The Hobbit

Ah, good old Hobbit! One those not simply review this novel without mentioning the movies that were fashioned after it. Love them or hate them, the movies are still (mostly) based on this story, and the characters really come to life in this prologue to The Lord Of The Rings. I was extremely long overdue for a reread + review of this classic tale, so behold my (elf-related) ramblings as follows.

Far over the misty mountains coldTo dungeons deep and caverns oldWe must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold.
-Thorin & Company

Movie/book comparative review below!

I never thought much of Bilbo Baggins in the LOTR movies, but Bilbo in the book is really marvellous and wonderful. The little hobbit proved himself brave and useful beyond what anyone expected (Gandalf excluded), and his courage protected his friends so many times!

My favourite ‘fight' scene was when Bilbo faced the spiders all on his own in Mirkwood and saved his friends from death by being clever and swift. It's funny how the One Ring has no evil intent nor will in The Hobbit, whereas it is clearly a central character in The Lord of the Rings. Instead, Bilbo often makes use of the Ring without there being any consequences to it. Also, the ‘Easter eggs' so to speak throughout the novel were so much fun to find/read about, like how the 3 trolls are later found in LOTR, or Gollum's role in both tales. It really shows Tolkien's genius at world building.

As always, the elves are my absolute favourite in this book too. It's too bad that Tolkien didn't include Legolas in his book (unlike in the movie which is sacrilegious to mention, I know), but at least Thranduil was present in the novel and was a major player (although he was never named once! He was only ever refered to as the Elvenking). I love the movie version of Thranduil, so it was a bit disappointing to see his role in The Hobbit novel much more diminished, but I loved the chapters that took place in Mirkwood the most.

Thorin, Fili, and Kili's deaths were very anticlimactic in the novel compared to in the movies, which again was a bit underwhelming and disappointing (I guess that shows Peter Jackson's genius instead), but the Battle of the Five Armies was still really cool and full of action.

Finally, Tolkien's narrative voice was very strong in this book, which I guess is because it's technically a middle-grade book. The narration style was very cute and fairytale-like. I expect that this is why the deaths of some of the major characters were toned down which, again, diminished the impact of the story and its moral teachings. Nevertheless, The Hobbit is uncontestedly a literary masterpiece if only for its width and breadth in the world of high fantasy writing.

There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
-Lord Elrond