So I finished The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien as I was determined to read it before the film came out.
I haven't read the LOTR trilogy yet but I shall at some point in my life, even though I have been told it's pretty hard going I'm convinced it would be worth it.
However back to the point. I finally finished The Hobbit, I've been fairly busy with work and uni so it did take me a little longer than normal but it was definitely worth a read.
I'm not saying it's the best book of all time because there were parts of it that dragged on and weren't as easy to ready but overall it was interesting and pretty awesome!
It was strange reading it and comparing it to the LOTR films, there are a few characters that appear in both stories and they were all quite different really. The little you see of Bilbo in the films he seems the most similar to the film version of his character.
The strangest and most different I think was probably Gandalf, although in the films he is powerful and strong when he needs to be he is also very gentle and a lot of the time a Grandfather and friend figure that you find yourself really emotionally attached to. In the book he didn't play as big a part as I assumed he would, in fact he is absent for a lot of the journey. The times he is in the story he comes across as brash and even rude, I can't say I was a big fan of him, he wasn't a bad character but there was a serious lack of any connection.
Elrond was briefly in this one and what's funny is he was the opposite, he seemed morose and angry in LOTR, I can appreciate that as his daughter wanted to give up her immortality and all that, but in this book he was happy and a really likable character ... so yay for him.
There was a severe lack of a character that you really relate to and feel most attached to, a true protagonist, that I think is the one thing I disliked about the book, the adventure and the story were interesting and you do feel invested in the outcome and want to read more, so in that respect it's definitely a book worth reading. Saying that though I missed a character that I really gelled with and related to as Bilbo often also irritated me I'm not saying I disliked him though, overall I enjoyed reading about him and I liked him! This sounds like a massive bashing which it isn't really, I think it was the kind of feeling Tolkien was going for as Bilbo was meant to be completely out of his comfort zone and Hobbits are not designed for adventure so it made sense, it just would have been nice to have had some light relief (but that's just me).
However! I did like the characterisation of the dwarves as they were just as you'd imagine, strong, bold, hard headed, slightly weak minded and overly proud at times. You really got a sense of knowledge about the race and although some of these words I use to describe them don't necessarily sound like a good thing, they are. I grew rather fond of the dwarves, even when they made bad decisions, especially Balin who had the best relationship with another character as him and Bilbo connected on some level. Throughout most of the book the adventurers don't show much emotion towards each other so the few moments you get are all that more important and poignant especially at the end.
So there you go a brief summary of what I thought of this book.... without giving out spoilers, aren't I nice!
I shall leave you with an urge to read this story, it's interesting, exciting and fairly easy to read, it definitely made me want to read the trilogy even more.
Bye x
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