From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
For fantasy fans young and old, the much-anticipated release of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin (begun in 1918 and never fully completed) is like the unearthing of a long-lost holy book. The dark, wartorn epic of love and loss, set in the First Age of Middle-earth, is one of Tolkien's three Great Tales of the Elder Days (along with Beren and Lúthien and the Fall of Gondolin), and according to Christopher Tolkien in the novel's preface, it is "integral" to understanding the complex history of Elves and Men in Middle-earth.
While fighting side by side with Elven allies against the evil Morgoth and his minions of Orcs, Húrin Thalion -- one of the greatest warriors of the First Age -- is captured and brought back to Morgoth's stronghold, where the Great Enemy places a curse, a "dark doom," on the hero and his offspring. Imprisoned atop a mountain peak, Húrin is forced to witness the horrific ordeals that beset his son Túrin and his daughter Nienor…
Easily the most monumental publishing event of 2007, The Children of Húrin is an absolute must-read for fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as for genre historians and fantasy aficionados alike. Featuring spectacular illustrations from the legendary Alan Lee, Tolkien's oldest -- and arguably darkest -- Middle-earth tale is replete with grand-scale adventure, awe-inspiring magic, and one the most unforgettably heroic (and tragic) story lines genre fans will ever experience. This heartrending tale of Túrin and Nienor will undoubtedly become one of the most popular chronicles of Middle-earth. Classic Tolkien. Paul Goat Allen
From the Publisher
“There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but that were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.
“In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Niënor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.
“Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Niënor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.
“The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterward, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. Inthis book I have endeavored to construct, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.” — Christopher Tolkien
The Washington Post -
Elizabeth Hand
If anyone still labors under the delusion that J. R. R. Tolkien was a writer of twee fantasies for children, this novel should set them straight. A bleak, darkly beautiful tale played out against the background of the First Age of Tolkien's Middle Earth, The Children of Hurin possesses the mythic resonance and grim sense of inexorable fate found in Greek tragedy.
Publishers Weekly
What could be more apropos than hiring the face of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings to read Tolkien's newly complete version of these pre-Ringstales? Christopher Lee, the British actor beloved for his role in Peter Jackson's trilogy as well as his numerous turns in Hammer fright films, reads Tolkien's Ringsprecursor as if still in full makeup. Booming and vaguely menacing, Lee sounds like Sauron around the campfire, entertaining his minions with a tale of adventure and woe. Even Lee cannot sound entirely convincing bellowing some of Tolkien's invented languages, but his reading is suitably ominous. Tolkien's son, Christopher, who edited his father's book, also contributes a preface and introduction he reads himself. His voice-phlegmy and rough-provides a taste of what it might have sounded like had the author himself been available to read his own work. Simultaneous release with the Houghton Mifflin hardcover (reviewed online). (Dec.)
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Booklist
Read by Lee in delightfully melancholy and beautifully sonorous tones.
Michael Rogers
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Library Journal
Drawing on a manuscript that his father began in 1918 and reworked throughout his life, Christopher Tolkien, who has edited 14 posthumous volumes of his dad's work, spent decades shaping the story's many drafts into this final form, which was released in a beautiful, illustrated hardcover in April 2007. HarperCollinsUK Audiobooks has kept that same spirit, and this audio version is equally alluring, featuring a booklet sporting all of the book's illustrations by Tolkien artist Alan Lee and a fold-out map of Middle-earth, as well as an introduction read by the younger Tolkien. Equally glorious is the reading by actor Christopher Lee, already associated with Tolkien through his performance as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings films. His deep voice brings the proper sense of woe to this dark tale. A nice extra is hearing the proper pronunciation of the player and place names in the author's mythical world. Set centuries before Rings, the plot unfurls the lives of Túrin and Niënor, son and daughter to Húrin, a great warrior held captive by Morgoth, the Dark Lord, whose malice dooms his enemy's children as well. Highly recommended.
Library Journal
Having rummaged through his father's multitudinous papers for 30 years, Christopher Tolkien was finally able to pull together the various pieces (some previously published) that make up this story-important background for the creation of Middle-earth. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School -While much of the material here was published posthumously in books like The Silmarillion (1985) and Unfinished Tales (1988, both Del Rey), Tolkien delivered it in a loosely connected way that made it difficult to read. Edited by his son, this new volume draws from both of these earlier sources to pull together a complete single narrative set in pre-Hobbit Middle Earth. Túrin, son of the human lord Húrin and the elven lady Morwen, becomes a pivotal force in the ongoing battle against evil in an epic adventure full of intrigue and clever battle scenes. The early parts of the story focus on Túrin's young life. As an adult, he is wrongly judged for the death of an elf and banished for the rest of his life. He manages to become the leader of a ragtag band of forest outlaws that cause no end of problems for forces of evil trying to usurp the kingdom. Túrin is charismatic, brave, cocky, and as equally skilled at getting into trouble as he is at getting out of it. Lee's black-and-white drawings and full-color paintings come from the traditions of fantasy illustration and offer dramatic visuals throughout the book. The language and vocabulary, especially in the dialogue, might intimidate casual readers, but ambitious fans of fantasy will find a work that reminds them why we continue to place Tolkien at the zenith of fantasy literature after so many years.-Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
All your old T-shirts and bumper stickers inscribed "Frodo Lives" may have to be replaced. Old Hobbits do die hard-but there are none even born yet in this reconstructed tale of Middle Earth during the Elder Days (i.e., thousands of years prior to events immortalized in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy). Begun in 1918, revised several times, never published (though a capsule version of its narrative appears as a chapter in the posthumously published volume The Silmarillion), this appealing yarn is very nearly vintage Tolkien. To be sure, Middle Earth is under siege early in its history. The reigning villain is Dark Lord Morgoth (Sauron is merely one of his lieutenants), a demonic sort who rules a huge northern fortress ringed by mountains and destroys his enemies through the focused power of his malevolent will-more often than not incarnated in the figure of Glaurung, an exceedingly nasty "dragon of fire." Their vengeful energies seek out two inordinately plucky youngsters-stalwart Turin and his beautiful sister Nienor-who share the curse pronounced on their father Hurin, an intrepid Elfin warrior who had brazenly defied Morgoth. The episodic narrative takes off when Hurin leaves his sister and their mother Morwen (a veritable Penelope patiently awaiting her Ulysses's return) to undertake a series of adventures that involve him with a brawling band of outlaws, the memorable Battle of Unnumbered Tears against what seem innumerable hordes of invading Orcs-remember them?), a duplicitous dwarf who offers the "shelter" of his underground stronghold and a terrific climactic encounter with the . . . uh, inflamed Glaurung. Strong echoes of the Finnish epic Kalevala, the tales of Robin Hood,Homeric epic and the matter of Wagnerian opera charge the text with complexity as well as vigor. And introductory and textual notes provided by the volume's editor, Tolkien's son Christopher, add welcome clarification. A fine addition to a deservedly well-loved body of work.
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