J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is widely celebrated as the greatest novel of all time

repeatedly topping public reader polls and literary rankings. Despite the epic originally being published in three volumes (or six "books"), readers frequently view it as a singular masterpiece.

The epic's status as a top novel has been solidified by several major milestones: 

The BBC's "The Big Read": In what remains one of the largest reading polls in history, the British public voted The Lord of the Rings as the UK’s best-loved book of all time, capturing 23% of the overall vote and beating out classics like Pride and Prejudice. 

Book of the Millennium: Amazon.com customers previously voted Tolkien’s work as the greatest book of not just the 20th century, but the entire millennium. 

The Guardian Readers' Poll: Readers of The Guardian also voted The Lord of the Rings as the greatest novel published in the English language.