Sunday 30 December 2012

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

RATING: FOUR STARS

I have to say that along with J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, The Hobbit was one of my favourite books when I was a child. Due to this, I was overjoyed to learn that Peter Jackson was turning the book into another of his amazing films and decided to re-read the novel before going to watch it (which I have now seen by the way, and would recommend watching).

And having recently read the book, I've decided to review it here. The problem I face however, is what can I really say about such a renown book to do it justice? Probably not much, but I'm going to give it a go anyway!

So, as you would expect from a novel hailed as a "timeless classic", The Hobbit is a delightful read throughout and Tolkien manages to encapsulate the very real air of danger that surrounds Thorin's party of dwarves, Mr. Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the wizard masterfully, describing their adventures as they embark upon their quest to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Magnificent.

Throughout the book, Tolkien's style is light-hearted and his vivid descriptions of the events and locations of the story keep it interesting throughout and make it fun to read, with the language used being easy to understand for most children. His use of characters is also light-hearted and they are easy to engage with, having realistic reactions to the misfortunes and hardships that befall them - a factor that adds an air of plausibility to the book that is lacked by some works of fantasy.

So, overall, I would recommend reading The Hobbit to anyone, regardless of whether you're a fan of fantasy or not! Furthermore, it describes how Mr. Baggins finds the One Ring and acts (kind of) as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings - another timeless classic that helped to spawn the whole genre of high fantasy!

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