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New Lord of the Rings book...

Trex

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Trex Newbie

Trex

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Not strictly Star Wars related unless your talking about actors who appear in both, but I thought some people might like to know about something I just found. Apparently, there is to be a brand new (sort of) LOTR book out this april.

 

From the BBC:

"Unfinished Tolkien Due in April

 

An Unfinished book by JRR Tolkien will be published in April after being complated by the late author's son.

 

Christopher Tolkien has spent 30 years working on 'The Children of Hurin', which The Lord of the Rings author started in 1918 and later abandoned.

 

Extracts from the novel, which is set before the events of the rings trilogy, have been published before.

 

It has been illustrated by Alan Lee, who won an Oscar for his artwork on The Return of The King film in 2004."

 

 

See also the Wikipedia page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_H%C3%BArin

 

I must admit to having a few reservations about this. Presumably, if Tolkien abandoned it, he did so for a reason. What do you think : Cash-in by the son, or the completion of a saga? Will the book do for LOTR what Phantom Menace did for Star Wars?

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Sabretooth Newbie

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Yeah, read about this one at Digg. Looks interesting, especially the way Tolkien puts it, and the whole Major Twist and "Tale of <blah blah>" got me going. But it's supposed to be part of the Silmarillion, or something - and that is mentally damaging. But regardless, if things work out well, I might think about it...

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Aurora Starfire Newbie

Aurora Starfire

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I must admit to having a few reservations about this. Presumably, if Tolkien abandoned it, he did so for a reason. What do you think : Cash-in by the son, or the completion of a saga? Will the book do for LOTR what Phantom Menace did for Star Wars?

 

Abandoned? Not necessarily. He may not have had time to finish it, like the Silmarillion. Tolkien did include an abbreviated version of the tale in the Silmarillion, and he also wrote part of a lay called The Lay of the Children of Húrin. The tale is quite possibly the most tragic story I've read in Tolkien's writings.

 

And as for it being a completion or a prequel to the Lord of the Rings, that it is not. It is part of the history of the wars with Morgoth. I did, in fact, read the whole of the Silmarillion, (though I admit it took me two tries) and The Children of Húrin does not have enough of a connection to The Lord of the Rings to be called a prequel.

 

However, there was going to be a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, which likewise was laid aside, called The New Shadow. It was included in the final volume of The History of Middle-earth, though Tolkien only wrote thirty pages of it.

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Prime Newbie

Prime

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What do you think : Cash-in by the son, or the completion of a saga?
I'd say definitely not a cash-in. From what I can see it is a labor of love by Christopher Tolkien.

 

Will the book do for LOTR what Phantom Menace did for Star Wars?
In what way?
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Emperor Devon Newbie

Emperor Devon

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Sweet. I thought the Silmarillion was fascinating and to learn more of Hurin and the others of the time would be awesome

 

Excellent, I thought I was the only person who read The Silmarillion here. :D

 

Could be very interesting. I wanted to see more about Hurin in that book, but it doesn't focus a lot on specific characters. This could turn out very well - a third-person viewpoint rather than an encyclopedic one of the First Age could be an excellent read.

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Trex Newbie

Trex

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In what way?

 

I was thinking of the whole divide between those die hard fans who thought Menace had ruined the original trilogy and those who actually liked it (personally I liked it from the offset, but anyway). This book would have to be pretty bad/different to create such a rift between the LOTR fans, but it still might happen.

 

As for the 'abandoned' comment, I was only quoting the BBC. Take it up with Micheal Grade.

 

In any case, I am still looking forward to this as a fan of the underrated Silmarillion.

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Sabretooth Newbie

Sabretooth

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I'll have to add Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin to my reading list now. I liked LOTR, except for the random 5 pages of song. Does Silmarillion have more action and less singing?

 

Well, there are songs in Silmarillion, but you'll grow to love them as a break from the almost-biblical paragraphs of information. Believe me, Silmarillion is a university textbook, not a pleasure reading novel.

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Prime Newbie

Prime

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Excellent, I thought I was the only person who read The Silmarillion here. :D
I read it too! :D

 

Could be very interesting. I wanted to see more about Hurin in that book, but it doesn't focus a lot on specific characters. This could turn out very well - a third-person viewpoint rather than an encyclopedic one of the First Age could be an excellent read.
Indeed. It should at the very least provide a more indepth glimpse into what life was like the First Age.

