Personally, I think this book is hilarious, but I HIGHLY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO TOLKIEN DIE-HARDS! I read the negative reviews of it, and really, you're asking for it if you're a "purist" and read this parody. Believe me, I love "The Lord of the Rings" and I've read it God knows how many times, but I found this book irresistable. The authors brilliantly ridicule the famous series, even skewering the Shakespearean language ("dead they were and yet not so ... their eyes shone like wet mushrooms"), characters (Tom Bombadil and Goldberry=Tim Benzedrine and Hashberry the druggies), the rhymes (O skinny wraith whose fingers are hypodermic needles!), tacky clothes (Gandalf in bellbottoms, Saruman in a red leotard and Glorfindel dressed in cheesecloth) and the names (Eorache daughter of Eorlobe; Benelux son of Electrolux) There is plenty of sharp and wickedly funny wit within this book. However, about 50% of it is a lot of dirty and crude humor that's pretty gross, and sometimes it gets so wild the plot is completely incoherent. Still, I read this so much I managed to memorize the Chant of the Green Toupees and drive my family crazy by reciting it over and over again. I'd recommend this book to casual LOTR fans, people who've read and know the book because otherwise you'll think the authors wrote it in an insane asylum, but definitely not purists and die-hards. If they want to get more Tolkien, they should read the Silmarillion and all of those history of Middle-Earth books.

In this outrageous parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, we get to follow the preposterous antics of an unbelievable group of misfits out to unmake a ring, and destroy an evil power. Goodgulf the wizard leads Frito, Spam, Moxie, Pepsi, Stomper the Ranger (he has many names), Bromosel, Gimlet the dwarf and Legolam the elf across Lower Middle Earth, as they dodge the evil pig-riding Nozdrul, foul Narcs and other baddies, on their way to dark Fordor.

As you can tell from the summary above, this book is not to be taken seriously! It is outrageously funny! Can a reader ever forget the four boggies meeting with the wild Tom Benzedrine and his magical lady Hashberry? No! Indeed, hardly a RPG session passes when one of us does not quote from this hilarious tome: "'Then we must head east,' said Goodgulf gesturing with his wand to where the sun was setting redly in a mass of sea-clouds."

This book is laugh-out-loud funny, and should be read by every fan of the great Tolkien. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

It was in order to read and enjoy this book that I first read "The Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. One of my high school buddies, now a struggling author, was tossed out of English class for laughing out loud while reading this book during class. I read it in 1974, and remember laughing out loud frequently. [Unfortunately, LOTR and BOTR led to the Dungeons and Dragons(tm) role playing games, which cost me points off my GPA in college. ] Here it is, 25 years later, and rereading this book made me chuckle with delight. My kids want to read whatever it was that made Daddy laugh, so I have promised them that when they have finished Tolkein's books, which are good, clean heroic fantasy based on a variety of Western Literary archetypes, that they can read this short and humorous spoof.

The book has not aged as well as it might have, since it has many pop culture references from the late 1960's/early 1970's. Back then, drugs were "cool," writing dirty passages was a daring/shocking assault on the perceived prudery of American society, the anti-establishment theme was still a vibrant part of American culture, and National Lampoon was becoming a very funny (albeit sohpomoric) magazine. Cultural norms change, and some contextual humor will be lost to the current generation. All that notwithstanding, BOTR is a great spoof of LOTR and an integral part of any Tolkein collection.

For those of you offended by a spoof of JRR Tolkein's trilogy, including the indignant 8th grader, I challenge you to write a parody of the LOTR for Generation X. You will find that it takes great love for a work to spoof it successfully. Example: Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail movie, a spoof of the most beloved legendary figure of English culture. I suspect there are a lot of sharp wits out there who could equal, or even better, the original spoof and in so doing make a whole new generation laugh without losing their affection for the LOTR. I for one would love to see a Generation X spoof of Lord of the Rings.

Laughter is good for you. . . so read this book.