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A review by worldhopper98
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
2.0
2.5 Stars
I have been told by many people that Tolkien is considered the "Father" of fantasy. So I finally decided to read it for the first time, because I have never read or watched the Hobbit or LoTR. And I will say that I consider this book to be a massive letdown. I can see how he became that and paved the way for the fantasy genre, but compared to fantasy, now this book doesn't hold a candle to it. Reading this back in the 30s, I think, would have been a lot better. I was hoping that there would be so much more to it, but it just didn't live up to the hype that it was described as. I still plan on reading LoTR and I do hope that those are more fantastical.
Because of the fantasy genre as it is now, this just felt like a very basic adventure through the woods, without much fantasy elements.
I teetered between 2.5 stars and 3 stars and ultimately decided on 2.5 because there are too many things I didn't like about it.
First, as previously mentioned, it lacks a lot of fantasy elements.
Second, for most of the story, Bilbo is just complaining about something. Whether this be food or wanting to be home.
Lastly, both of the fights that come about in the book are anticlimactic. When Smaug started to attack the town, I was hoping for like some epic stuff to go down, because Tolkien is the "Father" of fantasy, but NOPE!. Smaug was easily defeated. Then there is the final fight where Bilbo just pretty much gets knocked out and misses the whole thing, and it doesn't even get described.
I have been told by many people that Tolkien is considered the "Father" of fantasy. So I finally decided to read it for the first time, because I have never read or watched the Hobbit or LoTR. And I will say that I consider this book to be a massive letdown. I can see how he became that and paved the way for the fantasy genre, but compared to fantasy, now this book doesn't hold a candle to it. Reading this back in the 30s, I think, would have been a lot better. I was hoping that there would be so much more to it, but it just didn't live up to the hype that it was described as. I still plan on reading LoTR and I do hope that those are more fantastical.
Because of the fantasy genre as it is now, this just felt like a very basic adventure through the woods, without much fantasy elements.
I teetered between 2.5 stars and 3 stars and ultimately decided on 2.5 because there are too many things I didn't like about it.
First, as previously mentioned, it lacks a lot of fantasy elements.
Second, for most of the story, Bilbo is just complaining about something. Whether this be food or wanting to be home.
Lastly, both of the fights that come about in the book are anticlimactic. When Smaug started to attack the town, I was hoping for like some epic stuff to go down, because Tolkien is the "Father" of fantasy, but NOPE!. Smaug was easily defeated. Then there is the final fight where Bilbo just pretty much gets knocked out and misses the whole thing, and it doesn't even get described.