Updated review 04/28/2025: I needed this book to count for a reading challenge so I happily re-read it. I also, because I am, bought the graphic novel of the Hobbit this weekend during Independent Bookstore Day and of course, promptly read that. Honestly, I loved this book when I read it in school, and enjoyed my re-read of it, ten years ago. I also laughed at lot more while re-reading. I totally blanked on how Gandalf messed with Bilbo and then he was awash in dwarves.
The characters are still top-notch, the plot really straight forward, and I didn’t have any issues with pacing this time. Maybe because I was enjoying taking my time re-reading this. Still a 5 star read, I will not be discussing that movie.
Seriously. I don’t remember as a kid there being this many songs. I must have blanked it out. But yes, there is a lot of singing going on in The Hobbit. My plan is to read the other novels that are part of this universe due to the Amazon list just having the entire The Lord of the Rings books listed as one big read.
We have an omniscient narrator that allows readers to follow the tale of Bilbo Baggins, or The Hobbit. Unlike with the Peter Jackson movie, we actually do get to follow Bilbo and see how he first was conned into being hired as a burglar to a contingent of thirteen dwarves who are focused on reclaiming treasure lost to them by the dragon Smaug. It is entirely an adventure tale with songs sprinkled throughout and we have Bilbo rising to the occasion throughout the story. This really is a coming of age story about Bilbo even though he is 50 at the time of this story.
I am not going to lie though. Except for the character of Thorin Oakenshield the other dwarves just ran together in my head. It probably did not help that they all had similar names. Thorin ends up playing a major part of this book and his actions leads to a lot of death and destruction.
The plot is pretty straight forward with as I said Bilbo being hired as a burglar by the thirteen dwarves (I have no idea why, but I keep typing 13 Ghosts) to help them recover their stolen treasure. Due to this overarching end goal Bilbo, the dwarves, and Gandalf keep getting into tight spots here and there. We also get the introduction of the character of Gollum who would be so important to the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And we also realize that without Bilbo going on this adventure, this could have led to worse things for his cousin Frodo when he began his own adventure in The Fellowship of the Ring.
The writing is quite good. There are a lot of lines that are said by some characters that cracked me up here and there.
The pacing though I found to be a bit off in some places. For example, the chapter that has the group with Beorn the North-man dragged on for way too long. It picks up again in the following chapter having the dwarves captured by spiders. And by the way, I totally shuddered throughout that chapter.
The setting of Middle-Earth sounds like a fantasy and yet real at the same time. As you are reading you can pretend that once upon a time before the reign of Man, that Hobbits walked the Earth along with dragons, dwarves, goblins, elves, and trolls.
One thing to note about my electronic version. It came with illustrations that I felt really did add to the feeling that I had the complete book in my hand. I really liked that added feature, so if you are going to purchase The Hobbit, make sure that it comes with the illustrations. I liked those a lot.
I can’t wait to start The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but will probably wait until I have my summer vacation time scheduled so I can have a nice block of time to read.
Seriously. I don’t remember as a kid there being this many songs. I must have blanked it out. But yes, there is a lot of singing going on in The Hobbit. My plan is to read the other novels that are part of this universe due to the Amazon list just having the entire The Lord of the Rings books listed as one big read.
We have an omniscient narrator that allows readers to follow the tale of Bilbo Baggins, or The Hobbit. Unlike with the Peter Jackson movie, we actually do get to follow Bilbo and see how he first was conned into being hired as a burglar to a contingent of thirteen dwarfs who are focused on reclaiming treasure lost to them by the dragon Smaug. It is entirely an adventure tale with songs sprinkled throughout and we have Bilbo rising to the occasion throughout the story. This really is a coming of age story about Bilbo even though he is 50 at the time of this story.
I am not going to lie though. Except for the character of Thorin Oakenshield the other dwarfs just ran together in my head. It probably did not help that they all had similar names. Thorin ends up playing a major part of this book and his actions leads to a lot of death and destruction. I like how
The plot is pretty straight forward with as I said Bilbo being hired as a burglar by the thirteen dwarfs (I have no idea why, but I keep typing 13 Ghosts) to help them recover their stolen treasure. Due to this overarching end goal Bilbo, the dwarfs, and Gandalf keep getting into tight spots here and there. We also get the introduction of the character of Gollum who would be so important to the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And we also realize that without Bilbo going on this adventure, this could have led to worse things for his cousin Frodo when he began his own adventure in The Fellowship of the Ring.
The writing is quite good. There are a lot of lines that are said by some characters that cracked me up here and there.
The pacing though I found to be a bit off in some places. For example, the chapter that has the group with Beorn the North-man dragged on for way too long. It picks up again in the following chapter having the dwarfs captured by spiders. And by the way, I totally shuddered throughout that chapter.
The setting of Middle-Earth sounds like a fantasy and yet real at the same time. As you are reading you can pretend that once upon a time before the reign of Man, that Hobbits walked the Earth along with dragons, dwarfs, goblins, and trolls.
One thing to note about my electronic version. It came with illustrations that I felt really did add to the feeling that I had the complete book in my hand. I really liked that added feature, so if you are going to purchase The Hobbit, make sure that it comes with the illustrations. I liked those a lot.
I can’t wait to start The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but will probably wait until I have my summer vacation time scheduled so I can have a nice block of time to read.