The Children of Hurin errr... wtf? Now, I can't say I don't like this story. In fact, I really like this particular story; just have a look at my user name. But it would a re-retelling of this famous story. After all, The Silmarilion covers 34 pages on the story (of Turin Turambar) and Unfinished tales (Narn i Hin Hurin. trl; The Story of Hurins Children) does more then 125 and is the biggest section in that book. Can a book about a story we've all been reading for some ages now be that great? I mean, it's going to be about thrice as thick as the UT version. Does that mean we'll get allll the stories and side-lines and possible endings and plottwists Tolkien ever wrote? Would that make an improvement on the UT? Will the book be another Tolkien Scolar edition? Or - will it make for a book-long epic tale, just as the Hobbit and LotR are? I would say; opinionise!
I plan to read it. You could say that bits of The Silmarillion are covered in The Lord of the Rings, but The Sil makes it more interesting.
I'd like to read it as well, but I hope it is better than some of the History of Middle Eath stuff that is out there. They're good stories and all, but as Turumbar hinted at, they don't make a very cohesive story, more like a bunch of notes. We'll see.
Although I find all those UT-like notes quite tiresome while reading an interesting story I agree with Andúril, so I'll definitely read that new book. We'll see how good it is when we've all read it. My curiosity just made me pre-order it, so I'll get it punctually on April 17. Yay me.
*Snap ~ likewise pre-ordered* It will be interesting ~ as Turambar says these tales are already covered at least in part in Lost Tales / Silmarilion / Unfinished tales ~ the new book is 320 pages and has been, I quote; "painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story". On the negative hand I also quote; "in this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention" which would imply it's not going to have changed much ~ which seems a bit contradictory Oh well ~ it's Tolkien and that's all that matters
How are we liking it sofar? I have only been able to lay my hands on a copy today. The first few chapters only remind me very strongly of the Narn i Hin Hurin in the Unfinished Tales... Dissapointment is a big word for such a good book, but I had hoped maybe for something more... and maybe less, that is, the language used is not very accessible, which means that it probably overshoots it's goal, being just that... Besides, sofar I have missed out on the great moments Tolkien took in setting the scene like he did in his other two great works. Ow well, at least the illustrations are ace
My wife picked it up for me on the 18th. I read it on the morning of the 20th. It was a quick but gripping read...here's my thoughts for any interested. http://blog-burns.blogspot.com/2007/04/review-children-of-hrin.html
I've bought the book but haven't read the damn thing yet. I'm dying too because it actually looks good.
I finally read this... It was good and the story was fleshed out enough to make it worthwhile... but the writing is the same intentionally stilted archaic form that makes the Silmarillion so difficult for many people. I enjoyed it though Hurin and Turin was my least favorite section of the Silmarillion. If they do more of the stories like this I wouldnt hesitate to pick them up.
I still need to find the money for the book...but I think it needs a retelling for a few reasons. One is that, by reading some of Christopher's editorial notes, you can tell that the tale of Turin meant alot to his father, you can tell that by reading the Lay in alliterative verse. That was Tolkien's favorite style of writing poetry and yet this is one of the few he does it in, is that because he saved the best tale for his favorite format? I, personally, look forward to reading it.
Not really. The book was an unfinished manuscript from Tolkien. He was planning on a second trilogy. He said that he would have liked to do Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin, and The Fall of Gondolin. He did Beren and Luthien in the Silmarillion as an almost separate work. Children of Hurin was unfinished, and Fall of Gondolin was simply a story put in the Silmarillion. As a result this book was unfinished, some parts in Hurin are great, and some really needed more work.
Gotcha . . that makes sense, but still . . a lot of the "Hurin" book was reprinted from other J.R.R books . .
Just got my hands on this book. So far, I'm pretty happy with it. Well written imo. I've not memorised the entire The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales like some others on the forum, so I cannot say anything about it deviating, but from what I've read so far I've been pretty happy.
It's a frickin great story and if someone wants to repackage old material to get more people to read it (or some people to read it again) then good on um. although their motives may not be to my liking the outcome can't be all that bad.
i read it and i rather enjoyed it... i like Turin his a really badass but only one thing bothers me and i woulld like to hear how you guys think.... The end REALLY SUCKS HARD i hate how it ends.
I am half way throught the children of hurin but so far I have really enjoyed it. Thus, it will probably be the best book I have ever read written by the best author of all time!
Brilliant book. The story about Turin is one of the best parts of 'Silmarillion'. And one of the saddest. BTW Don't you think that the end of 'The Children of Hurin' was similar to 'Romeo and Juliet'?