I love Tolkien.

Don't get me wrong, I never thought he was any sort of prose stylist. But I love the depth he gave to LOTR, and the integrity of his creation. I've read LOTR probably six times cover to cover.

So I was predisposed to enjoy Children of Hurin, the new book from the dead author. But it is, in a word, unreadable. The story never starts. The characters never take on any life. It's not a novel, it's a fucking sixth-grade history text about a place that never existed. It's as much fun as curling up with Deuteronomy.

I don't believe J.R.R. Tolkien meant this to be published this way. I have to believe it was a series of sketches, notes and first drafts that were assembled by his son, Christopher, with far too much reverence. It's not holy writ, for Christ's sake, it needed a novelist and a smart editor to take this mess as a starting point and then breathe some life into it.

60 pages, that was all I could take. At that point I was hoping Sauron would show up and kill 'em all.

This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on Saturday, May 19, 2007. You can leave your response.