THE CHILDREN OF HURIN by J.R.R. Tolkien

"What? Can it be? A Tolkien book I've never heard of?" Such were my thoughts as I looked up at a gray book with gold letters in the "T" section of my library. I stood on tiptoes and checked it out. Neat cover! I like neat covers and I like Tolkien! I took it home and read it through.

This book takes place in the First Age of Middle Earth. As the name implies, the story centers around Túrin son of Húrin and his kin. Húrin, the mortal man who dared defy Morgoth the Evil One. Morgoth cast a spell upon him that bound him to a chair to watch the fate of his two cursed children, and he could neither move, nor die until the Evil One so wished. And so the story tells what is seen by Húrin.

His wife, Morwen, seeing that her husband did not come, sent her son Túrin over the mountains to become a man, and not a thrall. King Thingol of Doriath received him and treated him as a son. There he was well-treated by all, except for one of the king's lieges, who taunted him and scorned his family. Outside the castle Túrin finds him and pays him for his mockery by chasing him through the forest naked. When the frantic pursued one comes to a rocky stream, he tries to jump across it, but falls to his death. "Unhappy fool! From here I would have let him walk back to Menegroth. Now he has laid a guilt upon me undeserved". The king's nobles catch up to them there, and guess that Túrin has slain the man in his anger. So Túrin leaves Doriath to live as an outlaw, accidently kills his best friend, and runs into other misfortunes.

Meanwhile, his mother has given birth to his sister, Nienor. The two set out to find Túrin and meet the Dragon Glaurung. His words put Nienor into a craze when she awakes, she remembers nothing of her past. Túrin finds her, and, not knowing she is his sister, names her Niniel and eventually marries her. But he still has Glaurung the Dragon to deal with.

I enjoyed this book very much! It is typical Tolkien - what higher praise is there than that? The violence is as usual with his work, not described. It is a hard read, and probably only engaging for teens. If you are teen or adult, check out this book at your library!



Author
J. R. R. Tolkien;
Christopher Tolkien (ed.)

Cover artist
Alan Lee

Country
England

Genre
Fantasy novel

Publisher
HarperCollins in UK,
Houghton Mifflin in USA