This charming little fantasy is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. And, like all hobbits, Bilbo didn't want to leave home. Well, Gandalf the Socerer and thirteen dwarves changed that in a hurry. Bilbo was dragged off for an adventure. On which he met a score of interesting people, and found (some say stole) an interesting ring deep in a Goblin lair. At the end of the journey there was Smaug the evil dragon to face and a great treasure to be won. Tolkein wrote this novel as a preclude to his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. It has an excellent plot line and wonderful detail. The Hobbit is definatly Tolkien at his best. -RS
I have never said that I hate a book, but this one has set a record. The characters were ill written, the diolague was hard to follow (even to one who frequently reads Shakespeare), and the plot was seriously lacking. Freia, one of the main characters, was always contradicting herself. Dewar, Freia's brother, was bisexual. Which wouldn't have mattered exept he insisted upon trying to get in his cousin's pants and succeded in doing so with his sister. There was a hole big enough in the plot to drive a mack truck through. I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you happen to enjoy reading 400 pages on Court politics of the Middle Ages by an author that wants to be Shakespeare. -RS
