Sri Lanka It's Happening

May 19, 2007

Of course it's a children's book but the moment I got my hands on it, I stopped everything and I do mean *everything* else and started reading. Since the style of writing is much much more simpler than the Silmarrilion or the Lord of the Rings, I could have finished the whole book in a couple of hours but I chose not to. A book like this has to be savored and read slowly.

It is said that Tolkien made a few revisions from the first edition so that it is consistent with the story in the Lord Of The Rings and the Silmarilion. However there are still a few things that he has missed out. That doesn't make the book less interesting. Spotting these inconsistencies was part of the fun.

In the appendices of the LOTR, it says the Dwarfs cannot be turned to evil easily, yet The Hobbit gives you the impression that they can be. Even the mind of a great dwarf like Thorin Oakenshield (the LOTR says how he aquired that name), can be clouded by the greed. Elves don't sound as magical or powerfull as they are made to be in the LOTR and Bilboa Baggins' eyesight is as good as or better than the woodland elves.