Like the others, The Return of the King was originally split into two books (books 5 and 6)- and still is, in a sense. Book 5 focuses on the "other half" of the original fellowship- Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, etc.- and their fight leading up to Minas Tirith. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli briefly leave the fellowship to obtain help from the dead- you read that correctly- and musters an army south of Minas Tirith, venturing to battle from that direction, while Theoden and the riders of Rohan charge down from the north. While this is happening, you see Gandalf take Pippin to the white city itself, to prepare its defenses and deal with the crazed steward, Denethor. Masses from Mordor engage in epic battle outside the town- can the good guys hold out?
Book 6 picks up Frodo and Sam's story- having left off shortly after they defeated Shelob in her lair in book 4. The first half of book 6 is Frodo and Sam finally getting to, and venturing ever farther into, enemy territory- Mordor- and their struggles along the way. They reach Mount Doom and actually destroy the ring halfway through this book (or, 75% of the way through the entire Return of the King), and the last part is the clean-up: re-uniting with old friends, setting everything right, crowning Aragorn as king of Gondor, etc.
As with The Two Towers, 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. I was surprised that the ring was destroyed well before the end of the book, and that so much time was devoted to what happened after. It's certainly doesn't follow the standard formula in that sense, but if you liked the first two offerings, you'll enjoy this conclusion.
Rating: A+
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