Name: The Children of Hurin
ISBN: 9780007309375

J.R.R. Tolkien

Available for the first time as a set, this boxed collection of paperbacks includes The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the international number one besteller, The Children of Hurin.

The Children of Hurin / The Silmarillion / Unfinished Tales

The Children of Hurin

C. J. Daley 

The Children of Húrin: 5/5*
This is one or part of Tolkien’s ‘great tales’, and it is apparently one of the earlier things he worked on, continuously altered, and made further notes on, until his death. The editing work from his son included completing the work and making it a cohesive linear story for readers, and was published in 2007. This is also a part of the Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion. 

I had intended to read through some more of Tolkien’s work prior to September, and the release of The Rings of Power. When I realized it was already august, I knew I had to get it in gear. Now the great tales aren’t the storyline from tRoP, but I still wanted to conquer them as I have already read the appendices before. Due to time, I decided to go with the audio, which sadly means I missed the great illustrations on this first read through, but it is narrated by the late Christopher Lee…his performance is explosive. However it was a bit weird, because the audio is broken into 7 chapters for an 18 chapter book, with seemingly no reason whatsoever for it. 

Tolkien called this The Lay of the Children of Húrin, a lay being a narrative poem (typically sung). In many ways it also comes off as very epic, both in the style of poem, and the things happening. I really found myself thinking about this quote from Tolkien’s son (about Jackson’s LotR trilogy): “They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25.” And although film cannot mimic the lyrical and powerful nature of Tolkien’s ability to write, this story includes some heavy things, descriptions, and themes that would almost read more as George R. R. Martin. It’s for that reason I kept thinking of the quote. Tolkien writes of dismemberment, torture, orcs beheading huge groups of people, humans hanging large groups of orcs from trees, suicide, unwitting incest. I mean there’s a lot to digest, but a lot of these things kind of resonated with me as the kind of violence translated into Jackson’s films. 

Regardless of that, or with that being said, Tolkien still gives us the history, or almost overview of the story. The description is light, not exactly glossing over things, but he does not dwell on action and terror stroke by stroke. A huge battle is simply talked about as having happened, you’re never really inside the moment. It’s for that reason that Tolkien always translates into history for me. This is much more linear than the Silmarillion as a whole, but they can still be viewed as almost textbook like writing. None of this is meant as a negative in any way though, as I absolutely love Tolkien and I absolutely loved this story.


The Silmarillion: 5/5*
I FINALLY DID IT. I started/got through the first 30-60 pages of this book like literally 12 times. Wow. It is honestly a textbook. 

I most definitely absorbed only 1/26th of this book though. Except for the Numenor stuff because I’ve also read Unfinished Tales. I really liked what I grasped, but this is just a dump of content on Middle-Earth and it can be hard to follow along. I’ll definitely need a round two one day. The new edition illustrated by Ted Nasmith is absolutely beautiful. 

Personally still a 5/5* for me as the fact that Tolkien’s mind could do all that is astounding. Additional thanks to his son...without Christopher, I doubt we’d ever seen this at all. 


Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth: 5/5*
This is a wonderful collection of stories depicting Tolkien’s ability to imagine every single aspect of Middle-earth and everything it could be. 
The editing and notes once again show that Christopher Tolkien truly is the leading expert in his father’s work. 

A must read for Tolkien fans

The Children of Hurin The Children of Hurin / The Silmarillion / Unfinished Tales

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