Book Review: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien + Movie Trailer

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BOOK review
this review includes the movie trailer.
Started on: 10.June.2012
Finished on: 14.June.2012 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
(I'm reading the Ballantine Books' version)

Title : The Hobbit
Author : J.R.R. Tolkien
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Pages : 306 Pages
Year of Publication : 1982
Price : $8.28 (http://www.amazon.com)

Rating: 5/5

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a prelude to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
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The story begins with a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins; living his comfortable life in The Shire. And his happily quiet life was then disturbed by the arrival of thirteen dwarves at his door, along with his friend Gandalf, the wizard. The head of the thirteen dwarves was Thorin Oakenshield, the heir to the destroyed dwarf kingdom under the Lonely Mountains. And so, Thorin and his companion are going to reclaim Thorin's throne in Lonely Mountains, as well as its' huge treasure - guarded by a dragon named Smaug, who destroyed the kingdom of Thorin's Grandfather named Thror. Bilbo was then taken along their adventure to the Lonely Mountains together with Thorin and 12 dwarves, as well as Gandalf. From that point onwards, they have to face various obstacles that they never imagined before.

"Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away, ere break of day,

To find our long-forgotten gold."

In the beginning of their journey, Gandalf stayed and accompanied them. So when they were attacked by a group of Goblins in the Misty Mountains, Gandalf managed to save them from danger. Unfortunately, Bilbo was left behind and nobody noticed; and he was lost inside the goblin tunnels. However, it wasn't so unfortunate when Bilbo accidentally found a mysterious ring. And deep down in the tunnel, Bilbo met Gollum a mysterious strange creature living the underground lake. Gollum didn't easily let Bilbo know the way out of the tunnel; but plays a game of riddle with him: If Bilbo wins, he gets to know the way out; but if he loses, Gollum wouldn't spare his life. And even though at the end Gollum didn't accept the fact that he lost, Bilbo managed to escape by the help of the ring that made him invisible.

After escaping, Bilbo then rejoins the dwarves; but they are still going to face a whole lot more obstacles ahead. They were chased by Wargs - a group of wolves, although thankfully Gandalf was still around to give extra help for them. However, in the middle of the journey Gandalf suddenly had to leave them and everybody seems to rely too much on Bilbo Baggins. Troubles kept coming, when Thorin got caught by Wood-elves, they also met and fought Giant Spiders, and at the end they have to face their greatest enemy yet: Smaug the Dragon. We will just have to see how lucky and witty the little hobbit is.

"But their spirits sank at his grave words, and they all felt that the adventure was far more dangerous than they had thought, while all the time, even if they passed all the perils of the road, the dragon was waiting at the end."

Will Thorin be able to reclaim his family's throne in Lonely Mountain and get the treasures back? Will Bilbo Baggins the hobbit be able to come back to his hobbit-hole at home?

Read the complete adventure in The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

Actually I don't know how to summarize the plot of this book, because I'm completely amazed with the adventure, and at a loss of words. So I decided not to write too much plot summary to avoid spoiler, and let those who haven't read this enjoy the  I've heard so many wonderful things about the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Tolkien's works; but only just now that I realized it, after reading the book myself. For me, Tolkien is an amazing story teller, because the story of this book flows really nicely without a chance of making me bored - even with the long descriptions. Not only once that I repeated some parts just because I kept admiring the beautiful poetic words written in the book.

As for the plot of the story, I think it's a great and exciting adventure to read. There are lots of obstacles along their way towards the final destination, and of course they had to fight hard to get away from it (which is the most exciting part). It's really astounding how Bilbo and the dwarves always managed to find a way (with a pinch of luck) to get out of trouble. The story itself made it seemed like I was part of the journey, somehow; because everything was described in great detail. **Oh, and for those of you who read the LOTR trilogy but didn't read this book, you'll get to know how Bilbo Baggins got hold of the Ring in the first place ;)

As for the character, my favorite would be the great 'burglar' Bilbo Baggins! I just love it how he develops in the story; how he relied on Gandalf in the beginning of the story, and then realized his wits and skills when Gandalf is not around anymore to give help. Actually I wanted to know more about Gandalf - because he just seemed so mysterious in this book; but I guess I'll find out more about him in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As for the dwarves, there are only two character that came to mind when I wrote this; which are Thorin Oakenshield and Bombur. For Thorin, of course because he's the royal-blooded one, and his greed for treasures in the end made me remember him even better. As for Bombur, he is the fatty dwarf; which differs him the most from the other dwarves. There's also a funny part where Bombur fainted and had to be carried by the dwarves; which really causes so much trouble.

"There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much."

Reading this book, made me want to read all of Tolkien's work; starting from The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Child of Hurin, even to the History of Middle-Earth. Somehow only from this book, I'm already starting to grow a liking towards Tolkien. It's a pity that Tolkien passed away already, so I cannot expect any other book from him. Nevertheless, even though I know that it's pretty late to be enjoying Tolkien's work, I always think it's better late than never. It is always a great great pleasure for me to find a book as wonderful and memorable as this. So, thank you Mr. Tolkien, I would love to tell your stories to my children someday :)

*for more information on Tolkien's work: http://lotr.wikia.com/

*i also go a bit here to help me summarize the plot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit

and who's excited for The Hobbit movie adaptation?! I surely am :)) For those who haven't seen the trailer yet, I've add some information below ;)

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The Hobbit will be adapted into a movie, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. The story is about a curious Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a vigorous group of Dwarves to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug (taken from imdb.com). For those of you who didn't know, Martin Freeman also starred as Dr. John Watson alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in BBC's Sherlock. And I think the movie adaptation for The Hobbit will be absolutely amazing because the director is Peter Jackson; who directs The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well. When I saw the trailer, I had goosebumps because I'm sure it will be super cool! It is said to release this December, I hope I'll finish reading the LOTR trilogy before that! For those of you who haven't seen the trailer, check it out below :))

 by.stefaniesugia♥ .