New Tolkien book released: The Children of Hurin
by Doc on Apr.18, 2007, under Books
Christopher Tolkien has been continuing his father’s work, sifting through piles and piles of notes and stories written over many years and editing them into publishable works, but they were not for the average reader, expecting something like The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, being very difficult to read, disjointed, and sometimes conflicting with other works. Not so with The Children of Hurin, originally started by J.R.R. Tolkien 99 years ago, which follows the story of of Hurin, and his children Turin and Nienor. The story has appeared in various forms in previous releases, but this is a newly edited version making it much more readable. CNN has a consise review of the novel. Update: And rumors of a movie are already out. Of course, this is just for the option to make it, which in many cases never get exercised.
April 21st, 2007 on 3:30 am
Anyone Read It Yet?
Is it any good?
April 23rd, 2007 on 11:55 pm
Re:Anyone Read It Yet?
I have it, I don’t know when I’ll get to read it yet though. I’m a couple of Man-Kzin Wars books behind for the encyclopedia as it is. Having a seven minute commute now has its disadvantages… 🙁
April 24th, 2007 on 5:19 am
My Take
Okay, so I just finished reading The Children of H?rin, and this is my review.
The book takes place during the first age of Middle Earth, while LOTR occurs at the end of the second/beginning of the third (if I recall correctly). Elves abound throughout the land, and mankind is fairly new, having come from the East with no desire to return. Morgoth is the Dark Lord, attempting to take over all of Beleriand. (I found it helped immensely to keep referencing to the fold out map at the end of the book. Things made little sense otherwise.) Morgoth’s chief servant is a guy named Sauron. A very epic battle took place early in the book–the scale can be gleaned from the fact that there was at least one Balrog in Morgoth’s forces. The battles throughout the remainder of the book were not so grand, as the defenders of the land never again marshalled such a great force.
The book has a much darker tone than the LOTR trilogy, and none of the humor. It is written as a tragedy. Because of H?rin’s defiance, the Dark Lord lays a doom on his children, mainly his son T?rin. And that doom comes to pass.
The book narrates events from the third person, but I never felt very connected to any of the characters. I guess I’d say that the narration was dispassionate and a bit disconnected. A good scriptwriter, however, could make a decent movie out of the events in the book. Anyone who made it through The Silmarillion will probably like it. The cover art is really good, and so is the artwork inside.
Overall, I rate this book at 3 out of 5.
April 29th, 2007 on 11:51 am
children of hurin
I think some folk who are putting their statements in various websites are saying stupid and wrong facts but i do think that ?children of hurin? could be quite an interesting and good read but i do also think that to understand it properly you would have to read the silmarillion first. i have read the silmarillion twice, the encyclopedia of middle earth and the undying lands and of course the lord of the rings and the hobbit many time as well as some of unfinished tales.