Customer Reviews

The Soddit: Or, Let's Cash in Again (GollanczF.)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

i bought this book hoping for another bored of the rings. Its ok overall, but it differs from the Hobbit to much. Characters die that should'nt, plot twists occur that should'nt. In places it felt as though the author was trying to re-write the story. instead of concentrating on comedy, like a parody should, it seemed to take itself a bit too seriously.

Swapping names like "Bilbo Baggins" for "Bingo 'Sac' Grabbings", you'd expect A.R.R.R. Roberts' 'The Soddit' to be an enjoyable romp and an entertaining parody of Tolkien's classic novel. Instead, the author settles for mediocrity and offers the reader very little in the way of humour. Saying this though, 'The Soddit' wasn't a terrible read, but it was a disappointing one.

Loan it from your local library instead.

The book is so terrible, I cannot believe someone can write such a gibberish. It looks like an author has never been told that his sense of humor is unacceptable. It reminds me of a hopeless guy who cannot master an art of telling a joke and make others laugh. Whenever he tells a joke, other people would smile and nod their heads politely, but never tell the joker how really bad he is. The book lacks everything. It is not funny, it is utterly boring and its so called humor is anything but something you would like to read for an entertainment. Avoid it at any cost.

This book is a parody of The Hobbit, incase you couldnt tell from the book's title. This book focuses on comedy rather than following along with Tolkien's original classic, there is a feeling that Tolkien provided the insparation for this novel but, the characters and the story arent like those in the Hobbit, which is the the norm for a parody. The humor, though a bit weak at times, was virtually non-stop. This was the only reason reason that this book earned five stars from me. The humor was the main reason I purchased this book, there were laughs and many puns. The characters were well developed and there were many details. This book is worth its money and it should be read with, not instead of, the Hobbit. The Hobbit gives you the background for the tale and you can distinguish between characters far more easily, but, nontheless, this is a very entertaining book, thats it. There isnt any true literary value other than the fact that it makes fun of a great book and will make you laugh yourself to sleep. Buy it, or at least, borrow it from your local "hobbit-hole" library.

Like every Soddit Bingo Grabbins enjoys a comfortable life and violently attacks anyone who dares to endanger this goal, as long as the opposition is much smaller than him, that is. Indeed Bingo can be a real pain in a dark cave, certainly when one treads on his extremely painful feet. So it is no wonder that when Gandef and his company of brainless Welsh dwarves force him to go on a long and tedious adventure that Bingo is far from happy and never misses an opportunity to make this very clear. And wouldn't one agree that he has reasons enough: wasn't it indeed Gandef who completely ruined Bingo's front door with a magical spell gone haywire? And by the way, the dwarves claim that they are on mission to find enormous amounts of free gold. Well, Bingo does not believe this to be the real purpose of their quest. They are probably out just to get in some real painful trouble and how Bingo pities his painful feet.

Although The Soddit hints at being a parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, it basically only uses the characters of that masterpiece of fantasy and tells a completely different story. True, Gandef and Bingo do go on a quest (although no one knows what the real purpose is), but that is about where the similarities end. In a way not following the original story has been a good decision, because it gives the reader the enjoyment of not knowing what will happen next. On the other side it also reveals that the author while writing the story never really had an ending in mind and just went along to see what the story would turn out to be. But then again, this kind of book is made by its puns and jokes, and The Soddit is really packed full with them. Of course not all of them are as funny as they were intended, but on average it has enough successful ones to make this book an enjoyable and hilarious read.

Being a fan of Bored of the Rings and Doon I decided to get this book. I really love a good parody. The book starts out pretty funny if a tad gross. Maybe that's just the English in the English humor. As you follow the characters it starts to change, becoming somewhat serious, which starts to draw away the humor. Drop by drop the book starts to develop a serious theme, a theme about trust and understanding.
Now, how can you be a parody if you start changing the book into something meaningful and good? A parody can't have a serious bone in the whole body.
That is why I had to take away a few points.