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The Thrifty Reader

The Lord of the Rings books in order

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien has 6 books, published 1954–1955. Reading all of them takes about 38 hours (2,090 pages). 3 can be borrowed free from Open Library.

1The Fellowship of t… 2The Two Towers 3The Return of the K… 4The Ring Goes East 5The War of the Ring 6The End of the Thir…
Spines are sized by page count. The orange dot marks a free ebook.

Reading order

  1. Book 1 · 1954

    The Fellowship of the Ring

    492 pages, about 9 hours 4.3★ (405)

    BORROW FREE

  2. Book 2 · 1954

    The Two Towers

    434 pages, about 8 hours 4.4★ (236)

    BORROW FREE

  3. Book 3 · 1955

    The Return of the King

    499 pages, about 9.2 hours 4.5★ (109)

    BORROW FREE

  4. Book 4 · 2001

    The Ring Goes East

    5.0★ (1)

  5. Book 5 · 1990

    The War of the Ring

    486 pages, about 8.9 hours 4.0★ (1)

  6. Book 6 · 1994

    The End of the Third Age

    179 pages, about 3.3 hours 5.0★ (1)

Questions people ask

How many The Lord of the Rings books are there?

There are 6 books in the series, published 1954–1955.

Which The Lord of the Rings book should I read first?

Start with The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), book 1. The list above is the reading order.

How long does it take to read the whole series?

About 38 hours at an average pace of 250 words a minute, or 2,090 pages in total. The longest book is The Return of the King at 499 pages.

Can I read The Lord of the Rings for free?

3 books can be borrowed free from Open Library with a free account. The book pages have the links.

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