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davidaolson 's review for:
The Children of Húrin
by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is a tough one to review. As always it's obvious that Tolkien was more than a little obsessed with his Middle Earth and its history. So much so that the story every once in a while gets bogged down in impossible to read names with no hints as to what they are referring to. I'm not expert in ancient texts, but this book does seem to be written in another language and translated to english, like a classic greek tale.
The story, however, is the problem with this one. It is essentially a reletting of a VERY famous Greek tragedy. Except that instead of happening in Greece, it happened on Middle Earth. So, as you might expect, the "protagonist" is always smiting and cleaving and slaying orcs, with the addition of some humans and elves. For some reason the character is considered a hero by others, I guess because he fights evil, despite the sheer number of good guys he also kills (or is responsible for the death of) along the way. The story also has little to no immediacy or intimacy, which I felt hurt it, even though that was the style of ancient stories.
I guess if you are into faux-greek tragedies, then you'd call this a 5 star book. Same if you are really into anything to do with the middle earth. But if you are into this for the story, you might not like this so much. If you just want more of the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit you will probably be a bit disappointed, but not sorely so.
The story, however, is the problem with this one. It is essentially a reletting of a VERY famous Greek tragedy. Except that instead of happening in Greece, it happened on Middle Earth. So, as you might expect, the "protagonist" is always smiting and cleaving and slaying orcs, with the addition of some humans and elves. For some reason the character is considered a hero by others, I guess because he fights evil, despite the sheer number of good guys he also kills (or is responsible for the death of) along the way. The story also has little to no immediacy or intimacy, which I felt hurt it, even though that was the style of ancient stories.
I guess if you are into faux-greek tragedies, then you'd call this a 5 star book. Same if you are really into anything to do with the middle earth. But if you are into this for the story, you might not like this so much. If you just want more of the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit you will probably be a bit disappointed, but not sorely so.