Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien

Having read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings twice, like most people I suspect, this was as much as I knew about the works of JRR Tolkien. A few years back we were introduced to a new book, The Silmarillion, which Tolkien's son, Christopher, had put together from unfinished writings of his father, based on what he understood the original plan had been for the plot of this new story. I hadn't realised as well that Tolkien senior had a habit of starting and never finishing his stories or even starting them all over again, leaving the original version abandoned and then not even finishing the alternative. Whether he just got bored or was a ...  Read the complete review

It's always a surprise to be able to buy a new book several decades after the death of the author, but the Children of Hurin has been painstakingly pieced together over the years by Christopher Tolkien from manuscripts his father wrote before his death. If you have read the Silmarillion, this story will not be a complete surprise to you - the tragic tale of the antihero Turin and his sister/wife Nienor is one of its most compelling stories and this is a rework and extension of existing material. This version is greatly extended from the version in the Silmarillion and has improved readability over the Silmarillion. I particularly liked the new artwork by Alan ...  Read the complete review

Tolkien is by far and away my favourite author, but I took a long time to getting round to reading this book. The reason: the last of his work I read was the Silmarillion, and boy was it a struggle. Now don't get me wrong, it was great, but it was dense, heavy going reading. Like The Silmarillion, Children of Hurin focuses on a pre-Lord of the Rings Middle Earth. It's the time of Morgoth (whose servant Sauron later goes on the wreak havoc amongst Frodo et al). The basics of Middle Earth are there: Elves and Dwarves, Orcs and men, but you won't see anyone from the cast of Lord of the Rings, and therefore there are new characters to get to know. This ...  Read the complete review