Gandalf engineers the meeting of Bilbo and the dwarves and the adventure begins. Into the mix comes the dwarves, regal and royal, who have determined to obtain the treasure that they feel is their birth right, stolen by the evil dragon Smaug. In this Master work by Tolkien the at first timid Bilbo is introduced to his first adventure by Gandalf, wizard, mentor and friend of the mild mannered hobbit. We are introduced to this facinating species both by their quirks and their courage, loyalty and intelligence. The adventure of the unassuming Bilbo Baggins, a curious creature called a Hobbit. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, a Fantasy Classic You will not be disapointed with this book wheather in hardback or in softcover. But perhaps you will take even more from it if you already have an appreciation for the Lord of the Rings. In summary you will love this book all by itself with all it's orcs, dwarves, elves, dragon, wizard, hobb its and more. All of this is wrapped into a fantastic adventure that really stands alone from the Lord of the Rings and yet is in my opinion crucial to set up and create the background for the Lord of the Rings. It also introduces you to Gandolf and Bilbo and how they became friends as well as the trecherous Golem and the story of how Bilbo came to posess "The Ring". The Hobbit provides, (with amazingly vivid detail) a stunning desription of Middle-Earth and some of it's history. This book should be read by anyone who loves the fantasy genre, but especially for those that have enjoyed the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is the magnificent beginning to the now popular Lord of the Rings, Trilogy. So, good book, loved it, please don't hate me for finding faults with it 'cause I did honestly enjoy it.
#Illustrated lord of the rings editions brothers hildebrant movie#
I even sought out and enjoyed the animated Rankin-Bass film (I actually liked its Gollum better than Andy Serkis') and am looking forward to the new movie version of it coming out soon too. Very gross and creepy.Īll in all, despite my complaints above, I did really like this book, so much so that I got a second copy as a "backup" in case something befalls my first. The character of Bilbo was also very endearing and easy to identify with, and I liked how clever he was in figuring out problems using cunning and intelligence instead of fighting skills or strength.Īnd, randomly, I liked the explanation given for Gollum's name, "Gollum" being the closest verbal approximation to a particular compulsive swallowing noise he makes. Tolkien does comical stuff quite well, in a very deadpan way. It's funny and has a lot of tongue-in-cheek moments. As I said, I don't get how or why this became such a literary classic, but, for what it is, a fun adventure story, it's pretty great. Now, you might be wondering, why did I rate it so high if I have so complaints about it? Well, my friends, just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean I didn't thoroughly enjoy myself while reading it. There's also the distasteful revelation of what Beorn did with the goblin and warg he caught (killing prisoners makes him better than the evil goblins how?). And the ending was somewhat anti-climactic after all of the buildup. Which is fine I guess, but it left me wondering whether Tolkien was just killing time to fill out the book before getting to Smaug. The adventure itself was also very episodic. And a little repetitive in its descriptions sometimes, and overall just chock with too many characters when, besides Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin, they're all essentially just fodder, all basically the same guy with identical personalities (except for Bombur), with the only differences being their names. Firstly, I didn't get how it had become regarded as such a great literary classic. Having finished it, I was left with two distinct, seemingly incompatible impressions. This just annoys me and turns me off from a lot of "high fantasy" and lots of sci-fi as well.Īnyway, as for The Hobbit itself as a novel, I have to say, I was both underwhelmed and impressed at the same time. Example, hobbits are 100% good whereas goblins are 100% evil. I guess my main aversion to Tolkien has always been the same as my main aversion to almost all sci-fi and fantasy literature and film in existence: that, aside from humans, all races are either 100% good or 100% evil. I'd seen the first Lord of the Rings movie and some of the second, and liked them, but I wasn't exactly wowed.
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