Reviews: The Hobbit (48)

Ilove it I have read The Hobbit before but what a beautiful imagination that Tolkien had a timeless masterpiece.

So the Hobbit was a re-read for me, although it felt more like reading it for the first time. I first read it about ten years ago, when I was seven at the oldest. Coming back to it ten years later is weird, especially considering now two thirds of the Peter Jackson trilogy is out. Having matured since then and seen both An Unexpected Journey and the Desolation of Smaug, I was looking at this with new eyes.

While I just read it as a child, this time I found myself becoming more involved with the characters - especially Bilbo and Thorin. The dynamic between them is to an extent, different from the one we see in the films. Thorin is less likable in the book- almost unlikable, but I think having warmed to film!Thorin helped. Bilbo however, became endearing to me. Perhaps it’s because we see the story through his eyes. He is the warmth to Thorin’s coldness, and quite frankly, I like that they are opposites and are the foils to one another.

The main thing I disliked about the Hobbit (which I was not so bothered about first time round) was that how criminally underdeveloped the dwarves were. I think there was a lot of potential for all of the dwarves save Thorin. We only know that Fíli and Kíli are Thorin’s heirs, and that Bombur is mainly referred to as “poor, fat Bombur”. Dori is mentioned to be a decent fellow “despite his grumbling”, and I cannot genuinely remember anything about some of my favourites from the film - namely Bofur, Nori and Dwalin. Balin was slightly more developed, but I guess Tolkien just saw them as background characters. One to Peter Jackson on that. I think Peter Jackson’s films were part of the reason for that, but I think the other is that considering I’ve read so many books since I first read this in 2003/4, perhaps even earlier, I’m used to developed characters. I partially blame my English A Level for this as we delve really deep into characters.

The prose, however, is utterly wonderful and it is a lot lighter in tone to the Lord of the Rings. I’ve said how Tolkien’s inspired me as a writer, and it’s true. This is the quintessential fantasy and I think every child should read it.

I first read The Hobbit in my teens, and the story has stayed with me ever since. I love this cover, it really gives a feel of Bag End! A great introduction to Tolkien's wonderfully epic world of Middle Earth.

The Hobbit is a classic made even better for being read by Martin Shaw. He has such a sexy voice, I could listen to this all day. And the abridgement isn't that noticeable; certainly nothing major is left out.

A home loving hobbit drawn into an adventure by a wizard, Gandalf. This story takes the listener on a journey through strange lands encountering many foes. It explains how the ring came into Bilbo' s possession & is used to outwit many. A tale of grief, loss, greed, revenge & ultimately justice for all.

This book is a definite must read for fans of The Lord of the Rings as it sets the scene for the trilogy and has some of the same characters. However as a stand alone book it is also fantastic. The fantasy world Tolkien has created is amazing with wizards, dragons and magic it has all you could want from the genre. And the story is very engaging as well. It is a fun read for anyone and a much easier read than the Lord of the Rings so children will love it too!

The tale of a home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins who finds himself caught up in an adventure for a fourteenth share of a vast treasure once owned by the King of the dwarves, now guarded by Smaug, a great dragon. Bilbo's confidence grows as the story unfolds as he & his companions encounter many strange characters & places on their eventful journey.

This is somewhere between an illustrated children’s book and a graphic novel. It follows the plot of J R R Tolkien’s novel closely and remains faithful to the spirit of the work.

The text starts off identical to the source material but eventually you notice truncations and omissions in order to reduce the length of this volume. The Hobbit was originally published in 1937 and is set in a fantasy world resulting in some unusual and clunky uses of language. The odd typo and unfortunate punctuations don’t improve in this.

The art is beautiful, hand drawn and lovingly watercoloured. The panels and layout are irregular and there is a great deal of bleeding of the art and speech between frames. This gives the book a wonderfully cosy and quirky feel to it. This was originally three books that have been collected into one. The first starts off slowly with big open panels showcasing the wonderful illustrations and is mostly dialogue serving to build character. By the third book the panels are much smaller, dialogue is sparse and the pages are crammed with boxes and boxes of narration that feel lifted straight from Tolkien. It is almost as if the writers ran out of room and had to cram everything into a shorter page count.

The large cast of Dwarves appear almost identical and little is done in terms of speech or art to differentiate them. Intermittently you will spot different colours of hat but only Thorin and occasionally Balin get special treatment. The pictures are there to accompany the text and never get the opportunity to tell the story on their own. The narration text boxes are all in different colours making you spend an inordinate amount of time looking for a pattern or code only to conclude it is merely the colourist’s whim.

It is too long for a single reading session, has no clear breaks to pause and doesn’t convey the fact the story takes place over a number of months. The sheer amount of text on the page by the latter third of the book is also a crying shame.

No Thumbs today!

Love this book! It's charming and is a great story with some of the most memorable characters ever. One of my all time faves.

I first heard of The Hobbit when my mom was telling me about my dad who had read it many years ago and it happened to be his favourite book, so for christmas she bought it me to read.
Once I first sank my teeth into it I just just could not put it down!! It was one of them books where you never want it to end and I didnt!! The story was brilliant, written brilliantly, and simply was a brilliant book!! Would definitely recommend to others, just dont be disappointed when it ends like I was, I never wanted it to end!!!

After a 15 year break from reading I decided I needed to get back into it.

I chose The Hobbit as its a book that has always been recommended to me and I sure wasnt let down.

The characters are described in great detail, there is a nice mixture of humour, suspense, action and sadness to entice even the most casual of book readers.

Considering when The Hobbit was written, the language is easy to read and understand. Also, at under 300 pages, its a relatively short so that it appeals to a wide audience.

I would recommend this to anyone and everyone that enjoys reading.