for the almost equally good Gypsy(1992), placing
a gypsy with sorcerous powers in the midst of
politicians and crime lords.
Ogden adopted the Robin Hobb pen name
starting in 1995 with the much more successful
Farseer series, Assassin’s Apprentice(1995), Royal
Assassin(1996) and Assassin’s Quest(1997). In a
world in which professional assassins are members
of a respected occupation, a young man undertakes
his first assignment, succeeds after considerable ef-
fort and his own near-fatal wounding, and learns to
make use of an unsuspected magical talent, all in
the service of his king. The Tawny Man sequence
continues the series, with the protagonist returning
to foil a kidnapping in Fool’s Errand(2002) and
surviving further adventures in Golden Fool(2003)
and Fool’s Fate(2004). The two trilogies are longer
and more polished than her work as Lindholm but
generally show less originality.
The Liveship Traders series—Ship of Magic
(1998), Mad Ship (1999), and Ship of Destiny
(2000)—is far more interesting and certainly her
best work to date. Various families, both aristocratic
and pirate, strive for control of particular ships,
many of which have been given intelligence and
self-awareness through the powers of wizardry. Dur-
ing the course of the three novels, the ramifications
of the setting are explored as part of the engaging
and exciting plot. Although few short stories have
appeared under either name, and most of them in
shared universe anthologies, the long tale “Home-
coming” (2004) is quite good.
The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien(1937)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. TOLKIENis
actually a sequel to this children’s fantasy, in which
the plot elements for the trilogy are established
and some of the major characters, such as Gandalf,
Bilbo Baggins, and Gollum, are introduced. The
full original title is The Hobbit, or There and Back
Again,and it tells the story of a much younger
Bilbo Baggins, uncle of Frodo, who becomes the
ring bearer, recovering it after Gollum loses it.
Tolkien wrote the novel while a member of the
Inklings, an informal writer’s group that included
fellow fantasy writers C. S. LEWISand Charles
Williams.
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, a halfling, presum-
ably related to humans and dwarves, as the hob-
bits’ physical appearance includes aspects of each
of the two races. They are smaller than men, have
large hairy feet, do not wear shoes, but otherwise
might pass for human children. Bilbo seems an un-
likely hero, but Gandalf sees something of value in
him and convinces him to take part in a quest to
steal a treasure from the dragon Smaug, who
hoards it in his cave. Bilbo does so in the company
of a band of dwarves and later uses his wiles to sep-
arate a golden ring from its temporary owner, Gol-
lum. Gollum is very similar to a hobbit in origin,
but his long exposure to the ring’s dire magical in-
fluence has corrupted him in both mind and body.
His determination to reclaim his prize is one of the
central plot elements in the later trilogy.
Tolkien revised The Hobbittwice, once in 1951
and again in 1966, altering the emphasis in some
cases to mesh more closely with the Lord of the
Rings. An animated film version was produced, and
a live-action motion picture is planned as a follow-
up to the immensely successful series based on the
other books. Although readers coming to The Hob-
bitafter the Lord of the Rings may be disappointed
by the relatively small scope and the comparatively
simple prose, the story provides a great deal of
background and allows readers to observe how
Tolkien gradually shaped his created world.Hodge, Brian(1960– )
After selling a very few short stories during the
early to mid-1980s, Brian Hodge produced his first
horror novel, Dark Advent (1988), which is
squarely in the tradition of Stephen KING, Robert
R. McCAMMON, and others. A new plague devas-
tates the world, killing most of the population over
the course of a very short period of time. A hand-
ful of survivors are sheltering in a department store
when they discover that the collapse of civilization
has also set free an ancient evil force. Although
obviously influenced by King’s The Stand(1978),
Hodge took the story in a new direction, and the
climax is considerably better than King’s. His sec-
ond novel, Oasis(1989), is much more original,
dealing with a blood feud that transcends the limi-
tations of time. The protagonist witnesses unusual162 The Hobbit