The Hobbit

 Man, what a great Thanksgiving weekend! Had good eats and had quite a lot of reading material done. I started off by reading the classic novel “The Hobbit” which is my first foray in the actual literary work of J. R. R. Tolken. While I haven't read anything from him until now, I am quite a fan of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and was really looking forward to reading one of his works at some point. What I was presented with was a very charming story about the unexpected adventure of Bilbo Baggins.

One thing that Tolken is really known for is creating a living, breathing fantasy world, and this book is no exception. The attention to detail put into society is quite amazing for a supposed “children's book”. Due to it being a children's book however, it is still susceptible to the common cliches you would expect to see in a fantasy novel. However, due to Tolken's influence to the fantasy genre and epic novels as a whole, they can be easily excused. It's also a great example of a novel that follows the hero's journey cycle (which was brought up in class).

The protagonist Bilbo Baggins, an aging hobbit, is lead to an adventure by wizard Gandalf to take back the gold belonging to the dwarf's family. He goes through numerous trials that often lead in danger but in the end, succeeds with his goal. A hero's journey never ends however, and the ending leads to another adventure. With that, the hero's journey begins again.

With such a rich world and good writing, The Hobbit is a really great story for younger readers and fantasy fans in general.