As the Shadow of Mordor grows across the land, the Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, has joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and takes part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escape into Fangorn Forest and there encounter the Ents. Gandalf has miraculously returned and defeated...

Every 24 years in the village of Wootton Major, the Feast of Good Children is held. At this time, the Master Cook bakes a cake containing a magic star and the child swallowing it becomes privileged.

THE TWO TOWERS, the second part of Tolkien's LOTR trilogy, takes the reader on a remarkable, almost breathless journey: chasing orcs who have captured Merry and Pippen; galloping across the plains of Rohan with Riders of the Rohirrim; the bloody battle of Helm's Deep; the vast wasteland of Isengard; the perilous journey of Frodo and Sam to the borders of Mordor, accompanied by a most unlikely ally. Unlike "The Fellowship of the Ring," Tolkien's first...