New Tolkien Novel in '07?

[LadyTevar]

Link

Unfinished Tolkien work to be published in '07

NEW YORK (AP) -- An unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a completed work and will be released next spring, the U.S. and British publishers announced Monday.

Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of "The Children of Hurin," which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and other works, have been published before.

"It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the 'Children of Hurin' as an independent work, between its own covers," Christopher Tolkien said in a statement.

The new book will be published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and HarperCollins in England.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" has sold more than 50 million copies and was also adapted into a blockbuster, Academy Award-winning trio of films. A stage version is scheduled to open next year.

[frigidmagi]

You know I want to feel hopeful but then I think of Dune and I want to run screaming for the hills.

[Something Awesome]

Well, the article says it's being edited by his son, not being completely written based on notes and an outline with some other guy. Brian Herbert isn't really a bad writer. And the Prelude to Dune series (House Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino) weren't too bad, even if some of the little things sucked. Like the Harkonnen no-ship. It's the Butlerian Jihad books that got awfully sour rather quickly, and I haven't read Hunters.

On topic, I may be called a heretic, but I found the LotR books to be incredibly dry and boring. I might prefer someone else writing the stuff anyway.

[frigidmagi]

Eh to each his own, I enjoied LotRs and the Hobbit, but then I grew up the King James Bible, I'm used to dense writing.

[Something Awesome]

I liked how the universe was so large and flavorful, and most of the characters were likable. The story was ok, and I wanted to see the end, but it was just moving too slow. I stopped reading around Helms Deep in the Two Towers. I felt that my time was better spent doing calculus or playing video games. Maybe it's because I'm a young impatient fool. I intend to finish the books eventually...

[Hotfoot]

Didn't they already do this once?

[Mayabird]

Didn't they already do this once?

It was in the Unfinished Tales as bits of story with notes under Narn i Hin Hurin. I'm really not sure why this story is being picked over several others, as if my memory is correct, this is the story of the curse on Hurin's family when he defies Morgoth, causing his son and daughter to mistakingly get married, which leads to their suicides when they realize each other's identity after the daughter is pregnant. I'd have thought that Beren and Luthien would be expanded instead. Heck, it's even mentioned in LotR (the books). Something like, "Frodo, they'll tell stories of us, just like that of Beren One-Hand and the Great Jewel."

[Elheru Aran]

A rather depressing tale... I agree, the Beren and Luthien tale would work nicely, but I do feel that the Silmarillion already tells both stories quite adequately. Of course, the Sil was pretty much finished when Tolkien senior died; all Christopher had to do was basically polish it off and publish it. Since then pretty much he's just been releasing his father's notes, in various formats; this is interesting as it's a more full-length novel rather than a novella/short story as it was in the Silmarillion or notes upon the various characters/storyline arranged in chronological order.

I probably won't bother buying it, though-- it won't really tell me much of anything else I didn't know in the first place. JRRT's writing was densely packed enough that he managed to get pretty much all you really needed to know into the Hobbit, LotR, and Silmarillion. The rest is fluff and minutiae; useful for the scholarly or detail-obessed, unnecessary for most.

[fgalkin]

You know I want to feel hopeful but then I think of Dune and I want to run screaming for the hills.

Hey now, I liked the Silmarillion. Now, we don't know how much material Christopher Tolkien had to work with. If it's just organizing notes into something coherent, its one thing, but if it's more like an outline, then we might have a problem. Either way, it was probably abandoned to the Professor for a reason.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

You know I want to feel hopeful but then I think of Dune and I want to run screaming for the hills.

Well at least it's not gonna' written by Kevin J. Anderson, isn't it?

[The Grim Squeaker]

You know I want to feel hopeful but then I think of Dune and I want to run screaming for the hills.

Well at least it's not gonna' written by Kevin J. Anderson, isn't it?

You haven't heard about the New third Foundation trilogy have you?

(Made you look)

[Stofsk]

Brian Herbert isn't really a bad writer.

Brian Herbert is a writer? I thought the Prelude series just took his name for promotional reasons.

And the Prelude to Dune series (House Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino) weren't too bad, even if some of the little things sucked. Like the Harkonnen no-ship. It's the Butlerian Jihad books that got awfully sour rather quickly, and I haven't read Hunters.

Prelude wasn't terrible, because at the end of the day it does what all prequels do, explain things that probably don't have to be explained. Some people don't like the Star Wars prequels for much the same reason.

House Atreides was ok. House Harkonnen was alright, but parts of it felt recycled. In particular, the ending. House Corrino I haven't read.

Everything I read about the Butlerian Jihad books gives me nightmares.

On topic, I may be called a heretic, but I found the LotR books to be incredibly dry and boring. I might prefer someone else writing the stuff anyway.

I read LOTR and thought it was good. I read Thomas Covenant and thought it was awesome. The latter almost always gets the complaint that it's boring or dense, but I prefer it over Tolkien.

[Feil]

You haven't heard about the New third Foundation trilogy have you?

(Made you look)

I'm going to carve your heart out with a rusty spoon. A rusty fucking spoon, you hear me?

[Tahlan]

Well, the article says it's being edited by his son.

On topic, I may be called a heretic, but I found the LotR books to be incredibly dry and boring. I might prefer someone else writing the stuff anyway.

Yes, The Children of Hurin is written by Christopher Tolkien, but don't look for a change in writing style. He uses his fathers writings and notes, and so the style of the book is like that of the Silmarillion, which is more difficult to read than LotR was. You have to want to read Children of Hurin in order to get through it; it's not an easy read.