missbrookss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
meghadutam's review against another edition
5.0
Tolkein was truly amazing. The scope and completeness of his creation in unparalleled. This is a central story in the first age of his world. A terrible tragedy, in epic style, and a must read.
graby's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
momreads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I have loved Tolkien my whole life. The Hobbit was my introduction to fantasy. This book started out strong and had all of the elements that I love in Tolkien's work. Great writing. Unfortunately, the book ended up being one bad decision after another and sad. Loved the writing but didn't enjoy the story.
vickytx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
holdenn93's review against another edition
5.0
My favourite bit was when Glaurung comes back to life to breath his last breath and uses it to say to Niënor "lmao so that dude you made a baby with is your brother lol lol lol" and then just dies.
jessicatamm92's review against another edition
4.0
Very different than Tolkien's other stories. Much darker.. I must say I wasn't a huge fan of the ending although I did quite like most of this book. My professor brought up the fact that this was published after he died and that he believed that he never intended on this being published by itself, which is really interesting. All of Tolkien's stories has a least some strand of hope among the darkness, but this one did not.
isauldur's review against another edition
4.0
Alright, where to begin? This is as much a Greek tragedy as I've ever read. It reminds me much of Oedipus Rex because of the incest, epic adventure and the accidental murders of friends and fellows.
The text itself is very good, and greatly akin to J.R.R. Tolkien's. It's hard to believe, save from its length, that it wasn't written as it is by Tolkien himself while he lived. The flow of the story is great, even if you know that it all will go to hell in the end.
Of course, I wouldn't recommend this book to virtually anyone. Unless you're a strong, true fan of Tolkien's Middle-earth works, I wouldn't recommend you read it. Then again, I feel like I shouldn't recommend it to anyone, depressing as it is.
Ok, on to the story now. Turin is the main character more than his sister, even though the title uses the plural "children." And he's cursed because his father, Hurin, dared defy the evil Vala Morgoth. So, you have Hurin fastened to a stone chair, kind of like Prometheus, doomed to see the curse lay waste to his family. The story the follows Turin from misadventure to misadventure. Really, the only thing that went well for him was the killing of Glaurung, and even then he lost his wife/sister in the process.
While I enjoyed the story because it's set in the fantastic world of Middle-earth, I admit that I almost didn't want to keep reading at times. I felt the literary version of covering your face when watching a scary movie. Several times I got the notion that no matter what, I shouldn't even bother hoping for a happy ending. Which we don't get. But unlike The Hobbit or even The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Hurin isn't a happy, merry adventure story; it's a tale of the Dark Years, far back in the Elder Days. It makes sense that it was this sad and grim because Morgoth himself is in Middle-earth, messing things up, killing, sacking, pillaging, burning and making Elves and Men lose count of how many tears they shed in a single battle.
Did I like it? Yes, I did. Fun storyline, and interesting action even though it's not an action book by far. If anything, I can see this book be turned into an opera. I mean, Turin kills his best Elf friend, gets lost with homeless thieves, killing one of them by accident, and takes part in the fall of Nargothrond. Thanks to the curs of Morgoth, he pretty much screws up anyone he meets. But, of course, that's not his fault. And that's I believe an interesting question. Can we blame Hurin, Turin's father, for this curse? After all, Hurin dared defy Morgoth and dared challenge him in a battle of wills. But I will let each person decide.
Overall, a good book that is part enough of the main universe to expand it, but different enough to help us look at the main universe differently. If I may be so bold, The Children of Hurin is the Rogue One of the Middle-earth books.
The text itself is very good, and greatly akin to J.R.R. Tolkien's. It's hard to believe, save from its length, that it wasn't written as it is by Tolkien himself while he lived. The flow of the story is great, even if you know that it all will go to hell in the end.
Of course, I wouldn't recommend this book to virtually anyone. Unless you're a strong, true fan of Tolkien's Middle-earth works, I wouldn't recommend you read it. Then again, I feel like I shouldn't recommend it to anyone, depressing as it is.
Ok, on to the story now. Turin is the main character more than his sister, even though the title uses the plural "children." And he's cursed because his father, Hurin, dared defy the evil Vala Morgoth. So, you have Hurin fastened to a stone chair, kind of like Prometheus, doomed to see the curse lay waste to his family. The story the follows Turin from misadventure to misadventure. Really, the only thing that went well for him was the killing of Glaurung, and even then he lost his wife/sister in the process.
While I enjoyed the story because it's set in the fantastic world of Middle-earth, I admit that I almost didn't want to keep reading at times. I felt the literary version of covering your face when watching a scary movie. Several times I got the notion that no matter what, I shouldn't even bother hoping for a happy ending. Which we don't get. But unlike The Hobbit or even The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Hurin isn't a happy, merry adventure story; it's a tale of the Dark Years, far back in the Elder Days. It makes sense that it was this sad and grim because Morgoth himself is in Middle-earth, messing things up, killing, sacking, pillaging, burning and making Elves and Men lose count of how many tears they shed in a single battle.
Did I like it? Yes, I did. Fun storyline, and interesting action even though it's not an action book by far. If anything, I can see this book be turned into an opera. I mean, Turin kills his best Elf friend, gets lost with homeless thieves, killing one of them by accident, and takes part in the fall of Nargothrond. Thanks to the curs of Morgoth, he pretty much screws up anyone he meets. But, of course, that's not his fault. And that's I believe an interesting question. Can we blame Hurin, Turin's father, for this curse? After all, Hurin dared defy Morgoth and dared challenge him in a battle of wills. But I will let each person decide.
Overall, a good book that is part enough of the main universe to expand it, but different enough to help us look at the main universe differently. If I may be so bold, The Children of Hurin is the Rogue One of the Middle-earth books.
marsoplin's review against another edition
5.0
Listening to the audio for this reread was everything. Christopher Lee ❤