Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
I appreciate The Two Towers much more these days than I used to. In rereads in earlier years, I'd fast-forward through the sequ8ences in the Dead Marshes. They were too creepy. More recently, I've come to appreciate them. Making something that creepy takes craft, and I admire it.
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Dennis
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I agree completely - and I think that the Marshes are the best part of TT. The second book has metric butt-loads of exposition and setting up for the big finale. It's hard to make that stuff compelling and I hate the thought that first-time readers are giving up because of it.
LOTR isn't the only major work that suffers from the middle-bog problem. Another that comes immediately to mind is Little, Big by John Crowley. It's a great story and I've read it several times, but I always hesitate to start it again because the part after the set up and before the payoff really is a bit of a slog.