The Hobbit

Title: The Hobbit

Author: J.R.R. Tolkein

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Pages: 280 Pages

Synopsis:

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug’s left eye. He was only pretending to be asleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance…

Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole in Bag End by Gandalf the wizard and a company of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

I decided to reread The Hobbit since that new Lord of the Rings series is coming out. If I am being completely honest here: What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said already? For me this is almost the perfect Fantasy Novel: It’s a novel with strong characters, good worldbuilding and lore (which is surprising since it’s a 280-page book), and also just a simple but great story.

The Hobbit has fantastic characters such as Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, and my favourite Wizard in all of Fantasy: Gandalf. Gandalf is my favourite character and he steals almost every scene he’s in. Despite Smaug not being in the book too long, he is a pretty intimidating but amusing villain. While he likes to boast, he can back those boasts. And I still think he is one of, if not the best dragon in a Fantasy series I have read so far. Smaug is the embodiment of what a dragon should be.

As I mentioned earlier despite it being a 280-page book, there is a lot of worldbuilding in this novel. As for one thing we get to explore the world of Middle Earth through this Journey. The races such as Elves, Goblins, Dwarves, and Hobbits are all established and have their own unique identities that set each apart. We also get insight into how certain groups are governed: The Elves, Dwarves, and Goblins are ruled by Monarchy, but interesting Lake Town elects its leader also known as “Master”. And there is quite a bit of lore mentioned as well.

There even is some themes in this novel such as the dangers of Greed. As Thorin becomes greedy when he can take the treasure from Smaug, and his desire to get the Arkenstone.

As I mentioned it’s just a simple story about a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins going on a quest to free a mountain from Smaug and win a share of the treasure. And yet its story is so good.

One thing I noticed while rereading this, is how this book almost perfectly sets up Lord of the Rings: the Ring is introduced, Gollum and Elrond are in this book, and Radaghast the Brown even got a small mention and so much more. Even so, I still feel like even if Lord of the Rings never happened, this book is still a great stand-alone novel.

Now the only real criticism I have of this novel is some of the language used in this book is very antiquated such as “felt very queer”, which kept popping up in this book. And it can be off-putting at times.

This book is probably my favourite Fantasy book and it’s almost perfect. This is essential Fantasy reading. Period.

Rating: