The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Book Reviews of The Children of Hurin
Book Review: A Tragic Tale from the Early Days of Middle Earth
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Children of Hurin" will hold an odd place in any Tolkien fan's library. It is much more readable than the "Silmarillion" but not as intimate a narrative as "The Lord of the Rings." This dark and often overly gloomy tale is reminiscent of the Icelandic sagas from the Middle Ages. Like the heroes of those tales, there is a tragic dignity to the protagonist Turin despite his many flaws. "The Children of Hurin" seems more the creation of Tolkien the professor of literature than Tolkien the creator of new worlds. There are subtle glimpses of "Beowulf" and "Gawain and the Green Knight" and not so subtle pieces of Greek and Germanic tragedy included in the work. The book has a number of charming illustrations and a useful summary and appendix. The only real question is how much of the book is J.R.R Tolkien and how much is his son and literary executor Christopher? That question may be of more concern to scholars than fans but it remains a legitimate one especially as, as Christopher Tolkien admits in the introduction, some of the book dates from very early in his father's career. The book flows too well and the narrative too unchanged; one is forced to concede some serious editing has been done and this raises some problems. Literary scholars were up in arms when they discovered how much editing was done with Thomas Wolfe's posthumous works ("You Can't Go Home Again" and, to a lesser extent, "The Web and the Rock") as well as Papa Ernest's ("True at First Light" being the chief example). If Tolkien is the great writer his advocates claim him to be, the same concerns should be raised here and, unlike some of his other works, Christopher Tolkien is not as upfront as he has been about the editing process. This raises come questions. Still, while not for casual readers (though better surely for them than say "The Silmarillion"), "The Children of Hurin" is a welcome addition to Middle Earth.Book Review: Entertaining and Fairly Easy to Read
Summary: 4 Stars
The Children of Hurin is a tale set during the First Age of Middle Earth, many centuries before the events in The Lord of the Rings. For those who have read Rings, this tale was slightly referenced in Rings, but isn't particularly connected to those events; The Children of Hurin is more of the mythology of Middle Earth. This story here is connected to Rings in two chief ways: it follows the family of Hurin, who was Elrond's great-grandfather's brother, and it's a tale about Morgoth, the Dark Lord who was Sauron's master.
Tolkein was a linguist by training, and he had a tendency early in his career to let his linguistic tendencies get the better of him. His prose in The Silmarillion is nearly so ponderous and unreadable in places that it would make Joyce blush with shame. His original work on The Children of Hurin would have followed this unfortuate trend, as his first attempt at the story, according to an appendix written by Christopher Tolkein, was an epic Beowulf-style poem that ran to 4,000 lines and never moved past the halfway mark of the story. I actually swore off of Tolkein after slogging my way through The Silmarillion, but I gave The Children of Hurin a shot for probably the shallowest of reasons: I liked the cover art.
Fortunately, though, Tolkein came back to the Hurin story after Rings, and the result is a fairly readable, interesting tale. While I won't spoil the ending, it's not necessarily an original story idea, but Tolkein does a masterful job of concealing his destination. The story isn't a roller coaster ride, but it's about as close to a page-turner as Tolkein gets.
If you liked Rings, wanted to read more about Middle Earth, and nearly went comatose attempting The Silmarillion, give The Children of Hurin a look.
Book Review: The Children of Hurin
Summary: 4 Stars
I write this review as one who qualifies himself as a fan of Tolkien but not a fanatic. I've read "Lord of the Rings", "The Hobbit", and "Silmarillion" as well some of the man's shorter works, but I am not able to conjugate verbs in Elvish or recite Aragorn's entire family tree. With that stated, I can only say that I found "The Children of Hurin" to be a mighty fine read.
The story, as most folks doubtlessly know, is set in Tolkien's world long before the events of "Lord of the Rings", back when Morgoth still menaced the lands of elves and men. Hurin was a great warrior, but lead his men into disaster at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. He left behind a wife and two small children. The elder of the two, his son Turin, is the focus of this book.
Turin is one of Tolkien's most compelling characters. He begins as an angry youth, whose wrath interacts poorly with the desperate circumstances that he lives in. To keep him safe, he is sent to be a ward with the elves, but in young adulthood his temper gets him into trouble. That's all in the opening chapters. The remainder of the book has lots more; the plotting is much more brisk than in "Lord of the Rings". But through it all, the character of Turin carves out a destiny shaped by both his positive and negative sides.
Book Review: Tragic tale before the 3rd Age
Summary: 4 Stars
The first time I attempted to read the Children of Hurin I could only get a few chapters in before being overwhelmed by names and places. I tried reading it again and I understood the book much better and read in very quickly. The book while being very dense with names is a very tragic but great novel. The book doesn't have the polish prose that the LOTR has but it's still very good novel none the less.
The pronunciation guide in the book and the table of names makes and the map help one really comprehend such an epic tragedy that mirrors the Greek and roman mythological ones. I really enjoy how the book ties into the LOTR as the genealogy tables show that many of the characters in the book are very closely related to main characters. For example on of Turin's friends is a brother to Galadriel. The book definitely is meant more for the middle earth and Tolkien fans and not for casual one time readers of LOTR.
Book Review: Gets better after chapter 4
Summary: 4 Stars
a nice and different experience to read, this is the first book i read by tolkien's work, and now i am exited to go back and read the rest starting with The Silmarillion.
it really amazes me the deep and wide imagination the author has, the work of the tolkien is not just stories, he created a full world.
piece of Art.