Although eclipsed in terms of scale and importance by Tolkein’s later opus, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit still remains a powerful and moving book. There is courage and loyalty and friendship and adventure in the story of Bilbo Baggins. The book is also, surprisingly, a sober look at the horrors of war. Tolkein was, in many ways, dealing with his own experiences as a veteran of World War I, and while his prose is never gratuitous (it was a children’s book, after all), it is deeply moving. As Bilbo says at the conclusion of the Battle of the Five Armies, “Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business.”

~ Evan Derrick

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