Name: Vojtech's review of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Item: The Hobbit
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit

Alan Lee

Hobbit

anne

Er hatte keinen Hut, den er abnehmen konnte, und die vielen fehlenden Knöpfe waren ihm sehr peinlich.

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from which he may never return.

Come on Gandalf 😂 you are in Bilbos home, don’t shush him 

Liv Gliese Johnsen

“Hush!” said Gandalf. “Let Thorin speak!” 

Dylan Williams

Pocket Edition

Laura

...till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it.

Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.

Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and heare the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.

This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbors' respect, but he gained - well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.

Katy Schwarz

He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the OIse, Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit- hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.

Liz Griffin

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

Emma Hak-Kovacs

A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. “A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible . . . All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.” – New York Times Book Review

jana 

Shari Ilg

Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home; then one day the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services - as a burglar - on a dangerous expedition to raid the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's life is never to be the same again.The Hobbit became an instant success when it was first published in 1937, and more than 60 years later Tolkien's epic tale of elves, dwarves, trolls, goblins, myth, magic and adventure, with its reluctant hero Bilbo Baggins, has lost none of its appeal.Bilbo Baggins has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals of children's fiction. Written by Professor Tolkien for his own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when published - it was the Harry Potter of its generation. With new Lord of the Rings movies around the corner, this special Children's edition is designed to put the book back where it belongs - at the top of every child's 'must-read' list.

Noah Cross

Eilidh 

The Hobbit is set within Tolkien's fictional universe and follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit, to win a share of the treasure guarded by a dragon named Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from his light-hearted, rural surroundings into more sinister territory.

Or There And Back

Anna with an A

Or There And Back Again

Abby Lane

Vojtech

Probably the most famous children's book of modern times -- regularly topping polls for "favourite book" and now available in a Large Type format to complement The Lord of The Rings Large Type trilogy. Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home; then one day the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services -- as a burglar -- on a dangerous expedition to raid the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's life is never to be the same again. The Hobbit became an instant success when it was first published in 1937, and more than 60 years later Tolkien's epic tale of elves, dwarves, trolls, goblins, myth, magic and adventure, with its reluctant hero Bilbo Baggins, has lost none of its appeal.

Nessa Luna

Just drown me in feelings why don't you. (view spoiler)[Slight unpopular opinion I think, but I honestly love the movies and I love what they gave us, especially when it came to battles. Because if the movies had stayed accurate to the book, there would have been NO Battle of Five Armies at all. Because Bilbo literally passes out at the beginning and doesn't wake up until after it's all done. *shrug* (hide spoiler)]

In this delightful and enthralling tale, J R R Tolkien first created the imperishable world of fantasy called Middle-earth, and those charming, indomitable creatures, the hobbits, whose adventures are continued in “The Lord of the Rings”.
—back cover

or There and Back Again

spent most of my time reading this with tears in my eyes due to tolkien’s use of language alone! such lovable characters and such an interesting, albeit dangerous, world they’re all living in! 

༺ kat ༻

Lovely descriptions of nature in an adventure. Cool creatures, a simple plot and a simple conflict. A very pleasant read. Self-contained which I for some reason did not expect.

The main character passes out during some battles, but he is not a fighter and they get discussed later so I dont mind. The latter half of the book did not peak my interest as much as the start, I guess I dont like the epic proportion stuff personally. It seems that the goblins in this book are inherently bad which is a bit concerning, and in general I just don't like the concept of that (Maybe I will develop more thoughts on this as I read more fantasy)

I loved this book, and hope to read more fantasy, also I really want to start Lord of the rings now. The lord of the eagles 🩷🩷🩷

Nota

Lovely descriptions of nature in an adventure. Cool creatures, a simple plot and a simple conflict. A very pleasant read. Self-contained which I for some reason did not expect.

