The Hobbit Book Review

Hi Guys,
This week I'm doing a book review for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, this is the first book I've read in 2012! I'm excited about finishing my first Goodreads book challenge. I want to read 50 books this year, and I hope I can accomplish my goal. The Hobbit is the prequel to The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, and it follows a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo goes on a quest with Gandalf and several Dwarves, and they have many misadventures. They meet lots monstrous creatures, my favorite is the guest appearance of Gollum, who plays a large part in this book, even though he's in it for a short period of time. Here is the synopsis from the back of the book:

Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest, facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse unknown dangers. Finally, it was Bilbo-alone and unaided-who had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of an entire countryside . . .

My first impression of this book was good. I've been a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, I haven't read the books yet, but I thought it would be best to start with the Hobbit, and so I sort of knew what it was about. This book was really great. The plot was fast paced, the characters were great, the mythology was well thought out, and I enjoyed the author's humor throughout the book. This book had action throughout, it seemed that in every chapter there was a new creature that they had to fight. The creatures were amazing to learn about, and I learned a lot about most of them. The humor between Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves, had me laughing a lot throughout this book. I only disliked a few things. One of the things I didn't quite like about the book was all the singing that was done. I know they're all mythical creatures... but really... why do they have to sing? I felt like I was reading a script for Glee (I like Glee, I just don't think I'd like to read about it). The lyrics were great, and went along with the story well, but I didn't like reading the same song several times throughout the book. My personal favorite song was Over the Misty Mountains Cold, it was very eery but it made the mood of that scene. Another thing I didn't really like about this book was the character Gandalf. I liked Gandalf throughout the Lord of the Rings movies, he was one of my favorite characters, but in this book, I just couldn't connect with him. I could connect with every other character though, especially Bilbo, Thorin, and Gollum. I even liked the enemies throughout the book, Smaug was a great addition towards the end, and the Spider scene was cool. I also liked the elves, and the trolls. I just don't know what was wrong with Gandalf's character, something just seemed off to me. Especially when he kept leaving them and coming back just in the nick of time. I give this book 4/5 stars because of these two reasons, but other than that this book was amazing. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the Lord of the Rings series... I would recommend it to anyone really. Check it out if you get a chance, it's worth the 20 pages worth of lyrics, and Gandalf's mysterious disappearances.

Additional Announcement: This book is being made into a movie. The movie is set to release in December of 2012. You can watch the trailer online now. I was happy to hear Over the Misty Mountains Cold during the trailer. I can't wait until the movie, I just hope it lives up to the book. Just don't watch the movie without reading the book first. :D