The Fellowship of the Ring (Book One, Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

It has been many years since the events of The Hobbit. Bilbo is now celebrating his 111th birthday. The strangest part, he hasn't aged since his marvelous adventure. At the celebration, he gives his home, land, wealth and possessions, including a strange golden ring to his relative, Frodo Baggins, and leaves to live with the Elves in Rivendell. Gandalf the Grey, whom all of the inhabitants of The Shire now know as a friend, is at the event and afterwards instructs Frodo to keep the strange ring 'secret and safe'. Frodo does so for seventeen years (contrary to the movie in which he does so only for about a week), after which Gandalf finally returns, but with grave news. The ring that Bilbo gave to Frodo is actually the One Ring of Sauron, the ultimate evil. Sauron was banished from this world generations ago, his ring lost. If Sauron manages to retain his ring once more, he will have enough power to conquer the world. Along with his three friends, Sam, Merry and Pippin, Frodo accompanies Gandalf on his quest to destroy Sauron's Ring. As they continue their trek, they encounter powerful allies and dangerous enemies, risking their lives every step of the way. As the days speed on, the races of the world realize that they need to band together if they want to stop Sauron once and for all. They will need to form a Fellowship, three Hobbit, two Human, one Elf, one Dwarf, and one Wizard, The Fellowship of the Ring. The one problem, the Ring can only be destroyed by the fires from which it came. To be precise, the volcano Mt. Doom in Mordor. The only OTHER problem, Mordor is the seat of Sauron's power.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy and was made into a movie in 2001 by Peter Jackson. I loved both and highly recommend the book and Peter Jackson's visionary interpretation. The Hobbit, the prequel, will be made into a two-part movie in the upcoming years, also by Peter Jackson.