Review: 'New' Tolkien splendidly rewarding

cnn ^ | Bruce DeSilva

[maquiladora]

(AP) -- Six thousand years before the Fellowship of the Ring, long before anyone had even seen a Hobbit, the elves and men of Middle-earth quaked at the power of the dark lord Morgoth...

It is the fruit of 30 years labor by Christopher Tolkien, the author's son, who has devoted much of his life to editing and publishing the work his father left behind. By meticulously combining and editing the many published and unpublished versions of the tale, he has produced at last a coherent, vivid and readable narrative.

His story, released today by Houghton Mifflin, is a publishing event: It is the first new book by the creator of "The Lord of the Rings" in 30 years. The publisher calls it the culmination of an effort to bring to the public the vast body of work J.R.R. Tolkien had left unpublished, and largely unfinished, when he died in 1973.

Tolkien began writing "The Children of Hurin" 99 years ago, abandoning it and taking it up again repeatedly throughout his life. Versions of the tale already have appeared in "The Silmarillion," "Unfinished Tales" and as narrative poems or prose sections of the "History of Middle-earth" series.

But they were truncated and contradictory. Outside of Tolkien scholars and Middle-earth fanatics, few read them.

These works were, after all, largely unreadable -- dense, hard to follow histories and legends of Tolkien's vast, imaginary world, crammed with complicated genealogies, unfamiliar geography and hard-to-pronounce names. Readers who took up such books hoping for another Rings saga or charming yarn such as "The Hobbit" abandoned them after a few pages.

"The Children of Hurin" is the book for which these readers have been longing.

[metmom]

I started reading the series back in the early 70’s in high school. This sounds good. I’ll have to buy myself a copy, too.

[SunkenCiv]

related:

New Tolkien epic to be released in April
CBC Arts | March 26, 2007
Posted on 03/26/2007 6:21:35 PM EDT by Caleb1411
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1807121/posts

[SuziQ]

My glasses are in the living room but there is Algebra taking place in there and I dare not enter.

Sounds series!

[athelass]

My copy arrived today! It’s beautiful. The illustrations are fabulous. Of course, I skipped through it to see them first. I’ve only read the preface so far. I’ll start the story tomorrow. I’ve read it before in it’s other forms, but this is going to be fantastic!

[JohnnyZ]

Now all I need is Sam Raimi to direct The Hobbit and my Middle Earth life will be complete!

[maquiladora]

There's still no official word on Sam Raimi making The Hobbit, though he has gone on the record recently saying that he'd love to do it if Peter Jackson gave his blessing.

Considering Pete is a huge Evil Dead fan and pretty much resigned to not being able to make The Hobbit with New Line anymore, I can't see why he wouldn't give Sam full support.

[GretchenM]

Readers who took up such books hoping for another Rings saga or charming yarn such as "The Hobbit" abandoned them after a few pages.

Now how can you say, "I have read all of Tolkien’s versions of that story, as well as the Kalevala, part of which the story was based on," when it's refuted right there in print!

(Congrats on your hard work.)