Back from the dead: Tolkien's new classic (Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien
Date:	24/08/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: accessible

Disadvantages: cliched dialogue at times

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 novel is an interesting text. First up, it's not all JRR Tolkien's work. It's put together by his son Christopher, but in this case Christopher actually wrote some of it too. It was completed from notes, and the son 'filled in the gaps': risky!

OK, so what is it about? It's about a really good guy called Hurin, who is brave and strong and respected by the elves. When held captive by Morgoth, the tale switches to his children, mostly his son Turin. The adventures of Turin revolve around battles and galantry, as all good Tolkien work does. It is essentially a good vs evil tale, but the new characters and plot make it completely fresh and new.

The best thing about this book is how accessible it is. It isn't a slog to read through at all. In fact, it's easier to read than The Lord of the Rings, and is similar in tone and style to The Hobbit. Because of this, it reads very easily, and this makes it great casual reading.

There are appendices and notes to go with it, but rest assured it does work on its own as a novel, and you don't need to be a Tolkien freak to get it.

The writing is very precise, and occasionally feels forced and unrealistic. Every word is carefully placed and it seems a little unreal at times, with characters speaking in cliches. I can't help but feel this is the hand of Christopher at work, as his father was a more intelligent and subtle wordsmith.

The illustrations of Alan Lee fill the book in beautiful colour plates, but this makes even the softcover £8.99 which is a lot to pay for a novel that is basically 250 pages long when you take out the notes.

All in all, an accessible addition to the Tolkien catalogue, but at times it doesn't quite ring true as a work of JRR Tolkien.

Summary: do it