This was my 6th book finished in 2024.

Firstly, it was a lot more light-hearted than I'd expected. It really is a children's book.

Honestly, I just found this book a bit boring. It started off promising, but got worse with each chapter. I'll never understand why the big conclusion didn't involve Smaug. He just

suddenly died

, and then we have a really boring last third of the book. Very anticlimactic.

I thought the problem was the third film of the trilogy, but it turns out the problem was the source material all along!

There were sections of hard exposition, especially around the battle, and I was so bored.

Just a note to say Thorin is more likeable in the book. I hated his character in the film.

And lastly, the songs made it all the more painful. No song belongs in a book. I rolled my eyes every time one came up.

In conclusion, I thought this book was really overrated. Peter Jackson did well with what he had as source material.