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hyperdontiia 's review for:
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien
[74/166]
I totally forgot how obstinately rude the dwarves were throughout this book, from their first song to Bilbo "That's what Mr. Baggins hates!" and their constant orders of food to constant demeaning to bluntly leaving him for the dragon. They're not necessarily unpleasant but it's more that they intend for him to do his job with very little sympathy about it.... hmmm. Anyways, I was read this book as a kid and came back to it recently because I'm reading it with a kid. It is truly the quintessential fantasy novel with so much heart in it, and the delightful cadence of a bedtime story ("as you knows" are common, "that's a story for another day" implicitly or explicitly stated of what would come to be known as Tolkien's great Middle-Earth lore). Bilbo is animated and there's a good deal of humor (his first conversation with Gandalf and the many uses of "good morning" springs to mind), all in all, also a more standard hero's journey than the later Lord of the Rings novels, in that this is very much Bilbo's story instead of the story of several massive armies (see any review of mine for LoTR). It feels a good deal more focused than them, and as a result is probably the work of Tolkien's I'd shove on someone who just wants something fun and fantastical to read. It also happens to be my favorite due to a mix of nostalgia and admittedly because I'm lame and this is just easier to follow.
I totally forgot how obstinately rude the dwarves were throughout this book, from their first song to Bilbo "That's what Mr. Baggins hates!" and their constant orders of food to constant demeaning to bluntly leaving him for the dragon. They're not necessarily unpleasant but it's more that they intend for him to do his job with very little sympathy about it.... hmmm. Anyways, I was read this book as a kid and came back to it recently because I'm reading it with a kid. It is truly the quintessential fantasy novel with so much heart in it, and the delightful cadence of a bedtime story ("as you knows" are common, "that's a story for another day" implicitly or explicitly stated of what would come to be known as Tolkien's great Middle-Earth lore). Bilbo is animated and there's a good deal of humor (his first conversation with Gandalf and the many uses of "good morning" springs to mind), all in all, also a more standard hero's journey than the later Lord of the Rings novels, in that this is very much Bilbo's story instead of the story of several massive armies (see any review of mine for LoTR). It feels a good deal more focused than them, and as a result is probably the work of Tolkien's I'd shove on someone who just wants something fun and fantastical to read. It also happens to be my favorite due to a mix of nostalgia and admittedly because I'm lame and this is just easier to follow.