Reviews

The War of the Jewels by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien

especiallysarah's review

4.0

I think I prefer these volumes where the notes are from the Silmarillion and things that JRR Tolkien never completed because they feel more like myths and legends slowly settling into a steady form. That said I struggle a little with the linguistics even though I know that's where everything comes from.

bgatsch's review against another edition

5.0

So this obviously isn't a book for the casual reader, but if you've made it to volume 11, you know that already. You can't really rate this in the normal way, so instead I'll just be impressed by the sheer amount of effort that clearly went into reading and editing this pile of documents.

neilrcoulter's review against another edition

3.0

Reading the History of Middle-Earth series requires skills in determining when to read closely and when to skim. I don't say that to insult the series--and I don't think [a:Christopher Tolkien|9533|Christopher Tolkien|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235772383p2/9533.jpg] would disagree--and certainly each reader will have a different opinion on which sections are "read-closely" and which sections are "skim." Of the volumes I've read so far (only one more to go now!), [b:The War of the Jewels|19668699|The War of the Jewels (The History of Middle-earth, Book 11)|Christopher Tolkien|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-673c574e721a5d4c3fd6e25b74d42bf2.png|27754178] was the most taxing to read, having what I considered the highest percentage of skimmable text. The first part, the Grey Annals, is a marathon of flipping between the main text section and the commentary section. By this point in the series, I feel like we've reached a point at which the changes are so small, and the layers of previous versions so dense, that it's a bit difficult to fully recall what it is that's being developed or changed in these new versions. The same was true of the next section, the final chapters of "the Later Quenta Silmarillion"--though that was followed by some fascinating new elements in the story of Hurin. The close of this volume is a section of grammar and phonological description of elvish languages. I have some experience in linguistics, and I recognize [a:Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383526938p2/656983.jpg]'s achievement in designing such a complex history for the languages, but I'm not interested enough to read straight through this section without a lot of skimming.

Just one volume remains, and then I'll have finished the series. I'm looking forward to the final bits that Christopher presents. In all of the volumes, I really appreciate Christopher's humility. Here is the person in the world who could swagger as much as he likes, since he is the closest to his father of any Tolkien scholar, but he consistently admits his uncertainties and possible missteps. It's a refreshing attitude in any kind of scholarship.

dorynickel's review against another edition

4.0

My favorite from HoME in several books. So interesting to see his willingness to retcon his larger work to match LoTR. Also still cool that even after 11 books there is more expansion on these stories that can be done.

nonabgo's review

3.0

I found this book the hardest to read from the entire series. Most of it is just a list of changes to previous texts, so if you want to be really thorough you need to keep Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales open at the same time, otherwise you won't understand a thing. I ended up skipping most of that and focusing on content that hasn't been published before in any of the previous 10 books of the series.

The Grey Annals was a fun read, although having to always go to the notes/commentary section can be annoying. Hurin's story was great though and just for that I think this book is worth a read.

jeremie_p's review

adventurous informative medium-paced

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

3.25

efficient_dog's review

Overdue at MCMLS

fernibeck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

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

5.0

pennwing's review

challenging informative slow-paced

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

3.0

vulturetime's review against another edition

4.0

As with all of the History of Middle Earth series, I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who isn't fairly invested into learning more about Middle Earth itself or the various drafts it went through (and thus the multiple versions of quasi-fact that we have regarding these events and characters). I personally really enjoyed the "The Later Silmarillion" part of this series (so both Morgoth's Ring and The War of the Jewels) because to me, these books, as well as the "The History of Middle-Earth" portion of the entire series, do function a bit as to how actual historical documents work. It feels like I'm reading a story within a story, and that's always cool.