New Tolkien Book Due In April

[Geekyfanboy]

The British Independent newspaper reported that an unfinished book by Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, which was completed by his son, will go on sale next month, according to the Agence France-Presse.

The Children of Hurin, which Tolkien began in 1918, will be in bookstores on April 17, the Independent reported on March 25. The author's son, Christopher, spent 30 years completing the story, working from the many drafts produced by his father.

Publisher HarperCollins is keeping exact details of the story under close wraps but described it as "an epic story of adventure, tragedy, fellowship and heroism" that will be familiar to the legions of Tolkien fans, AFP reported.

Artist Alan Lee has provided 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings for the book.

The Children of Hurin is the first "new" Tolkien book since a collection of his works, The Silmarillion, was published posthumously in 1977, four years after the writer's death. It was also edited by Christopher Tolkien.

[Geekyfanboy]

This is the first I have heard of this.. I'm very excited.

[Geekyfanboy]

Studios Stalk Tolkien's Hurin

More than 30 years after his death, J.R.R. Tolkien is about to publish a new book, The Children of Hurin, and Hollywood studios are already interested in acquiring film rights, the Reuters news service reported. The book goes on sale April 17.

Tolkien's son and literary executor, Christopher, now in his 80s, constructed The Children of Hurin from his father's manuscripts and said he tried to do so "without any editorial invention." Tolkien is the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The story is set long before The Lord of the Rings in a part of Middle-earth that was drowned before Hobbits ever appeared, and tells the tragic tale of Turin and his sister, Nienor, who are cursed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord.

David Brawn, director at Tolkien publisher HarperCollins, told Reuters that the initial worldwide print run for the new book, featuring illustrations by Oscar winner Alan Lee, was 500,000 and added that Hollywood studios are eager to buy the film rights of the new book.

"We all want this first and foremost to enjoy life as a book," Brawn told Reuters. "No one's saying never to a film, [but] the film rights are reserved by the estate. We want to see what reaction it gets and then let it run its course."

[Geekyfanboy]

Wow.. I just relized that this book comes out today... have to go pick it up.

[Geekyfanboy]

Review: 'New' Tolkien splendidly rewarding

Source CNN.com

• "The Children of Hurin" worthy part of Middle-earth mythology
• Book, compiled from Tolkien pieces, edited by son
• Work concerns a leader and curse on his children
By Bruce DeSilva
Associated Press

(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.

Hunted by easterlings and orcs, they fled to the fastness of Nargothrond and to the deep forests of Brethil and Doriath. Among them, a hero emerged. Strong and courageous he was, but foolhardy and impetuous. His name was Turin, son of Hurin.

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.

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.

Houghton-Mifflin has treated the work well, hiring Alan Lee, who won an Academy Award for art direction for "The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King," to create stunning color illustrations.

The story unfolds in a region far to the west of where Frodo and Samwise would later roam, in a land destined to be swallowed by the sea in the cataclysm that would end the first age of Middle-earth. But even then, it was an ancient land, filled with legends and half-remembered histories.

As the tale begins, Morgoth has destroyed a vast army of elves and men and taken one of its leaders, Hurin, prisoner. The dark lord tries to bend Hurin to his will, but the great man defies him. So Morgoth pronounces a curse on Hurin's children, Turin and his sister Nienor.

The first chapter resembles "The Silmarillion," dense and confusing enough to discourage casual readers. But stick with it and the story soon becomes readable and engaging.

Don't expect an uplifting ending like the one to "The Lord of the Rings," however. This is a gloomy tale -- Hurin's children doomed to failure by Turin's hubris and, of course, the curse.

The story is told in the archaic style to which Tolkien fans are accustomed, from a man who admired old Anglo-Saxon and Norse sagas. A sample:

"In this way, before the summer had passed, the following of Turin had swelled to a great force, and the power of Angband was thrown back. Word of this came even to Nargothrond, and many there grew restless."

The story is short by the standards of "The Lord of the Ring," covering just 259 pages, the rest of the book consisting of an introduction and appendix in which Christopher Tolkien explains how he went about his work. The details are unlikely to be of interest to the casual reader, but the bottom line is this:

Christopher Tolkien says that in reconciling the various versions of his father's story, he added no new material, save for an occasional transition. The words, he says, are virtually all his father's.

[Jen]

I saw this book the day it came out at the book store, and instantly wanted to buy it. Have you read it Kenny? Is it as good as it sounds?

I read The Lord Of The Rings a few years before I started my mission to read all the Star Wars Novels...I may have to take a break from my current SW novel and pick up The Children of Hurin. I love Tolkin's poetic writing style.

[Fanboy]

Heard good stuff about the book dudes.  Gotta get a copy.

[Geekyfanboy]

I saw this book the day it came out at the book store, and instantly wanted to buy it. Have you read it Kenny? Is it as good as it sounds?

I read The Lord Of The Rings a few years before I started my mission to read all the Star Wars Novels...I may have to take a break from my current SW novel and pick up The Children of Hurin. I love Tolkin's poetic writing style.

I have not read it yet.. I actually just bought the book this past weekend. I'm really looking forward to getting started on it.

[Darkmolerman]

My Dad is reading it and he says (from book reviews) it is a dark book (as in sad and well not happy)

[Jen]

My Dad is reading it and he says (from book reviews) it is a dark book (as in sad and well not happy)

Yeah, most of Tolkin's stories were dark...but the endings were always good.