"New" Tolkien book

[steuard]

For those who don't obsessively keep up with Tolkien stuff, I thought I'd mention the recent appearance of The Children of Hurin. It's a story from the First Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings, and probably as close to a classical tragedy as anything Tolkien wrote. Those who have read any of Tolkien's posthumous books probably already know the basic story, but this book is targeted at a wider audience.

My understanding is that The Children of Hurin is meant to be broadly accessible: people should be able to enjoy it immediately after reading The Lord of the Rings (without the need to make it through The Silmarillion first, for example). I'm eager to know how successfully it has met that goal, but I've found that my own long experience with Middle-earth makes it very difficult for me to guess how a newcomer to the story would react.

So I figured I'd ask all of you. If you've enjoyed The Lord of the Rings but haven't read (or at least, finished) any of Tolkien's posthumous works, try this one and let me know how it goes. If you're already more of an expert than that, see if you can get your less expert friends to read it and report back on their experiences (and read it yourself: it's even a bit more complete than the version in Unfinished Tales). I'm really eager to know how people react to this book (in part so I can figure out the best way to incorporate it into my Custom Tolkien Book List).

A final word of advice: the introduction to the book gives a useful "bridge" between The Lord of the Rings and the earlier era in which Hurin takes place. But it's a bit long; if you're finding it wearying, just skip on ahead to the main text of the story. Also, there's a list of names for reference at the back of the book; that can be handy if you're having trouble keeping track of who's who. (I'm interested in knowing how effective that introduction is as a guide for less expert readers, too.)

Comments

[feuervogel]

I haven't bought it yet, because I was awaiting other people's opinions: is it any good?

[steuard.livejournal.com]

I assume you've read Unfinished Tales? If so, then you'll recognize an awful lot of the book from the "Narn I Hin Hurin". All of the gaps in the UT version are filled (apparently from Tolkien's own various drafts: none of the editorial invention that fleshed out the published Silmarillion was necessary), and the text there has been changed in a few minor ways.

The Narn has always been one of my favorite bits from UT (which is in turn my favorite Tolkien book after LotR), so that translates pretty directly to this book (only more so). My one complaint is that there are a few places where you can recognize a shift in style from the fully-formed version of the Narn to the less detailed version from Silm. and back. (That and the handful of minor details from the long version that never quite get resolved, because Tolkien never wrote down what he was planning for them. Mim's unusually heavy roots, for example.) But I don't think those elements detract too much from the tale as a whole.

As I said, though, it's hard for me to pass judgment on this particular incarnation of the story given how well I already knew every other version of it that's available. I know that I love the Narn (almost as much as I'd love "Tuor" from UT if Tolkien had finished it), and having it complete and self-contained is fantastic: it's finally possible to read the whole story at once (without having to flip over to Silm. repeatedly to fill in gaps in the narrative as presented in UT).

If you liked it in UT, this will presumably become your preferred version of the tale. If you didn't like it there, you're not too likely to enjoy it more here (unless it was the gaps specifically that left you cold). If you haven't read UT (but you are a Tolkien fan), read this book, and then read UT right away! It's incredible. :) [See my Custom Book List for more detailed hints.]

[feuervogel]

I read UT ages ago, and I'm pretty sure I have a copy on my shelf (I found it in a box from my mom's house, and it was all bookmarked and flagged to annotations and such). I've read Silm more recently, and I always liked the story of Turin Turambar (yay for tragedy).

So if you say it's good, I'll probably buy it :)