Christopher Tolkien – DaneCobain.com

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Children of Hurin | Review

Title: The Children of Hurin

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 320

Rating: 8/10

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Children of Hurin

This book is an interesting one because, despite it being written by J. R. R. Tolkien, it was released when I was in my teens, and so I devoured it almost immediately after its release. Edited by Christopher Tolkien from his father’s notes, it’s also interesting to see how Christopher, the author’s youngest son, was just as involved and enthralled by Middle Earth as his father was.

Children of Hurin tells us more of the history of Middle Earth, in the days when Morgoth was the Dark Lord, and there is at least a little bit of crossover here between references from elsewhere in the series, but to me it felt almost entirely original, and whilst it still clearly retained all of the hallmarks of Tolkien’s writing, it was also softened somewhat by the contemporary editing, which is one of the factors that made me enjoy this book almost as much as (if not more than) the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That’s the thing with Tolkien’s work – once you feel at home in Middle Earth, it doesn’t matter which period in time you’re reading about. After all, many of the characters cross between timelines due to their immortality or their status as a hero of legends, and so reading any of Tolkien’s books is like picking up a bucket of water from a waterfall. If Tolkien himself had been immortal, I can imagine him living out his days writing endless additions to the world of Middle Earth, without ever running out of unfinished story lines and ideas that he hadn’t executed.

Overall, then, I’d definitely recommend this to you if you’re a fan of Tolkien’s – I read this before I read The Silmarillion, and while I liked both, I’m glad I did.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Click here to buy The Children of Hurin.

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Book of Lost Tales I | Review

Title: The Book of Lost Tales I

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 297

Rating: 6/10

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Book of Lost Tales I

The Book of Lost Tales is an eclectic collection of the early work of J. R. R. Tolkien – in many ways, it’s the precursor to the Silmarillion, the infamous book of lore which no casual reader has ever struggled through. I haven’t even dared to start it, although I am looking forward to it.

Edited by Christopher Tolkien, the youngest son (now 89) of the great writer, it’s a fascinating insight in to the earlier thought processes and plot-lines that Tolkien documented as far back as the 1920s, but it’s only for hardcore readers – in all honesty, you should only really read it if you’ve already read the Silmarillion and you want to dig even deeper. In fact, it’s the first in a series of twelve books which Tolkien Jr. edited and published as The History of Middle-Earth.

And his father’s writing is excellent – even though it’s a little archaic, it’s understandable and interesting. The nuances might be lost, but you get the gist of the story-line and his descriptive prose is a wonder to behold. But then Christopher follows each tale with an essay in which every single nuance is pointed out and analysed to such a degree that the essays are often twice as long as the stories.

I know you can skip them, but that always feels like cheating – if you include notes and appendices then expect people to read them. If you expect people to read them, make them readable. My warning to you would be, ‘If you’re going to read it then don’t read the commentary – just lose yourself in Tolkien Snr.’s early, wonderful words.’