A review by sonofatreus
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.0
This is an odd collection. The title really does say it all: it's a set of unfinished stories about Númenor and Middle-Earth. But what that actually means varies pretty widely throughout the volume. In some cases, it's pretty extended narratives (I think the longest is around 100 pages), with characters and plots and whole story arcs. In other cases, it's more or less notes about the history of various people or things within Middle-Earth, such as a topography of Númenor or the origins of Istari. In the less developed bits, Christopher Tolkien has his own commentary (and occasionally chimes in for the longer narratives too), about the nature of the manuscripts and how/whether the scraps can square with what was previously published. These interjections could be pretty interesting because they help to outline Tolkien's thought process as he developed characters or stories. It is a little odd, though, because Christopher Tolkien almost treats it all as historical fact (i.e., some things are true and some are not) rather than all fictive creation, but I suppose that makes sense. Then there are the endnotes at the end of each story. These are usually how each story ties in to other published works, including their appendices. I can't say I read every endnote, not least because endnotes are evil, but they aren't exactly the most exciting either.
The stories themselves are broken up into four parts: the First Age; the Second Age; the Third Age; and then the Drúedain, Istari, and Palantíri. I think I've learned about myself that I really don't like how Tolkien does early history. Between this and The Silmarillion, I don't care much for the First Age or even much for the Second. There were some stories in each that bored me practically to tears. Once it got to the Third Age though, I was really into it. These are also the less developed of the bunch, with plenty of gaps and missing text (though much of it is covered in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. If the entire volume had been in the First and Second Ages, I'd probably give it a 2 or 3 star rating; if it were just the Third Age and the Drúedain, Istari, and Palantíri, I'd give it 4.5 or 5 stars. In the spirit of fellowship, I'd give it a modest 3.5.
The stories themselves are broken up into four parts: the First Age; the Second Age; the Third Age; and then the Drúedain, Istari, and Palantíri. I think I've learned about myself that I really don't like how Tolkien does early history. Between this and The Silmarillion, I don't care much for the First Age or even much for the Second. There were some stories in each that bored me practically to tears. Once it got to the Third Age though, I was really into it. These are also the less developed of the bunch, with plenty of gaps and missing text (though much of it is covered in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. If the entire volume had been in the First and Second Ages, I'd probably give it a 2 or 3 star rating; if it were just the Third Age and the Drúedain, Istari, and Palantíri, I'd give it 4.5 or 5 stars. In the spirit of fellowship, I'd give it a modest 3.5.