The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Book Reviews of The Hobbit
Book Review: The Beginning of Middle Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a real shame that the movie version of this book didn't come out before The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. People would have had a better idea of who Bilbo was. The worst part about the movies was they made him look like a silly little old man. But this is a classic story of a rather ordinary little creature reaching out to be extraordinary when the situation required it. It is a mistake to think of this as a story about a small group of thirteen dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit out to fight a dragon merely to win back a treasure. This group is out to win back a lost kingdom. And it must be pointed that an elf kingdom and a kingdom of humans suffered from the fall of the dwarf kingdom as well. So it shouldn't be a surprise when a war breaks out because other people want a share of the treasure. This a bit lighter in tone than The Lord of the Rings, but it came twenty years earlier, and a lot happened to Tolkien in that time, including World War II. But this is a most excellent story about a most excellent HobbitBook Review: The Hobbit, a great book by a great author
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book quite by accident, while being at the library looking for something completely different. Having heard of this book before, I read a few pages, and I started to get hooked. The book is about a little hobbit known as Bilbo Baggins and it follows his adventures around Tolkien's magical world. Gandalf and some dwarves head out to fight goblins, trolls, spiders, and many other creatures, all for a chance at untold riches. However the treasure is guarded by a cruel dragon known as Smaug. I enjoy Tolkien's writing style and I especially love his humor. This is probably one of the finest books he has written. It is a shame how you can hear the cash register ring as every subsequent book was written. The Hobbit is not the easiest read however, and Tolkien's colorful use of words can be hard to follow at times. I would recommend this book to anyone who already enjoys Tolkien's works and to any fantasy lover. This book easily makes the 5 out of 5 mark for me.Book Review: Interesting little tale, but definitely more for children
Summary: 3 Stars
Although an oft amusing little tale (I especially liked the Gollum) and although I come to this book late, I have to say that I felt I was reading an Enid Blyton book most of the time, which is by no means a critism because she, above any other author fired my imagination as a child (which begs the question, why is this considered 'classic literature' and not 'The Enchanted Wood' or 'The Magic Far Away Tree')?
I'm glad I've read it as it's much talked about, but it certainly wouldn't make me want to go on to read LOTR's.
To be fair though I have to say I'm not usually attracted to the fantasy genre and read this because I felt I ought to. That said I thoroughly enjoyed all the Harry Potter books and Philip Pullmans 'Dark Materials' trilogy. I think maybe I just prefer a little human intervention to make things realistic now I'm an adult and parallel worlds are more interesting than gnomes, goblins and elves.
Book Review: Going on an adventure!
Summary: 4 Stars
I read "The Hobbit" because I had already read "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and adored it. Therefore, it's hard for me to think of The Hobbit without comparing and contrasting it to the trilogy. First off, The Hobbit bears all of Tolkien's genius: descriptive passages that are more like a painting than a paragraph, clever poetry and songs, and an imaginary world that has come to life with Tolkien's inventive language and culture of the characters. When one reads Tolkien, it's like reading about a real place. However, the one thing that I really did not like about "The Hobbit," especially in comparison to LOTR, is that there is very little character development. I often had trouble keeping track of names because the characters just don't do much besides have adventures. On the whole, I give this book 4 stars for its creativity, originality, adventurous plot, and beautiful language.Book Review: The best of all of J.R. Tolken's books!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very entertaining read and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings Saga. I never give any plot "spoilers", I'll just say it's the introduction of the great character Bilbo Baggins, and he takes you on quite an adventure after a visit from Gandalf the Wizard. What I like is it's much easier to follow the story compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit has a more simple yet adventurous plot, but in many ways it's better than the other Tolken books, because in the Lord of the Rings trilogy that follows, there are so many places and names, it's easy to get tired of remembering everything (something that's less of a burden in the feature films too) you feel as though you have to take notes to keep along with the story, with The Hobbit, you won't feel it's unnecessarily convoluted with characters and places, and the novel is just as exciting as the others to read.