The Children of Húrin | J.R.R. Tolkien

The Children of Húrin | J.R.R. Tolkien | Fantastic and epic

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The Children of Húrin

	The Children of Húrin J.R.R. Tolkien Houghton Mifflin, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 283 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wow!

Considering the guy's been dead for about 25 years, Tolkien's a pretty good writer! A worthy addition to your Tolkien collection.

Fantastic and epic

This is a fantastic read and a thought provoking tale that will keep you thinking long after you've turned over the last page. The one thought that stuck with me was wondering if Turin could have changed his fate if only he had made different choices, or was the curse of Morgoth inexorable?

This is by far a darker tale than the ones that most readers are probably familiar with. The people in this tale are morally flawed and sometimes vicious. The protagonist is just as likely to kill friend as foe, the dwarf who shows up for a single chapter is a nasty, vengeful fellow, and the elven folk, generally seen as the morally incorruptible in Tolkien's more familiar stories, namely "The Lord of the Rings", make often selfish and morally wrong decisions. All this makes for an interesting and riveting read. I'd be remiss if I didn't also make mention of the beautifully stylized writing employed by Tolkien.

On a final note, while the book prominently bears J.R.R. Tolkien's name, I feel that Christopher Tolkien deserves just as much credit for it since he had the task of piecing together incomplete fragments of the story, often having to decide between conflicting versions which was the "true" tale, or pulling even as little as a single sentence from an older version of the story in order to bridge two otherwise disjointed passages, and arriving somehow at a coherent narrative, a task he has succeeded at wonderfully. Reading his notes in the appendix, I was amazed at just how incomplete the story was that he had to work with, and I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that on the evidence of this book, he's as fine a literary craftsman as his father.

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A Testament to Great Editing

I consider myself to be typical of a reader who is familiar with and has enjoyed some of J.R.R. Tolkien's previous works: meaning, I've read/loved The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and read /was bored with The Silmarillion. Given that background, I approached The Children of Hurin with cautious optimism. What I found was that I enjoyed the writing, but I appreciated the editing even more.

The Children of Hurin powerfully displays Tolkien's distinguishing characteristic: namely, the ability to marry classic mythological themes with a complex, yet entirely believable, fantasy world. This world populated with dragons, elves, dwarves, magic swords, and god-like dark lords, seems entirely realistic thanks to Tolkien's strong characterizations and solid narrative. Once classic themes such as a hero with a fatal flaw are added to these other characteristics, the story achieves a depth that is rarely reached in works of fantasy. Yet, despite the depth that is present in The Children of Hurin, there are frustrating hints that Tolkien intended to delve more deeply into the story (a condition acknowledged in the book's Introduction). The scenes in Amon Rudh and Brethil contain enough gaps that it seems likely that Tolkien had more to say about these parts of the story. Adding additional story might also answer some of the literary issues that Tolkien poses, like "Is mankind flawed to the point that it will bring about its own destruction?" and "Are we slaves to fate?"

While it is frustrating to have these hints of further story, one still has to admire the job that Christopher Tolkien has accomplished in editing the narrative that makes up The Children of Hurin. From his notes in the Appendix, it is clear that there was quite a bit of material from which he could use to create this book. The narrative that he distilled from this material both flows nicely and highlights all the qualities that made his father's writing noteworthy. Of particular help were the introduction and the index of names (for which this reader is very grateful).

Despite a sense that not the entire story made it on to the page, there is still much to admire and enjoy in The Children of Hurin. Thanks to Christopher Tolkien's superlative editing, both casual and rabid Tolkien fans will find this book to be a worthwhile addition to the Middle-Earth canon.

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Tragic tale from the Elder Days a five-star read for Tolkien fanatics

J.R.R. Tolkien famously started and stopped dozens of tales from the "Elder Days" of Middle-Earth over his life, and sadly left virtually all in various incomplete stages. His son, Christopher, has made it his life's work to pore over his father's drafts and compile them into coherent narratives. "The Children of Hurin" represents the most complete single tale produced by Christopher's efforts, and it is a welcome addition to the Tolkien library.

