Hey, as long as we're posting reviews of the most well-known books in all of creation, I might as well post this.

The middle-aged hobbit Bilbo Baggins lives in a hole in the ground (but not a nasty wet hole filled with worms or a dry, sandy hole, but a hobbit hole, and that means comfort). One day and old drunkard wizard called Gandalf the Grey arrives and asks Bilbo if he wants to go on an adventure. He leaves a mark on Bilbo's door after receiving a rejection and goes his way.

One day Bilbo is visited by a whole bunch of dwarves (Tolkien explains that they shouldn't really be called dwarfs). They all get drunk and talk about a dragon and treasure and assume Bilbo is going with them. Bilbo takes his belongings including some sort of food and embarks on a long trip with a rag tag crew of dwarves and Gandalf. Among the dwarves there is a Dwarf prince with a wooden shield called (surprisingly) Thorin Oakenshield who seems very sympathetic. They also meet elves, who seem very sympathetic and supple.

But on dark night in a cave in the mountains the dwarves are seized by goblins and taken to the goblin king. A fight ensues and Bilbo escapes and finds a creature named Gollum in a cave in the dark. When Gollum realises Bilbo has picked up the ring Gollum lost, Gollum reveales his true brutal face and starts a deadly hunt after Bilbo for the ring. Bilbo escapes the mountains.

The dwarves then pass through the forest and lots of spiders and elves again, but the later elves aren't very sympathetic or at all pliant. Then they get to the mountain with the dragon. I won't ruin the ending by telling everyone because people might want to read the book.

This novel is an enjoyable adventure with several twists in the story during the search for the treasure. Goblins and spiders get killed in a brutal manner. Interestingly the story was originally published as a children's story. Bilbo is a likable character who takes center stage, leading the dwarves against the dragon mostly on his own with his companions in the background. There's lots of fancy, prancy elves and Gollum talks with cunning and deviousness.

The novel is considered to a coming of age story of the main character Bilbo Baggins. It's also about loyalty mainly shown through doctor Livesey who unquestionably treates at one moment the wounded goblins after a fight. Gollum represents the lack of of this loyalty and truthfulness and it distinguishes him from the heroes. Gollum is a very convincing liar and very skilled at it. The novel is also clearly critical of drunkenness shown by the excessive drinking by Gandalf and all the dwarves, except Thorin.

A fun fact is that the novel has been adapted for the screen over two times, once in the form of a humourous musical cartoon.

I wholly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to all who loves [sic] stories about midgets. I consider it to be a true classic and superior to, for instance, the Willow movie.



EDIT: I'm going to leave this for now because it is a lovely parody in the time-honoured tradition of wotmania. However, if things get worse than they currently are I will delete it.

Thank you, and play nicely.