The Children of H?rin Summary and Reviews

The Children of H?rin
by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Children of H?rin
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Book Summary Information

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Editor: Christopher Tolkien
Illustrator: Alan Lee
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-04-17
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Book Reviews of The Children of H?rin

Book Review: Fate or Free Will?
Summary: 4 Stars

"The Doom lies in yourself not in your name"- Gwindor

JRR Tolkien was often unsatisfied with his stories and would repeatedly rewrite them, with the result that he left many unfinished stories at his death. Most of these have been collected in various posthumous publications. One of the most polished of these tales is the Tale of the children of Hurin. A shorter, summarized version appeared as a chapter in the Silmarillion, but here Christopher Tolkien has stitched a complete narrative from many different versions- versions in some cases spaced decades apart.

Having read Unfinished tales and the The History of Middle Earth series I am very familiar with this story. Still I am very glad that it was published and I wish there some way to do the same to some other tales Tolkien left unfinished (especially the later ones concerning the fall of Doriath, Gondolin and the voyages of Earendil).

The Children of Hurin is definitely the darkest tale of those appearing in the Silmarillion. Turin is a complex hero, brave, handsome and a skilled warrior, he is also proud, stubborn and quick to anger. It is these flaws in his character that seals his doom not any curse of Morgoth's.

Some have complained of all the names, but let's face it, that just comes with the territory in fantasy. Others have found the archaic language difficult. However I found the style made the story more powerful and mythic, evoking a legend told down through generations.

Finally the illustrations are uniformly excellent. Unfortunately fantasy illustrations tend to the cheesy but Alan Lee has done a magnificent job here.

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