A brief pair of chapters, wrapping up the the battle of the Pelennor Fields.
A very reference heavy chapter. We have of course, "I am no man" from Eowyn, which harkens back to a half dozen other mythologies. But we also have The Mounds of Mundeburg, which is a dirge for those who died in Pelennor fields. And if you don't think an alliterative song title about a terrible battle would mean something to someone who knew World War one, Flander's Fields would like a word.
Merry gets to show some chops, and I like how we are using him as the point of view character for this. Not only does it give the civilian readership a good glimpse into the madness and confusion of war; it also hides the difficult to write in an interesting way parts. I have yet to be engrosed reading about how to perform the hammer and anvil maneuver, or sending off this platoon to screen the flank, etc. Merry doesn't know it, and nor does he get a chance to really see it. We get a little bit with the three charging columns, but this could easily have bogged down.
Great reveal with Arwen's flag, with the eleven magic of weaving showing itself to be quite potent, making the very stars in Aragorn's Banner gleam brightly enough to be seen on a battlefield.
Did I miss it, or did the dead not show up yet? We have the Dunadein, Elrond's kids and Gimli, Legolas, and Araragorn mentioned, as well as the locals, but I didn't see mention of spirits or shambling dead or anything.
Prince Imrahil, who I'm going to just call Mary Sue at this point, also shows up, not only to lead the sally from Minas Tirith, but also to reveal that Eowyn is still alive. Aragorn probably was just waiting for this guy to take the throne.
As a friend of mine pointed out, Despair is top of the list of sins for Tolkien. Eomer makes a suicidal charge after seeing Eowyn "dead" and is soundly punished for it, but gets to stay alive and unscathed because Aragorn brings hope and light wherever he goes.
Next week is chapters 7 and 8, and we see Pippin's side of things.

 

Chapter 5: The Ride of the Rohirrim

• I like that we are quickly told that the rest of the riders are aware of and ignoring Merry and Éowyn, the movie doesn't address no one noticing an extra rider, and I don't critique the decision, but I like that in the books we don't gloss over that type of detail.
• Loved the scene with the Wild Man. He's not really a friend, but no one wants the Dark Days to return so even though the Rohirrim have apparently hunted his people he's like "yeah no lemme show you the path then you can go kill all these orcs and afterwards maybe leave us alone?" It's another instance of evil defeating itself, so many enemies were made in the Dark Days that even thousands of years later (I think) people will put aside generational grudges to make sure they don't come again.
• The note that the outer walls were knocked down rather than held is a good one, serves an obvious tactical purpose note, but also seems to me a thematic one. Even wars of conquest usually take things like Minas Tirith for further use, but Sauron is here to do nothing but destroy so he's knocking down the walls.
• The charge in here is good, but my god nothing can compare with the movie, brb off to watch that before I continue into chapter 6.

Chapter 6: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields

• God the start of the chapter is ominous, the Witch King has had very little screen time but succeeds in being terrifying pretty effortlessly.
• Merry being stirred to battle by the thought that if Éowyn is to die she should not die alone hit me hard
• The Witch King died with his voice fading and "was never heard again in that age of this world" leaving room open for him to come back in later ages. Which we are. Fak.
• Oh damn the call of "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world’s ending!" is actually Éomer in the books upon finding his sister dead.
  
• I love that the blade Merry wielded, being from the North Kingdom destroyed by Angmar, was the only thing that could've wounded the Witch King so. Small seeds from so long ago helping out in this key moment.
• Okay this part I love, they see the ships approaching on quick winds, and give in to despair and try to call a retreat, but that same wind carries their cries away to where no one can hear them. This seems horrifying on first read, but is absolutely amazing on second when you know who comes in those ships.
• Also, really like that the final reinforcements that turn the tide aren't the long dead men of the mountains (amazing as the scene is in the movie), but instead the men of Gondor that are now free to reinforce the capital with the death of their attackers. The dead get their moment and were key to victory, but victory itself is seized by those of this age.

Other Thoughts
It's interesting to me how quickly we cover all parts of this battle. We saw it with Helm's Deep, and this one is definitely a lot longer (3/10 chapters in book 5 are dedicated to it), but it's not a blow by blow in the way so many more modern texts would've done it. Battles have their place but they're not the focus.

@Shouldabeenadog: I think it'll get covered explicitly in further chapters, but we don't see the dead because they did their part already. The southern fiefs of Gondor were unable to send reinforcements to the city because of the fleet coming up the river, and that's where the dead did their part. With the fleet newly depopulated, the southern fiefs were able to send their men north to relieve the capital and I love it.