An Unexpected Review..
The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien.
Cover of the 1937 first edition, from a drawing by Tolkien
So before I start I'd like to say this is the first book I've read since.... Wow... The last book I remember reading was in middle school, and it was Shiloh. So... yeah, It's not that I don't like reading. It's a couple things actually, well excuses to be honest.
1st
It takes forever to read books. I was supposed to finish reading this book about three weeks ago to be exact and yeah I really underestimated how slow I read...
2nd
Is that most books I've picked up to start reading just flat out suck and they're boring and they don't captivate me at all, and in today's age of Netflix, Hulu and YouTube Why take 8-10 hours to read a book when I could watch a whole season of anything or 4-5 films?!?
So why did I start reading again?
Because I want to be a writer. An artist in any medium should only do one thing more than his craft. That is to experience, dissect and criticize the medium he intends to master
Oh yeah, and I plan to answer why i think you should be reading books again (If you don't) In another blog post down the road but for now....
The Hobbit is the beginning of the grand never ending legacy that Tolkien has left for the world. Now, nothing I say in this review will be new to you as The Hobbit has pieced apart better than I ever could. Never has there been a series with so much impact of genre fiction than this series.
Small disclaimer..
So, I'm Biased here. I watched Peter Jackson's hobbit trilogy before reading this book. Which save for the second part was not good compared to the original trilogy. I'll make another post about this later on. I had a general lack of suspense reading, as the film follows the same general beats.
This is the first Tolkien book I've read. So off the bat I was waiting to be dazled and outsmarted by Tolkien. I mean, by no means am I an experienced reader so I consider myself stupid in that regard. But The Hobbit is very slim and to the point as it is a children's book and it definitely reads like one. And there comes the bulk of my review is that point.
A children's book.
So, let's start with the bad
The book is obviously written as a children's fantasy book. With that comes a negative for me. A lack of depth. Not all children book's suffer from this but they are more likely in my eye's. The book does a lot of world and lore building , and what it does build is done well and effectively. There were times though when I was reading that I felt something was lacking. The depth especially lacks on action scene's and overall character development. There was just that lingering feeling that he could have gone deeper or really brought that to life. My bias from watching the films first could be the core of why I felt that emptiness. The film did try to expand on characters. Especially towards the end the book begins to speed through points and events. It left me wanting a little more.
So, wrapping back around. Some of the best elements also come from the children's book aspect. The book is a straight cut of fantasy fabric. The book reads easily and swiftly. It's amazing how much of a world Tolkien built with so few words. My personal favorite thing about this novel is the poetic songs sprinkled throughout. They do a wonderful job of capturing emotion and portraying the different races and lore. It also gives a nice levity to the events.
Dust-cover of the first edition of The Hobbit, taken from a design by the author
So, in wrapping.
8/10 - Great
The Hobbit is the beginning of a series that has evolved and shaped fantasy fiction forever. It is a short tale written through a children's book lens, It carries it weight and manages to hold up to this day. A must read for any fan of fantasy. It's only short coming is a speedy ending and a feeling of brevity when it came to characters and events.
P.s I know there is alot of errors, if you see any let me know. Thanks for reading! Have you read The Hobbit? What did you think??