Book Review #6: The Hobbit
31 January 2026
Book #5, review #6 finished just before the end of January, which means I am officially half way in the first month of the year. The odds of success are looking good!
Title: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R Tolkien
Publication Date: 21 September, 1937
Official Length: 310 pages
Score: ★★★★★
To the surprise of no one, someone who made a shrine to hobbits highly rates The Hobbit.
The first Middle-earth book by Tolkien, The Hobbit follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins as he journeys to a far away mountain to assist thirteen dwarves in reclaiming their lost treasure. Gandalf, the cheeky old git, told these dwarves that Bilbo is a master burglar who will be capable of taking the treasure right out from under the evil dragon, Smaug. Oh Gandalf what shall we do with you!
Despite being described as a children's book, and indeed starting off as a series of bedtime stories for his kids, The Hobbit does not read like a children's book. It's an everyone book. You are not talked down to, and the book is capable of getting quite dark in some places. Short episodic chapters make it the ideal book to read before bed (huh, a bedtime story that you can read before bed. Novel.) and if you're familiar with the universe through Lord of the Rings, even if just the movies, you'll see many a familiar place and people.
So what's so great about it? Well, everything I suppose. The details of the universe are unmatched, the world is varied and interesting. The people, too. As you read through the book you see Bilbo grow from this timid home-body to a brave, cunning hobbit. The dwarves' plight is a little heartwrenching, you feel for their loss. The elves are a merry, mysterious people - actually quite different from their descriptions in Lord of the Rings, their description here does reflect the more child-like nature of the book as they act like how children would think of elves in typical fairy tales. The goblins, which are basically small orcs, are savage and dangerous creatures. And then arguably the most important of all: Gollum.
"It is a pity Bilbo did not kill him when he had the chance."
"Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand."
- Frodo and Gandalf, in Lord of the Rings
Being such a short book I think this is a great start for anyone who is interested in reading about Middle-earth. Perhaps you have seen the Lord of the Rings movies, or even The Hobbit movies, and want to see the source material. The Hobbit gives you a taste of what's to come in Lord of the Rings without asking too much of you or diving too deep, which Tolkien often does. The book has been revised to better fit the world Tolkien later built in Lord of the Rings.