Adventure with a Hobbit LOTS of Dwarves.

I saw the Lord of the Rings films way before I read the Hobbit, so my idea of what Middle Earth looked like was basically set in stone before I even picked up the book and started reading the description of the hobbits. Everything I read looked like the movies in my mind. I saw Ian McKellen every time Gandalf spoke. Or I saw Iam Holm as Biblo. This didn't really hinder the reading at all. It was almost like reading a prequel to the movies, (though, it won't be long before Hobbit gets the hollywood treatment) which I guess is sad because it makes me feel like I should read the Lord of the Rings trilogy so that I read a prequel to the books. But, from what I've heard from friends that have read Lord of the Rings, it's extremely long winded. It goes on to explain everything in a massive amount of detail even when it doesn't seem important to the plot. This is what I found with the Hobbit, though I'm told it's not as excruciating. I actually enjoyed the detailing put into the book. I enjoy Tolkien's mythos and like to be taken there. That being said, there were definitely parts of the book I feel asleep on. I distinctly remember having to reread the barrel scene because I read it while trying my damnedest to stay conscious.

Not that it was all boring though. I especially enjoyed the scene with Gollum. Mostly because of the movies and because I could see Gollum the way the movie's represented him. The descriptions match almost perfectly. I also loved seeing the ring in the story. How it seems almost insignificant compared to it's importance in The Lord of the Rings. I also really liked the dragon scene. It was interesting to me that the main character wasn't the one to defeat the dragon as expected.

Probably my biggest complaint about the Hobbit compared to my experience watching the Lord of the Rings moves is the fact that the group that comes with Bilbo is about 90% dwarves. I'm rather partial to the elves, so I was hoping that they had more time in the story as main characters.