"Children" is a melancholy, tragic tale. Readers of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" well remember how cheerful Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, and all the other Hobbits seemed in comparison to everyone else. The Elves were a particularly sad lot, often singing sad songs of Beren and Luthien, or lamenting the death of some Elvish hero or other. "Children" reminds us why this is so. Hobbits are famously focused on the present, savoring the pleasures of a good story, a frothy pint of ale, or a full pipe of Longbottom Leaf. Elves and men such as Aragorn who know elf-lore cannot escape the scars of their history, and their joys of the present are marred as a result.

"Children" tells of the family of Hurin, and a sadder tale of Middle-Earth may not exist. Hurin was a mighty man and beloved by the Elves, even spending time in the hidden realm of Gondolin where no man had walked. His wife was proud Morwen, and they had children. Two feature prominently here - Turin, the son, and Nienor, the daughter.

Hurin fought in the mighty host against Morgoth, the Dark Lord of the First Age - the monster was such a bad seed that Sauron, villain of "The Lord of the Rings," was only his lieutenant. But as Morgoth's forces routed the allied armies of Elves and Men, Hurin was taken captive, buried in the clasping arms of his foes even as he struck them off at the shoulder. Proud, Hurin rebuked Morgoth, and Morgoth set him upon a high chair overlooking the lands so he could see Morgoth wreak vengeance upon Hurin's family, whom he cursed.

Turin grew to be tall and strong, but he could never escape the curse of Morgoth. Nienor, who features less in the story, plays no less tragic a part. For the curse of Morgoth ensnares both Turin and Nienor as well as those who love them. The final act of "Children" resembles the final scenes of "Hamlet" as friend and foe alike end up dead or in misery. Readers of "The Silmarillion" will recognize this broad outline, but "Children" fleshes out the tale considerably.

Unfortunately, for all the strength and power of the story, ultimately "Children" does not rise to the heights of "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings." For one, Turin is born 6,500 years before the Council of Elrond, and perhaps this explains why the dialogue is so formalistic. Maybe it made sense in Tolkien's understanding of his world, but it does not make for enjoyable dialogue. Characters speak in oaths and pronouncements rather than natural prose.

For another, the story has been fleshed out, but remains brief. Therefore, we are only offered tantalizing bits and pieces of what should have been a majestic tale. Perhaps this is unfair, as Tolkien did write some other noteworthy stuff that distracted him from fleshing out this tale. But it is undeniable that one reaches the end of "Children" far too soon. Tolkien gives us a great villain in the dragon Glaurung, for example, and yet Glaurung receives less development than the dragon Smaug from "The Hobbit." Other great events are glossed over, and as a result this tale reads more like a good first draft than a complete work. And that's fair, because that's ultimately what it is.

A Tolkien fanatic will devour "Children" in two or three hours, savoring every word. Tolkien fans are like that, and there are millions of us who are steeped in the lore of the Elder Days and have the dog-eared copies of "The Silmarillion" to prove it. We're the ones who closely read the Appendixes to "The Return of the King" to see if Samwise ever boarded the ships from the Grey Havens. But for the general reader who has only read "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" once and thinks Tolkien fanatics like me need to get out more, this story won't mean all that much and would be quite a downer in addition.

One item in this book that gets five stars regardless of whether you are a fan or not is the artwork by Alan Lee. Both his color and black-and-white pencil sketches are astounding.

If you have a Tolkien fan among your friends and family, you have this year's stocking stuffer.

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Good but not the best

This is the first book I have read by Tolkien and I was a bit disappointed in it. The story dragged some and there was not very much plot. It seemed like nothing was happening because he breezed through some things and put a lot of detail in others and just skipped around telling some of the sory but not all, so it made for an unbalanced book.

Regardless of the above it did entertain me enough to read it all the way through. Tolkien's general style of writng--his sentence structure and descriptions--were quite good and he is a very good writer he just could not keep my attention very well in this book. It may be that his style is something to get used to or that this one story was not captiviating enough for me. I still look forward to reading his other works; he has an amazing imagination.

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