In it, Gary Russell handles many different aspects of the movie sets and costumes, no matter how tiny they are. Here you'll find different places: sketches of the Black Gate and Dead Marshes, different Golden Halls of Rohan (right down to the medieval tapestries on the walls, the ornate chairs, cups, and even the door knockers!), Isengard, Fangorn forest (and the way different light made it seem), the glittering caves (only shown briefly in the movie) and many other places.

Costumes include unused Arwen armor and her more-dresses-than-she-has-scenes wardrobe; Theoden's battle armor, Eowyn's dresses (ranging from regal to homespun), and the new, more regal outfit of Gandalf the White. And for the weirder, there are different kinds of wargs (one looks almost wormlike), different extinguished Balrogs, and many different kinds of Ents, some of whom will be recognizable from the movie.

There are paintings, pencil sketches, exquisitely-detailed clay models from WETA Workshops, and photographs of the finished products. "Art of Two Towers" is, like the previous book, a must-read for those who enjoy seeing how movies evolve. The little comments beside most of the pictures add extra insight as to what the brilliant people who did all this were thinking. (They can also be very funny, such as the dying-Balrog discussions -- how often do people say "creature of slime" so seriously?)

This book is not flawless, however. It doesn't seem very well-organized: Gandalf's costume study is plopped in the middle of the "Fangorn" section when it would have been better with the Rohirrim outfits. Some of the concept paintings (such as the people leaving Rohan, or Saruman down among the orcs) are very splotchy. And I'm not sure why concept art for Rivendell is included since most of the Rivendell stuff was in the first movie.

"The Art of Two Towers" is not quite as strong as its predecessor. But it is a solid source of information for both the "Rings" fan, and the movie buff. Definitely recommended, flaws and all.


skool   April 28, 2003
 0 out of 14 found this review helpful

The book was cool but i have to go with the movie more because it was better for me. Great book to read n worth my time i guess. If u like fantasy books, i guess u should read it then.


The only "behind the scenes" LOTR film books worth buying   April 4, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I love all things LOTR film(s) related. I am very interested in the aspect of costume design, and I enjoy creating my versions of costumes from the LOTR movies, especially those worn by Arwen the Elf. I have purchased "The LOTR Visual Companion", "The Art of LOTR FOTR", and "The LOTR FOTR Photo Guide" books from Amazon.com, and I have to say that the "Art Of" books are the most thorough and worth the money of the lot. So, my advise to anyone like myself who is into costume re-creation: get yourself the special edition extended DVD set, plus the "Art Of" books. They seem to have the best information out there. The rest, just collectable items with pictures and "fluff". I was dissapointed to find not a bit of information about Arragorn, or Legolas in this second edition ?? =0O

There are nice drawings on Faramir, King Theoden, Eowyn, Grima Wormtongue, even a bit on the costume of Gandalf the White. Maybe it's because the two were covered quite allot in the first edition? I was just dissapointed in that, read right through it and said to myself, hey wait a minute! Where's Arragorn!? Where's Legolas?! No Gimli?! Not even an Elrond.. Arwen's costumes are featured on two pages, and the book even features her armour and quiver that never got into the film. This was pretty cool, that and the information about Gollum was very nice. All in all, you won't regret buying the art of books.