4 replies to this topic

[TheCobra1]

Here's a little excerpt from the BBC article:

BBC said:

A new book by The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien has gone on sale, 34 years after the writer's death.

The Children of Hurin has been completed by his son Christopher from a series of unfinished manuscripts. Christopher said the story, set long before the events of the Rings trilogy, represents the last major work by his father about Middle-earth. The book has been illustrated by Alan Lee, who worked on the movie series and will help launch the book in London.

Fans will recognise several passages from the book that have already been published separately.

Here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.u...ent/6562757.stm

Have any of you bought it yet? Is it good? It sounds pretty exciting. I heard that there aren't any hobbits in it, though.

[Beren IV]

I do not have it yet, but I plan to get it. I do not know if it will be good. The Lay of the Children of Húrin is (was) by far the most complete of J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished tales, and making it into a novel would mean the least amount of work for Chistopher. Does Christopher have the writing skill of his father? Can he avoid the numerous possible pitfalls that J.R.R. managed to avoid while writing The Lord of the Rings? Did Christopher realize that, in order to make it into a novel, that the narration of the prose would have to be changed from the mythical or biblical style into a novelistic style? C.T. so far has give me no real indication that he is capable of this, since his previous editings and publications of his father's unfinished works have been just that: editing and publication, in which C.T. showed that he was just as much the scholar as his father, but no indication on his ability to write fiction. At the same time, this is C.T.'s first real attempt at writing a novel, so the fact that he has not done this already does not indicate his ineptitude either.

I will have to wait and see. I am glad that it was the Lay of the Children of Húrin and not the Lay of Leithian, since the latter not only is written in a mythic form, but it has major story inconsistancies and plot holes in a couple of places.

[Enarwaen]

i've bought it last week - although didn't have the chance to start reading. the artwork by Alan Lee is great though .
One thing that kind of irked me - i was somehow under the impression that the Wanderings of Húrin would also be part of the book - sort of as an epilogue ... oh well - we still got HoME for that though

[MrBlack103]

I've read it, and it's a great book. However, those of you looking for a happy ending, look elsewhere. I found myself crying near the end (I get quite emotional sometimes!).

[Aldandil]

I bought it. I haven't read through all of the whole thing cover to cover yet, but I can say more or less what it contains.

No Wanderings of Hurin, unfortunately. I guess that makes sense since this is supposed to be a translation of the Narn, not an anthology on the subject, but an epilogue would have been nice.

The texts in this book are generally more detailed than what appears in the Silmarillion, and complete from start to finish (unlike the fragmented treatment in the Unfinished Tales). It is not as detailed as a novel, in fact it is a bit less detailed than the Wanderings of Hurin.

Several passages are the same ones that appeared in Unfinished Tales or the Silmarillion. Several other passages are different, often longer, texts that have never been published before. There aren't any gigantic changes in the story, but there are some differences in details here and there, plus various new details. To my understanding, the newly published passages were written later than the corresponding texts in the Silmarillion, but I'm not sure about that.


Overall, I'd say that it is more accessible than the Unfinished Tales form and more detailed than the Silmarillion form, but I think it will only count as "new" material to the sort of people who read the History of Middle-Earth.

Edited by Aldandil, 15 May 2009 - 06:38 PM.