Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003 and The BBC Big Read Top 21 2003. Shortlisted for BBC Big Read Top 100 2003.

'Masterpiece? Oh yes, I've no doubt about that.' Evening Standard 'Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the 20th century.' Sunday Telegraph 'The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them' Sunday Times 'A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness' New Statesman