The Hobbit

The Hobbit is one of the most influential fantasy stories of its time and is most definitely one of the books you think of when you think about the fantasy genre. Personally, this is not my favorite book. It is, however, a good example of the hero's journey archetype. Bilbo gets called to an adventure when Gandalf comes knocking on his door and then brings tons of frugal dwarves with him the next day. Gandalf mentors (and assists) Bilbo and the dwarves while they cross the forest until he leaves them. Bilbo faces many trials (a dangerous riddling goblin, a greedy dragon, and an epic battle). Ultimately, Bilbo returns home and readjusts to his new life as a supposed hero. These events that are listed only scratch the surface of the hero's journey. As a writer, reading this book could be useful to remember and understand how important the hero's journey is in writing. If you really think about it, every single piece of writing can follow the hero's journey. For me, The Hobbit is an example of how not to write fantasy, considering that I found it extremely dull and hard to concentrate on. Perhaps this is due to the narrator getting sidetracked constantly, the characters of the dwarves were too voluminous to remember specifically, or the fact that the "hero" of the story doesn't even do anything at the climax of the book except run away (Bilbo doesn't kill Smaug the dragon, for Smaug flies away and then someone else kills it for him. To top that off, Bilbo just hangs around with his invisibility ring for most of The Battle of the Five Armies.). One small benefit of reading The Hobbit is that you can compare it to the movies and understand the movies better as well.