The Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings: Deluxe Pocket Boxed Set

Great price for this adorable set. Love the flexible leather covers. We’re reading the set with our kids at night and they love the occasional illustrations that are included. It’s also nice that the books are small and easy to slip into a bag (though be warned, this means the font is smaller- doesn’t bug us at all, but is good to keep in mind if you need a bigger print). I would absolutely buy this as a gift for someone.

Compact set with very attractive finish. The books have a good heft to them and the faux leather covers feel satisfying in your hands. It's a huge series to pack into such a small footprint but the text, while small, is quite readable. The books are comfortable in big or small hands. I'd highly recommend this to any Tolkien fan, or as a wonderful gift to a potential new fan.

I was nervous about this set, as it was really "cheap" compared to other leather box sets, but it is really nicely bound in a great faux leather. The books are completely readable, and they look cute on the shelf.

The soft leather cover feels smooth and premium. The paper is thick and high quality, and the clean. Minimalist design gives it a timeless elegance. It’s compact and beautiful, worth every penny.

This book set is a bit of an odd beast. It's cute, but shoddily made. The leather-like cover is very pleasant to hold, and nicely flexible, but it would be an exaggeration to call it luxurious. The cover is the the main attraction of the physical construction of the book. The pages are a disappointment. The paper is thin and cheap, though it feels nice. The typesetting is a joke. The pages look like shrunken copies of a larger book, which they probably are. The chosen font, clearly intended for a larger book, doesn't scale down well, which makes it more difficult to read than a similarly small font that's designed to be printed small. Compared to the paperbacks, the paperbacks are larger, and the text is spread across roughly 30% more pages, which allows them to use a much larger and more readable font than these miniatures. To make matters worse, these "photocopied" pages are inconsistently printed, so some are offset and parts of a page are printed too bold while other parts look faded. Bottom line, they're quite cute and decorative, as they are essentially miniatures of the real thing. They are comfortable to hold, but uncomfortable to read. However, small as they are, they're quite portable, and the cover is more robust than a paperback, so this format has its uses, at least for some people. I would recommend having a larger version for reading at home, but these small volumes can be handy to continue reading while on the road. It's definitely overpriced on Amazon, the list price being nearly half of what you find online. I was tempted to give it 3 stars for all its flaws and the exaggerated price, but if you can live with those flaws, they are nice enough to warrant the extra star.

