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A review by octavia_cade
The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
3.0
If this were just the stories, I'd probably give it four stars. Even bloody Turin is tolerable here (he's always bloody Turin to me, the least attractive character in all of Tolkien and yet the one we're all supposed to be obsessed with, apparently, given the mountain of appearances of his horrible self in the Tolkien money-making machine). Then there's "The Fall of Gondolin", and I was riveted at that one, the real stand-out piece of the collection; the image of Ecthelion, the Balrog, and the fountain will stay with me a long time.
Unfortunately, weighing down all these wonderful stories are the histories and explanations of the editor. And you know, perhaps from an academic point of view this might be valuable. But reading as a layperson, while parts of it were mildly interesting, most of it was deathly dull, and that largely due to the endless amount of repetition. It's not enough to explain at referential length how the Lost Tales version of story X differs from every other version ever, it all gets quoted, and quoted, and quoted, even if the difference was from a Lost Tales story right before that one and a flatworm could recall it. Interminable.
Unfortunately, weighing down all these wonderful stories are the histories and explanations of the editor. And you know, perhaps from an academic point of view this might be valuable. But reading as a layperson, while parts of it were mildly interesting, most of it was deathly dull, and that largely due to the endless amount of repetition. It's not enough to explain at referential length how the Lost Tales version of story X differs from every other version ever, it all gets quoted, and quoted, and quoted, even if the difference was from a Lost Tales story right before that one and a flatworm could recall it. Interminable.