As posted on Goodreads.
Total dreck! Who greenlighted this book? The author commits every cardinal sin of basic fiction writing: breaking the 4th wall, using the first person, using second person, hand-waving, telling instead of showing, archaic dialogue tags (“said Bilbo”). Some offenses the more advanced reader will notice, like no plot twists or shocking reveals, no detailed explanation of the magic system, an indecisive protagonist who barely acts, barely any mention of blood in all the battles that took place, and not a woman to be found! I’m going to assume one of the characters was a fierce Muslim woman who wore a hijab (by choice, of course) who identified as a dwarf. Inexplicably, Tolkien never pointed this out.
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All of which contribute to my fond memories of that book from way back in the 1970s. Would you believe I was introduced to Tolkien by the Silmarillion? That was the background source collection published posthumously, if I remember correctly. I managed to pick up the background first quite by accident, which made the regular series a lot easier to follow.
Hopefully this review is clearly satire (I rated the book 5 of 5 stars), though there’s nothing incorrect in what I listed. I don’t know what fiction “rules” were in place when he wrote this, but the Hobbit was more of a children’s book and bending the rules are a little easier.
You’re right about the Silmarillion. I haven’t read it but it’s on the list. It’ll take me a few weeks to remember how to pronounce the title first.