These incredible stories were well worth the purchase on their own, but this beautiful box set with intricate illustrations by the talented Alan Lee is one bookish purchase I have absolutely no regrets about splurging on. CONTENT There's probably not all that much that hasn't already been said about these books. I guess I will just state that these stories are very special to me and it's taken me far too long to reread them. When I first read these back in High School, I fell in love instantly with The Hobbit and really enjoyed The Lord of The Rings, but I had to get used to how different it was from the Peter Jackson films and I was not prepared for the infamous Tom Bombadil. That said, these stories have stuck with me for a long time and I got so much more out of them upon a reread. The tender way that characters interact with each other, the cozy moments, the intricately crafted lore, the fascinating creatures/peoples of Middle Earth, the rich prose, and all the adventuring in between culminates into what I think is a truly unique and delightful experience. It's true that these books don't really have exciting battle sequences in the same way that the film adaptations or even more modern epic fantasy books do, but the way the conflicts are depicted was still better than I remembered it being. I do think it's important to go in with the lens that this is as much a piece of classical literature as it is a fantasy and it is foundational in many ways to fantasy as we know it today, but it also remains wholly unique in it's own way and I really don't think there will ever be anything written that's quite like it. HARDCOVER QUALITY The main reason I wanted to write a review is to specifically talk about the quality of this hardcover box set. To address the obvious, yes, this is a costly purchase. The way I justified things in my own head is that if you divide the cost by four different special edition hardcovers, then it wasn't such an unreasonable cost per book. I will also say that I have no buyer's remorse with this. Each of the books is well constructed with sturdy covers that sport a classically simple and understated design with the cover being a solid color and the title lettering set into it. The paper quality of the pages is amazing. The pages are so thick and the font/formatting is all very comfortably laid out. One of the main highlights of this edition is, of course, the illustrations done by Alan Lee. The Hobbit is easily the nicest of the books in terms of the number of images it contains. In addition to the variety of illustration plates that can be found across all of the titles, The Hobbit also includes a variety of pencil-style sketch illustrations that add a really nice extra layer of flare to the start or end of a chapter that I was a little sad didn't continue into The Lord of the Rings. I was glad that the style and subjects of the illustration weren't trying to be specifically reminiscent of the Jackson films. Instead, I felt like the art style was very appropriate to the overall feel of the prose and there are some absolutely breathtaking pieces, especially when it comes to the landscapes. Lee can do characters really well too, but I felt as though the environments were where he tended to shine. One complaint I do have with these books is that the publisher seemingly skimped on the material quality for the dust jackets. Personally, I typically take the jackets off when I'm reading just because I find them inconvenient, but for those that don't, you will definitely want to consider it if you end up getting this set. I didn't actually damage mine at all, but they felt flimsy to the touch and it almost seemed like the gorgeous designs were just printed on a regular sheet of paper as opposed to having some kind of lamination to strengthen it or just being printed on a better material. With the rest of the book construction being so wonderfully done, it's a shame this one detail wasn't handled a bit better. What I found to be surprisingly high quality though was the slip case that this set came in. It's made from sturdy materials and sources art from the beautiful jackets that wrap around the back and sides. CONCLUSION If you are a fan of these books and have been looking for a nice edition to add to your collection, then this may well be the one for you, provided it's price tag doesn't break the bank. My experience reading through them was a delight and I am quite happy to have the set on my shelves. If you are new to the world of Tolkien, then these would certainly make for a luxurious first reading experience, but I'd never recommend anyone drop this kind of money on something they haven't read or aren't guaranteed to love. (+) Price point is high, but not unreasonable on a book-by-book basis (+) Thick paper and premium interior formatting (+) A slipcase that is as sturdy as it is beautiful (+) Gorgeous artwork on the dust jackets / slip case, book plates, and the sketches that The Hobbit contains (+) A classic story that means a lot to me and was even more enjoyable upon a reread (-) Flimsy dust jackets should have been made out of better materials

Very nice paperback edition with leather like cover, feels and looks nice. Perfect size for my pocket.

Exactly what I want. Need to pay attention on size before buying, because someone can be surprised that it small. But I love it!!! Like a pocket edition for traveling and really great design to decorate a table!

Esqueci de tirar foto pq foi presente, mas tomei um susto pelo tamanico do produto, depois eu vi que peguei a versão pocket kkkk Gente é minúsculo, quem enxerga mal não vai conseguir ler, mas a qualidade da capa e do produto são excelentes, é lindo até pra guardar na estante.

Gifted it to my husband who is an LoTR fan. He loved it! The binding is luxurious, we loved the small size and the print is good. It's so beautiful!

Specifically, this is about the leatherette bound pocket-sized Special Edition, as I've noticed that some reviews overlap between different editions. This is not a review of the story. Anyone considering buying this version either doesn't need my review of the books or should search the internet for the millions of existing reviews; it's enough for me to just say that there's a reason this is one of the most famous fantasy series of all time for good reason. This printing/binding is exactly what I was hoping for. The books are very beautiful in a simple way. The covers are in fact floppy fake leather, not leather-covered hardbacks. They are very soft and pliable, smooth and with a nice thick and creamy paper. The font is very small but clear and bold, perfectly legible if you don't have problems reading up close. The maps are as good as they can be being so tiny, and some details are lost. This is a set that will look great on the shelf. No gold leaf or anything to really pop out, but their small size and subdued covers that look like they could have been printed decades ago add a certain charm. The size and light weight make them perfect books to read on the go, and people will be curious about what you're reading because of how they look.

Really great set, it looks beautiful and i think this is the set to buy ifbyou are looking for lotr book set.