The middle book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers continues the quest of Frodo and Sam to bring the One Ring to Mount Doom and destroy it. They don't get there, yet- this is only book two- so a large part of this book is simply them traveling ever closer to Mordor. Along the way, they must navigate labyrinths of rocks, the Dead Marshes, forests in enemy territory, and a tunnel that conceals a deadly terror. The book ends with them just inside the very gates of Mordor.
While Frodo and Sam are on their quest, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas pursue the two hobbits (Merry and Pippin) taken by the Uruk-hai at the end of book one (when the Fellowship disbanded). They eventually find someone they do not expect, and turn south to aid the people of Rohan against the might of the Uruk-hai at Helm's Deep. Meanwhile, treacherous Saruman is holed up in his Isengard fortress, and Merry and Pippin aid a quite different folk on an assault against said stronghold.
Originally written as six books, the Lord of the Rings was subsequently packaged as a trilogy- thus, each book contains two books. The Two Towers (books 3 and 4),with book 3 focusing on the fellowship's adventures, and book 4 focusing on Frodo and Sam. As such, you don't have the interleaving that's commonly done among modern tales with multiple threads- you get a large chunk of one tale, then "rewind" to get a large chunk of the other. That's a bit odd, but that (and the occasionally dryness) aside, this is another good read. If you liked the Fellowship of the Ring, you'll like this.
Rating: A+
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