I totally judged a book by its cover… and its author.

I am a huge fan of Tolkien, The Hobbit was my first foray into fantasy as a young boy and even though I read LOTR later (in my mid-20s), I still consider it one of the greatest book I have ever read. I mean, I’m the guy who’s watched the movies too many times to count, and even love The Hobbit movies (don’t judge me) and am eagerly awaiting whatever comes next from Tolkien’s world to the silver screen.

So, I saw the cover to Children of Hurin, knew it was Tolkien, and just said gimme! Seriously, look at that cover, I think it is such an awesome piece of art… anyway… So, I got the book on Audible, saw it was only 7 hours long and was like, meh, let’s not judge. Then, I began to listen, and I was thinking, is Saruman narrating this bad boy to me? I checked the audio file, Narrator: Christopher Lee.

It took a moment for the penny to drop…. Saruman was narrating to me!

After 15 minutes, my excitement fizzled away and all I could think was BORING! Because it was boring. It felt like I was getting a very dry account of Beleriand history spoken to me. It was like I was listening to the Herodotus’ Histories (actually… that sounds cool, I’m going to go see if that’s on Audible. EDIT: It is and I am going to download it…) Anyway, I was expecting an epic quest like I was used to from Tolkien’s more famous works. I knew this was an unpublished piece that had been finished by his son, but I still thought it would be cool.

So, I stuck with it, forced my way through the first hour and then it clicked. The Children of Hurin is awesome. But you have to know what you’re getting yourself in to. See, the way I see it is, this is part of Tolkien’s lore, it is one of the foundation stories that live in the mythology of the 3rd age (The Hobbit and LOTR). And in keeping with the idea that this is myth, the book is written that way.

I mean, when I was thinking about this, I immediately thought of the Welsh stories in the Mabinogion. That is how it is written.

There are no massive character developments which was a shock at first because I had just finished The Name of the Wind, but there is a plethora of fantastic history, heroic deeds, and an air of epic mystery about it. Children of Hurin isn’t really an Epic Fantasy novel so much as it is a little added extra to a world we all love.

Would I recommend it? I would to die-hard Tolkien fans.

Would I read it again? I will, and the next time I will actually read it. It’s so cool having Saruman read to me, but I think to really get the most out of Children of Hurin, you need to sit down and read a hard backed copy with a nice map. Plus I hear there is more artwork inside the print edition.

Has it inspired you to sit down and actually finish The Silmarillion? Shhh… I’ll get back to it when I have time…

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