We continue to follow the main characters of the book, this time split up into two main groups. Frodo and Sam are going alone to take the ring to Mordor. The rest are off on a quest of their own. Like many of great serials, the two stories are wonderfully interwoven. Just when you find yourself wondering what happened to the other party, the focus jumps back.

We get to see much more of Middle Earth than in the first volume. From the Ents that rule the forest, to more Humans as we get closer to Mordor. The characters themselves are also more distinct as the story goes along. They also start to have the events slowly change them and push them forward.

I saw the first Lord of the Rings movie shortly before I read the first two volumes. It's very interesting to me now to see what changes the movie made. There are some elements from the second volume in the movie, and indeed, some elements from the first volume that I would now consider critical to the story completely missing. It will be very interesting to finish reading the trilogy, and compare it to the movie. They're both great stories, but the book is feeling much more fleshed out and whole. This is saying a lot, considering how great the movie was.