Riddles have lost none of their power over us: we are as fascinated by mysteries, from sudoko to whodunnits, from jokes to philosophical conundrums.

In the spirit of this sentiment, Adam Roberts seeks to fight against the dominance of The lord of the Rings (and who knows the simple and action filled The Hobbit move adaption - should ask him one day!) and uncover the fascinating depth of The Hobbit in The Riddles of The Hobbit the first critical engagement with tolkien's great novel to explore 'the riddle' as a key principle. In 1947 Tolkien wrote in a letter to his publisher and friend, Stanley Unwin, that The Hobbit is not as simple as it seems. It is about time a serious study like this was made! However it remains a fact that many like discussing The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit remains seen as the smaller story and of less importance. Even Peter Jackson noticed the importance of the riddles and in the first The Hobbit movie the Riddles in the Dark scene was not only the best part of the movie but also the closest to the book. We get cook books, riddles by fans, religion in The Hobbit, and all the other usual suspects that come with movie adaptations. The book for me was also perfectly timed, with The Hobbit movies in the cinema, I felt very disappointed on how little serious books are being written. It has to be told, this is just a genius idea and the result is of the same caliber. Hours later, after reading the whole book, I understood that here was an excellent piece of research and an amazing in depth analysis of all there is to be said about Riddles in connection with J.R.R.

OK, I know the famous Riddles in the Dark scene, but how on earth could any person write so many pages covering The Riddles of the Hobbit. The next surprise was the size of the book, a whopping 192 pages.

Inside sat a proof copy with the title The Riddles of The Hobbit, a book written by no one less then Adam Robert, the author of Jack Glass. One fine morning I found an envelope in my mailing box that riddled me.

Lord of the rings gollum riddles