Reviews

The Book of Lost Tales, Part One by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien

sialia95's review against another edition

5.0

This is some advanced nerd shit. What an incredible undertaking by Christopher.

monicalaurette's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

While I liked the stories and the world of Middle Earth, it was hard to get through this book with the notes and comments.

unrealpunk's review against another edition

4.0

This really makes you wish the Eriol/Aelfwine frame could have been part of the published Silmarillion.  But there's an extra charm to it's effect in the Book of Lost Tales in the way Christopher's painstaking excavation of these texts is like a meta counterpoint to Eriol's pursuit of the tales and full appreciation of Tinfang Warble's music.  There's a multidimensionality to the presentation of the texts as a heterogenous assemblage of partially formed narratives, palimpsests, and disorganized leaves that befits the profusion of Tolkien's imaginative project into something like a lost cultural mythology that must be carefully studied and cross-indexed to be properly reconstructed.

infinite_harness9030's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

monicadee88's review against another edition

3.0

This book contains a collection of partially finished stories written by J.R.R. Tolkien that his son Christopher Tolkien does an excellent job of weaving together into an almost comprehensible history of Middle Earth. Like The Silmarillion, this prelude of sorts is tooth-grindingly boring; the web of names and variations is confusing and headache-inducing. Even so, I couldn't help but be awed by the individual stories and the work as a whole. J.R.R. Tolkien was an admirable scholar and writer; his desire to create an entire universe from scratch, his love for and dedication to his art is obvious in every sentence. It's also fascinating to see how his stories and his world evolved as he revised and continued to write.

fatima_'s review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ameserole's review against another edition

4.0

Ever since I started reading J.R.R. Tolkiens books this month I had this strong urge to read the short stories and learn more about the "middle-earth." Now, I haven't officially read all of his books or the different series he has written that are set in the middle-earth but I still found these stories highly entertaining. I really liked how Christopher took his dads work and made it into the book of lost tales. And now after reading these I'm even more pumped to read the rest of J.R.R's books. I seriously can't wait and I'm definitely going to read the second part of these lost tales. I hope they get better!!

webjoram's review against another edition

3.0

Sigo pensando lo mismo que cuando leí por primera vez está antología de cuentos. Este es un libro para puristas del universo Tolkien. Es muy interesante como enfoco Tolkien la construcción de su cosmogonía, pero los cuentos incluidos tienen un intereses relativo para los lectores que han disfrutado de el señor de los anillos o el Hobbit.

lizshayne's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My goal this year is to read all 12 volumes of the history of middle earth. Also, like, other stuff. It's ALSO fascinating to me to see both JRRT's evolution in thought and Christopher's work to mediate and manage his father's ideas and legacy.
It's jsut super interesting. I'm not sure it's super interesting to people who are not very Tolkien-y but also seeing the ways that it *feels* more like mythology in these earlier stories is so cool. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but the way that he tells stories of tragedy and lament and...i don't know what it IS about this mode that grabs me but, well, if you're the kind of kid who read mythology anthologies cover to cover, do I have a book for you.

gregorso's review against another edition

4.0

The Book of Lost Tales does not only show us Tolkien's world in its early stages of development. It does much more: The text is accompanied by a very deliberate commentary by Christopher Tolkien who put great effort into presenting and explaining the various traces of thought by his father as good as possible.

For the regular reader who seeks regular Tolkien literature this is a difficult text to read at times: The commentaries disrupt the stories' flow and distance the reader from it by means of their meta-work. On the other hand do the Silmarillions contents appear much more connected here, for J.R.R. Tolkien framed them with a contextual story in which the "old tales" were embedded.

I recommend this book to everyone who
1. seeks to dive into the depths and history of Tolkien's creative work.
2. wants to experience an earlier version of the Silmarillion with many (discarded?) details that aren't present in the published form