I really enjoyed the first half of The Two Towers. Picking off after Fellowship’s incredibly strong ending. Two Towers places us almost directly in the action, Boromir’s death, Frodo and Sam’s departure, and Merry and Pippin’s kidnapping.
The biggest event at the start of the novel was Boromir’s death, however, it didn’t really have a big impact on me. I didn’t bond with his character through the Fellowship.
We are left with the Legolas, Gimli, and Aragon trio as they track behind an Orc Army for their hobbit friends. I thought the chase was extremely enjoyable filled with tension and mystery, kept me engrossed all the way through. The story following the trio to their reunion with Gandalf and then subsequently to the battle of Helm's Deep was paced super well. I particularly loved the growing camradrie between Legolas and Gimli. Specific scenes include the promise between Gimili and Legolas stating that after they finish with their adventure they would visit each other’s sacred places. Another heartwarming scene, is their interplay during at Helm’s Deep where they kept a friendly competition between the number of Orcs they killed and then Aragon’s concern with Gimili goes missing overnight in the cave.
At the same time the story bounces to the perspective of Merry and Pippin, which like the trio’s parts was just as engaging. My favorite part of their journey was definition the introduction of Ents and just their eccentricities. This is probably my favorite part of fantasy and Tolkien’s amazing creativity.
The entire gang’s reunion at Isengard was an extremely satisfying point in the story. Gandalf’s confrontation with Saruman was the highest point of the story for me, except for maybe the ending. In particular, Saruman begins to walk away and Gandalf shouts and commands him to stay. While reading this line, I physically jumped up. Which from what I can recall is the first time I had such a visceral reaction to any novel.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like the latter half of the book. It follows Frodo, Sam, and Gollum/Sméagol’s journey into Mordor. The relationship between all of the characters was intriguing but I felt as if the journey felt repetitive and dragged on, in comparison with the excitement I felt in the in the half of the book. However, it does end extremely strong. Frodo and Sam are betrayed by Gollum and they end up entrapped with Shelob a giant spider. In this encounter, Sam is the one who shines and wounded Shelob. Believing Frodo is dead, Sam decides to take the ring and continue the journey himself. He shows probably the most character development out of anyone in the journey so far.
Overall, I thought this was a strong second book for a trilogy. I enjoyed it very much and prefer it over Fellowship. It starts strong, meanders, and then ends strong again. Makes me excited to read The Return of the King.