75% !!!

My goodness this is a long book!!
75% in and they are mid-Mines of Moria. There is still so much stuff that still needs to happen. Looking back (so far) I have enjoyed all of the description and back story but while I am reading I just want to get to the end. I was hoping that I could finish the entire series before my summer class begins next week but apparently that is not a possibility; I'll be lucky to finish just this book. I still have about 95 pages to go, and if I finish that it will be perfect timing for a 6-week hiatus from real reading in the name of getting my homework done. Blah. I am SO not excited for that.

It took me a while to get through the second chapter of book 2. There is back story out the wazoo. While I definitely see the necessity of it, the amount seems a bit excessive. Also, I am wondering if their various travel mishaps are going to be important later on. I can understand if every misstep shows the significance of something, but there are a few too many that just kind of hint at the fact that the journey is hard. Believe me, I can sympathize. Hiking and camping without any food or shoes are definitely not for me. We'll see if they get any luck in the mines (probably not though, I seem to remember a tomb and a fight scene).

Conclusion: These books are long, detailed, and epic. They are fantastic but you really have to commit to reading them because if you miss so much as a sentence you are hopelessly lost.