The main character passes out during some battles, but he is not a fighter and they get discussed later so I dont mind. The latter half of the book did not peak my interest as much as the start, I guess I dont like the epic proportion stuff personally. It seems that the goblins in this book are inherently bad which is a bit concerning, and in general I just don't like the concept of that (Maybe I will develop more thoughts on this as I read more fantasy)

I loved this book, and hope to read more fantasy, also I really want to start Lord of the rings now. The lord of the eagles 🩷🩷🩷

Wynter

2018 update: I'm knocking down a star this time to a solid 4, because while I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Hobbit once more, I did notice a few problem spots this time around. I'm not talking about the glaring absence of female characters, since that argument against Tolkien has been done to death. I think this is the book where he tried to fit too much into too short of the book, so that some scenes feel very rushed and conveniently wrapped up. For example, I hate when during the climax of an epic scene the main character either faints or gets knocked out, because it's a lazy way for the writer to get out of coming up with a truly impactful exit scene that takes us from the war back to peace. Notorious for his fainting spells, Frodo in The Lord of the Rings continues this trend. Other scenes rushed past me with a breakneck speed, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I missed Tolkien's trademark wordiness. Great children's novel though, even if many ponies died in the making.

Cheri Fuller

Love This Book! I think a big part of why I love The Hobbit is because two of the three times I've read it, I've listened to the audio version with my young son. We always have an audio book going and sharing books is a wonderful way for us to always have at least one thing in common to talk about.
 
The first time we listened to it, he had to have been about 8 years old. This time around, he's 11 and we've decided to read the Lord of the Rings series immediately afterward. I imagine we'll listen to The Hobbit and the LOTR series together again.

Ward

Emily Perkovich

I wanted to like this sooooo much more than I did. There were definitely parts I liked. The writing is not bad in itself. But so much is unnecessary that it became boring quickly. I found many times where I was not taking in any information. I had heard over and over again that Tolkien is overly descriptive, but I had also heard this about other writers that I ended up enjoying. I can say without a doubt that this book could be cut in half and I’d enjoy it far more.

I read this as a child and it had been far too long since I had re-read it .

I was a nice balance of humor and seriousness. I love the way it is written, taking more of a "you are being told a story" type of style. The characters are entertaining and believable. 

It is a good classic fantasy story and I highly recommend it.

Alex Landau

I read this as a child and it had been far too long since I had re-read it .

I was a nice balance of humor and seriousness. I love the way it is written, taking more of a "you are being told a story" type of style. The characters are entertaining and believable. 

It is a good classic fantasy story and I highly recommend it.

Hardik parmar 

Reading "The Hobbit" was an enrapturing experience which rides you directly to the well and rich imagined world of J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo, a hobbit who loves NO adventures and always seeking for comfort went to an actual horrified adventure to win the dragon guarded gold treasure for the dwarves. And the adventure changes hobbit in many ways. It somehow quotes to let life take its remote in some situations and stop living so acquisitive life. It was the first Tolkien book of mine and as I expected at the start, it ends leaving a deep pleasure inside you.

Sophie

Vond het wel een leuk boek om te lezen nadat ik de film eerst heb gezien.

partially listened to the audiobook for this; andy serkis' narration is realy wonderful. wish i read this when i was younger; i think i would've enjoyed it then. to be honest, didn't enjoy it as much as i'd hoped to, but it was a breezy read.

morgan

Sarthak Verma

No doubt that its a great and a well-written book but, I can't exactly say I loved it. I mean I certainly enjoyed reading it and indeed it was adventurous, but it is also true that I just didn't get hooked to it, and it's a personal thing.
I liked how simple and short this book was, even after containing all these adventures it was really concise. It was perfectly elaborate even after being a short (305 pg) read. Except some parts were very slow and made it not very interesting, which is why it took me almost 1 month to complete it.

Conclusion: I think anyone who wants a fantasy book with lots of adventures, happy memories, loves reading magical stories consisting of a large number of characters and detailed history behind them would love it.

