John Gibsy is not the Hobbit Botherer (HB). His wife, on the other hand, is. After seeing Peter Jackson in a dream, John takes his wife on a trip across New Zealand in an effort to 'cure' her. What results is a really fascinating guide to New Zealand, with an emphasis on Lord of The Rings (LOTR) locations. It's not totally a LOTR guidebook, because well, at least one half of this couple isn't that big a fan.
What I enjoyed was the tone of the piece. It's written in a conversational tone that I never got sick off, and peppered with jokes. I can't believe that he was only in New Zealand for a visit, he writes as though he stayed there for a long time, and I think he genuinely likes the people and the country.
Apart from a laugh-out-loud travelogue, this book also has quite a lot of facts about New Zealand. Somehow, John Gibsy has managed to incorporate facts about various parts of New Zealand in an interesting manner. If I was taught this way all the time, I'm sure I would have scored straight A's.
Well, maybe not. I might have just spent the whole time laughing instead of learning.
Although I have relatives living in New Zealand, I've never been there. And while I'm a LOTR fan, I haven't watched the movies yet. After reading this book though, I'm very tempted to go there. Not so much for the LOTR spots (that might be nice though), but because the country sounds fascinating in general.
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book as part of the Enchanted Book Promotions blog tour.
Thanks so much for reviewing our book, glad you enjoyed it :)
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Thank you for reading my review.
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