I liked this so much more than Fellowship. There was a lot of character development and for the first time I felt myself getting attached to (some of) these characters and even the story. I loved the agency Merry and Pippin were given and the growth they experienced. I really loved the role they were able to take on starting in this book as more than just the comic relief.

I also really loved the relationship between Legolas and Gimli. I do wish there'd been more time spent on it, but I loved seeing their growth into a true friendship.

I don't like Frodo. I find Frodo to be an exceedingly dull character. This book would have been four stars for the first half that focused on Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, but the second half was solely about Frodo and knocked it way down.

It's still very much not my thing, but this book made me understand why people enjoy it so much.