The Hobbit: Or, There and Back Again, Revised ed.
by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Ballantine (New York): 1966. Paperback: 304 pages. ISBN-10: 0-345-33968-1 Suggested retail price: $6.99 (US) Tags: dwarves; elves; Fantasy; made into movie; Middle Earth; wizards Tactical strength: [8/10] |
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Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, lives in a hole under the Hill -- the swanky Hobbit neighborhood. Hobbits look like minature humans, but they don't have the exaggerated features of dwarves. One day, Gandalf the wizard drops by with a company of twelve dwarves. After depleting Bilbo's pantry, the dwarves explain their plan to reclaim their home under Erebor far to the north in the Lonely Mountains. The dwarves lived under Erebor until Smaug, a dragon, drove them and their forefathers out. Reluctantly, Bilbo agrees to accompany the party on their journey. (Gandalf convinced the dwarves that Bilbo is a burglar.)
Along the way, the party meets friendly and unfriendly elves, goblins, gigantic spiders, eagles, a shapeshifter, wolves, and humans. Bilbo also finds the Ring, which makes the wearer invisible and comes in quite handy for rescuing the dwarves and talking to dragons. (The ring also forms the basis for the entire Lord of the Rings tilogy.)
Unusual from the standpoint of today's fantasy, neither Bilbo nor the dwarves personally defeat the dragon. That honor falls on one of the humans in a nearby city. Also unusual, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit using an omniscient point of view, which creates a disconnected fairy-tale feeling. Tolkien developed an entire world in which his story takes place. He developed the entire elvish and dwarvish languages as well as the history of his world from the beginning of time. Although you learn very little of the backstory in The Hobbit, you get the feeling of completeness, depth, and complexity from the narrative.
Classic fantasy by which most other fantasy must be measured.
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