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emaduchesne's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
eesh25's review against another edition
4.0
I've finally finished it! Only took me... Oh, twenty-six days...
Man, that has to be a personal record. It has never taken me this long to finish a book I was actively reading the entire time. You can blame my brain for that. Because after about 10 pages of reading, it seemed to think it was time to sleep.
At first, I was afraid the book was boring (even though it wasn't). But as it turns out, the reason it put me to sleep is because it has a bedtime story vibe to it. Like Narnia. Anyway, onto the novel.
The Hobbit is the story of a hobbit, a mythical creature, who is approached by Gandalf, a great wizard, to go an adventure with a company of dwarves. Their mission being to take back a treasure that was long ago stolen. By a dragon.
It's like THE fantasy. We have mythical creatures, we have a quest and we even have a freaking dragon. Could this get any better. Oh wait, it can. With a map. Because I swear to God, I was obsessed with the map. Not the one in the beginning, the one in the end. This one:
I loved it. I think the amount of time I spend staring at it could be amounted to an hour. I was always tracing where they were, where they'd gone through, where they were going. It was so cool. Honestly, the entire book was very cool.
Our protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, was initially not into the quest at all, neither was he very productive. Most of the work was done by Gandalf. But later on, he definitely proved his worth. He was a great character to read about and was smarter than you'd expect.
Gandalf was awesome, and I can't wait to read more about him in The Lord of the Rings. Many of the characters introduced along the way were also interesting. Though I could never really get behind the dwarves. They were, to me, completely useless, always bitching and whining and blaming someone else. I felt bad for Bilbo for having to put up with them throughout the story.
About the story, it was everything you'd want from a classic fantasy. I really wish someone had read it to me as a kid. I would have adored it them.
I really like it now as well. But the fact that it literally made me fall asleep multiple time is a bummer. I still highly recommend reading it, though. It's very well written and I understand why it's a classic.
l0rdtim865's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
shanmei's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
futurama1979's review against another edition
5.0
The five star rating from five years ago is still accurate in my book. I think this novel is very close to, if not just is, a perfect story. Maybe I just have a lot of childhood nostalgia for it, but I love reading every part of this, every adventure on their long journey. The battle scenes are not long or gratuitous, which is something that I find pretty arduous in some high fantasy stories. Also, the character arc Tolkien wrote for Bilbo was something I found myself really appreciating this time around; I thought it was really well done. A perfect comfort read.
andrewawilson's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
triniredreading's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
5.0
This time through I listened with the my 9 y.o. who wanted to give it 6 stars out of 5. Andy Serkis's narration was superb but I am overjoyed that my little person was drawn into the adventure and now also loves one of my favourite stories.