy's production history, not the book itself (↑463).
Who it's for
Read the whole thing as one book, the way one suggestmeabook commenter insists on framing it, if you want the full argument rather than the highlight reel. r/Fantasy readers who want to settle whether Sam or Frodo is the real hero come here to argue, repeatedly. If you love Sanderson's pacing and don't want to notice 'the finer issues' by comparison, some of the same readers admit this one will feel like homework.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Lord of the Rings?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“A couple of reasons are postulated by Gandalf in the book. One of the first is that Bilbo simply didn't *use* the Ring that often after his adventure; per *The Hobbit* and LotR, he mostly used it to get away from people he didn't want to deal with, like the Sackville-Bagginses, and that wasn't an ev…
“Literary fantasy ABSOLUTELY exists, as does literary sci-fi and literary horror. However, you probably wouldn't want a fantasy War and Peace, since that book is a slog about how much it annoyed Tolstoy that Russian people wanted to be French. Anyways. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a stunnin…
“The lord of the rings as a single book
“This. The video referenced in this article has been taken off YouTube now but the article describes a behind-the-scenes special feature about how Jackson actually decided to make 3 movies instead of 2 in order t…
“Honestly, the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fit the bill. The only thing special about Bilbo or Frodo is their strength of character. Yes they have a magic ring that makes you invisible, but Bilbo doesn't have it for most of the book, and Frodo is explicitly told never to use it, and hardly does.…
“ASOIAF inspired Joe Abercrombie to write fantasy, and probably many other authors too. It also helped solidify ‘grimdark’ as a subgenre, whether or not it really fits there itself. There’s another side to that, though. Sanderson speculates that he wouldn’t be as popular without that movement, becau…
“Posts like this make me glad I’m not a writer. I can’t say that any of your points are incorrect. It’s a great critique of the weak points. Luckily for me, I can read Brando works and have an absolute blast, without noticing the finer issues. LoTR and Dune may be technically better, but I reread …
““Frodo was dead weight and Sam was the real hero” for Lord of the Rings. This is something that infuriates me. To start, Tolkien when he talks about Sam as “the hero” is not addressing Frodo at all, but Aragorn. Aragorn was not the hero. That’s what he’s saying. For the dead weight part, that unfo…
Convinced? Pick up The Lord of the Rings
Readers also mention
All books like The Lord of the Rings →Books that share discussion threads with The Lord of the Rings — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien
A burglar with no interest in adventure gets talked into robbing a dragon by a wizard who never quite explains the plan.
Dune
Frank Herbert
A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.
The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan
A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.
Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson
An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.
Foundation
Isaac Asimov
A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and hides the fix inside an encyclopedia nobody will read for a thousand years.
The Lord of the Rings — frequently asked
Is Frodo or Sam the real hero of The Lord of the Rings?+
Reddit keeps fighting about it. One commenter says the 'Frodo was dead weight and Sam was the real hero' take 'infuriates me,' arguing Tolkien's own 'real hero' framing was actually about Aragorn (↑429). It's one of the most recurring corrections in the dataset, which means the wrong take keeps resurfacing.
Should I read The Lord of the Rings as one book or three?+
As one, if you ask r/suggestmeabook, "the lord of the rings as a single book" is offered as a direct answer on its own, pulling ↑611. Tolkien wrote it as a single novel; the three-volume split was a publishing decision, which the sub treats as basically beside the point.
Is The Lord of the Rings better written than Brandon Sanderson's books?+
Reddit thinks so technically, but that doesn't settle the argument. One commenter admits 'LoTR and Dune may be technically better,' but says they reread Sanderson instead because they can enjoy it 'without noticing the finer issues' (↑434). Being the better book doesn't make it the more reread one.
Does Bilbo's use of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings make sense?+
Yes, per a heavily upvoted r/Fantasy explanation: Bilbo mostly used it to avoid people like the Sackville-Bagginses rather than for anything sinister, and simply didn't rely on it much (↑973). That restraint is cited as the actual point, magic power that goes mostly unused.