The Hobbit
The Hobbit, Tolkien’s prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, tells the story of an ordinary hobbit with an ordinary life who goes on an unexpected journey. Joining a party of dwarves and a known wizard, Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins sets off on a quest as the party’s burglar to find the lost gold and ancient artifact that lies buried in the depths of The Misty Mountains, where the dragon Smaug has claimed their riches and sleeps beneath the old mountain. The party faces many trials, and Bilbo meets a mysterious creature that possesses a valuable relic that will be an important part in the story and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to come. Making new enemies and unexpected friends and allies, Bilbo is ever changed from his travels and the bonds of kinship and brotherhood.
I enjoyed learning the finer details that the movies didn’t have time to explain, as well as all the songs the dwarves sing throughout the story. I particularly love Gandalf and the way he is written. He always made me laugh and I could picture his grumpy and quick-tempered persona through his dialogue with the dwarves and Bilbo. Though there are a lot of characters in the story, it feels like the right amount and I quickly grow attached to all the dwarves as well as Bilbo as he goes on his journey. I can’t say the story keeps me guessing, only because I’ve seen the movies so many times before I read this book that the plot and a visual of the characters was already solidified in my mind, but in retrospect I can say that they cast the characters quite well; I couldn’t picture them any other way when I read the book, biased as that view is or not.
One of my favorite chapters is actually the first one, “An Unexpected Party,” where dwarves arrive at Bilbo’s hobbit hole and continue to appear, much to Bilbo’s dismay. Tolkien paints the picture of the group of rough and rowdy dwarves well, and Bilbo’s apprehension with an influx of unexpected visitors and with change in general. Another favorite chapter of mine is “Riddles in the Dark,” where you meet a very vital character in the lore of Middle Earth and Bilbo has a battle of wits with Gollum, and barely escapes with his life. I enjoyed “Barrels Out of Bond,” where Bilbo hatches a plan for him and the dwarves to make a comedic escape from their captors in barrels on the river.
When the story demanded comedic, tense, or emotional reactions, Tolkien always delivered. I laughed at Gandalf and the boisterous nature of the dwarves throughout the book, I was anxious when the party was in peril, and I was sad when the crucial things and the sad things happened. I particularly enjoyed Tolkien’s descriptive writing style, which is something I’ve heard many people say they dislike about his stories. I appreciate the in-depth descriptions of the surrounding landscapes and the characters in the party, including the characters they encounter on their travels through Middle Earth.
My one complaint with how the story is written is how long some short scenes seem to be written versus how short some long scenes seem to be written in comparison. I do understand the difficulty in writing epic action and battle sequences, however, and I can see where the movies had to use their creative liberties to bring these scenes to life, including scenes with Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies. All in all I couldn’t put the beloved fantasy classic down despite its shortcomings, and I’m eager to continue my reading journey with The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
If you like a good fantasy classic with beloved characters, with far off adventures and mysterious magic - and lots of vivid descriptions throughout - this is a great introduction. The Hobbit is geared toward younger audiences, specifically middle school, but it is an important piece to Tolkien’s famous epic and its universe if you’re a sucker for an origin story like I am. There isn’t anything quite like this saga, so it’s hard to compare it to anything else, also because I have just begun to dip my feet into the genre of fantasy. The book is all in all unique and original, with a clear, concise and consistent style and voice in its respective genre.
Reference
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.