The Hobbit is a fantasy novel by J.R.R Tolkien that is a prequel to the more famous Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. If you want to start reading, the Lord of the Rings series right from the very beginning, then choosing to read The Hobbit before touching any of the LOTR books would be very advisable.
The story is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins.
Mr. Baggins is no different. Like every other hobbit, he lived a simple and comfortable life and didn’t like adventures. Then one day, a group of 13 dwarfs, along with a wizard named Gandalf arrived at his home and persuaded him to go on an adventure with him. The plot of the adventure was to reclaim the wealth that Smaug the dragon had stolen from the dwarfs when he attacked their homeland. They needed an expert burglar for that, which is why they recruited Mr. Baggins for the journey. Thus the adventure started. On the adventure, they came upon and had rough encounters with goblins, elves, trolls, eagles, giant spiders and wolves. They got captured several times and then had to either fight their way out, or someone, particularly Gandalf and Bilbo, rescued them. At the end of the story a great war occurred, known as THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES.
Through the course of the story, we see a great deal of change in our hobbit. In the beginning, Bilbo did not find adventures interesting, and he seemed to care more about his furniture and utensils than about the events of the world. But later into the story, we find him fighting huge spiders with his sword and then even plucking the courage to talk to the great dragon, Smaug, face-to-face. Inside the courteous hobbit, there lay dormant a bold adventurer, who only needed an adventure to come out and shine. And when the chance came, the gentlemanly part moved aside and Bilbo ultimately became a hero.
One of the things you would love about the book is the description of the dwarfs and elves. Dwarfs, in spite of their small size, are shown here as a noble breed of people who are skilled in armed and unarmed combat, and are very tough and strong-hearted. They loved gold and precious gems, but they also loved to sing and dance and get merry with people.
The elves, as described in this story, are much different from how they are shown in other fairy tales or fantasy stories. Unlike other stories, where the elves are dwarf-sized humanoid creatures, elves, in this story are as tall as the average person is and very beautiful. Besides their skill in warfare, the elves are very wise and possess deep knowledge about worldly things that most other people don’t. Like the dwarfs, they like music and singing too, although their music is much different from that of the dwarfs.
On a whole, it’s a very thrilling adventure tale featuring mythical creatures like dragons and goblins, and the descriptions of all the events given by the author are so vivid that you would think you are a part of the story. Even though the book was written for children, teenagers and adults would enjoy the book too as most of the language in the book are too rich for children under the age of 13 to read.