 

I was thinking of the whole divide between those die hard fans who thought Menace had ruined the original trilogy and those who actually liked it (personally I liked it from the offset, but anyway). This book would have to be pretty bad/different to create such a rift between the LOTR fans, but it still might happen.
I see. I really can't imagine that happening, for no other reason than since the mediums are so different I think that it is unlikely that Tolkien (both of them) could create similar issues. What I mean is, there is no way to make them too CGI or have bad dialog or a Jar Jar-like character (who I say pwns!). Also, and perhaps most importantly, this story is much further removed from the LOTR and The Hobbit and so shouldn't in any way affect pre-existing characters in any meaningful way.

 

In the end, some fans may dislike it, but I think at worst many fans may classify it as they do the Silmarillian: a tough read. And most LOTR novel fans are just happy to have any scrap of information that helps fill out the universe in different ways.

 

And for the record, I liked the prequels too. :)

 

I'll have to add Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin to my reading list now. I liked LOTR, except for the random 5 pages of song. Does Silmarillion have more action and less singing?
Hmm, like liked the songs in LOTR. Most of them had a wealth of information in them!
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tk102 Newbie

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Excellent, I thought I was the only person who read The Silmarillion here. :D

 

One of my favorites too. (old thread link)

 

Believe me, Silmarillion is a university textbook, not a pleasure reading novel.
I found more enjoyment from it though than I did from the LotR trilogy. ;) It just felt more complete and satisfying... and sad.
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Samuel Dravis Newbie

Samuel Dravis

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I found more enjoyment from it though than I did from the LotR trilogy. ;) It just felt more complete and satisfying... and sad.
I agree. After reading the Silmarillion, you no longer wonder why the elves are somber (I've even heard some people describe them as boring because they don't fight enough, lol) guys. They were there when the *really* bad stuff was happening...
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igyman Newbie

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Excellent, I thought I was the only person who read The Silmarillion here.

Nope, I've read it too. And what is this bashing of The Silmarillion I'm seeing here? The book is great, one of the most interesting I've ever read.

 

As for this new book that's supposed to come out - of course it's all about getting mo' money out of the successful universe that J.R.R. Tolkien has created, but if it's done the right way, it just may be worth the money.

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Grey Master Newbie

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wow, I though that SW and LOTR fans were engaged in mortal combat, I have heard of the Silmarillion but never got a chance to read it, maybe I'll buy it. :D

 

As for this new book, I guess Tolkien's son needs some $$$$, but well see if the writing talent is the same. :)

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tk102 Newbie

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My main issue was that I had a hard time keeping all the names straight...

That's true... I spent a good deal of time studying the family trees. Sometimes Tolkien used some naming conventions to help out. The House of Fingolfin for instance had has 'g' in their names like Fingon and Turgon. The House of Finarfin has 'n' like Finrod and Finduilas.

 

A couple years back, I received the unabridged CD set read by Martin Shaw (link). Listening to that while reading the book at the same time definitely speeds up the amount of time it takes to digest the book and lets you hear the proper pronunciations. Shaw's narrative is excellent.

 

@GrayMaster: Never heard of LotR fans vs. Star Wars fans ... I've always heard it was Star Wars vs. Star Trek. :p

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Gargoyle King Newbie

Gargoyle King

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Not strictly Star Wars related unless your talking about actors who appear in both, but I thought some people might like to know about something I just found. Apparently, there is to be a brand new (sort of) LOTR book out this april.

 

From the BBC:

"Unfinished Tolkien Due in April

 

An Unfinished book by JRR Tolkien will be published in April after being complated by the late author's son.

 

Christopher Tolkien has spent 30 years working on 'The Children of Hurin', which The Lord of the Rings author started in 1918 and later abandoned.

 

Extracts from the novel, which is set before the events of the rings trilogy, have been published before.

 

It has been illustrated by Alan Lee, who won an Oscar for his artwork on The Return of The King film in 2004."

 

 

See also the Wikipedia page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_H%C3%BArin

 

I must admit to having a few reservations about this. Presumably, if Tolkien abandoned it, he did so for a reason. What do you think : Cash-in by the son, or the completion of a saga? Will the book do for LOTR what Phantom Menace did for Star Wars?

 

Didn't realise there was another prequel, i thought The Hobbit was the only one before the trilogy. Yah learn a new thing everyday! :lol:

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