I am the biggest fans of the films and felt that I wasn't a real fan unless I read the books. I can understand the allure of Tolkien and why people are such big fans of his writing but I found it very dull. His style of writing is extremely descriptive and beautiful however I think so many people read things because they think they should, rather than because they want to. This is what I did in this case, I can definitely appreciate why people enjoy it and I do feel it is a very cosy read, however I personally found it very slow. I prefer action and I think you can still be very descriptive without completely loosing all sense of excitement and interest.

Molly Allchorn

Anna Ureta

I'm sad I didn't wait to read this to my own children but it was just as amazing as I thought it would be!

It’s good, and it feels very fantastical. But it’s very repetitive and the characters are all a bit flat. There’s nothing particularly unique about any of the 12 main dwarfs. 

Arun Khanna

** spoiler alert **
           
Things I found interesting about the Hobbit:

The constant struggle between Bilbo’s Baggins side and his Took side. They are constantly fighting it out throughout the book. A central theme of the story is his evolution from his mostly Baggins side which wants no part in the adventure to his Took side, where he saves the dwarves many times over.
The anticlimactic ending to Smaug. Given that Smaug was the chief villain in the story, I found it interesting how his death took place in a single chapter. Smaug’s death wasn’t even part of Thorin and his friends’ quest! They just wanted to loot as much gold as they could and return back home. Also our protagonist Bilbo had essentially nothing to do with his death which struck me as strange for a children’s fantasy novel. Normally, you would expect our protagonist to bravely slew the dragon, but it turned out that Bard (a complete stranger in the story so far) ended up being the dragon-slayer. 
The fact this is a children’s fantasy. I thought there were some aspects that made the story far deeper than it may originally seem. For example, the amount of death and destruction that took place unnecessarily. Take this paragraph:

“Then dismay fell on the Goblins and they fled in all directions. But weariness left their enemies with the coming of new hope, and they pursued them closely, and prevented most of them from escaping where they could. They drove many of them into the Running River, and such as fled south or west they hunted into the marshes about the Forest River; and there the greater part of the last fugitives perished, while those that came hardly to the Wood-elves’ realm were there slain, or drawn in to die deep in the trackless dark of Mirkwood. Songs have said that three parts of the goblin warriors of the North perished on that day, and the mountains had peace for many a year.”

I find it interesting that Tolkien essentially tells us that the “heroes” of our story aim to kill each and every goblin, in a genocidal fury to establish “peace”. 

When I think about it, there are many aspects in the story that are morally questionable. When the wood-elves capture Thorin and the other dwarves, they essentially stay in captivity only because they didn’t want to share any portion of their treasure with the wood-elves (who probably would have gladly helped the dwarves!). When the dragon is unexpectedly slain by the men after causing significant destruction, the dwarves are unwilling to share any piece of their newly found pie, which wasn’t even in their wildest dreams for the quest.

Dora

3 filma, jedna knjiga... 
(nisam pogledala filmove, jos)

Rachel Kanyid

Listened to the audio book of this today! Was super fun!

The writing style is good when you get the hang of it, a little slow though still good!

That Person

My 3rd reread as a life-long Tolkienist, and just like all his other works I simply love them more for every read

Hogne 

Stef

Second time reading this book and still amaze with billbo and all the dwarfs 💕💕💕💕 A story full of adventure and will make your heart warm with all the kindness. 

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Sebenarnya baca dari desember lalu ketunda gara-gara beresin laporan ppl dulu. Review nyusul di tumblr baru. :)

Elizabeth Denny

Hannah Calverley

I really did enjoy this book, but I did have to take my time with it because it was difficult to read in big chunks. It got quickly repetitive encountering challenges and then resting for a month in some welcoming elf house in the middle of nowhere. Also most of said challenges were brushed over and almost always heavily relied on the powers of Bilbo’s ring, like please give the poor hobbit a break. Gandalf is like the only somewhat intriguing character and he was off on his own quest for half the book. But this was written in what like the 1930s?? What can you really expect. 

Despite this, Middle Earth will forever be a comfort to me buy I already know I’m going to have to read a book along side lotr so I don’t go completely crazy.

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